July 6, 2007 by dunny.

Right, so I just posted like an hour ago.  This is how fast things get awesome on this trip.  The fella (Steve) that sold us the good car and lent us the parts/tools turned out to be a King of Awesome.  He dropped all and helped us fix everything that needed it on the car (save some welding we’ll do in the morning), said we all ought to have a beer together, then brought us back to his 1877 English cottage in Liphook.

And we’re staying the night.  And probably getting drunk with one of the coolest dudes we’ve ever met.

Oh, by the way, him and his pops have a collection of about 35 cars, most of which are old steam-powered cars from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.  Four of them are one-of-a-kind…literally…there’s only 1 in the entire world…and a handful of others were 1 of less than 10.  They’re stored either in the shop or in his dad’s adjacent house, which by the way is an absolute marvel of beauty that I assume is rampant here in England because everywhere I go I’m floored.

Hell, we left the shop with Steve in his old VW bug (a collector, for sure) and took a winding, road-burning drive through long tunnels of trees (the trees here grow out and bend over the roads in the summer…never seen anything like it) and ended up in front of that cottage with a clothesline and trampoline in the back and kids and dogs running around and green everywhere.  We’ll hang here for a spell then head to a few Liphook pubs with an official SkipLizard Savior.

That disaster?  Whatever.  Blessing in disguise of the utmost regard people.  Positive thoughts…it all works out.  Once again, here’s to being awesome.

Skip, out. (SkipLizard Homepage)

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July 6, 2007 by dunny.

First, I didn’t recap yesterday in all its complete glory.  After a hike to the market for a load of canned goods, fruit, and the like, we went by the local paper to introduce ourselves…figured maybe we could get people to stop staring at us if we got official.  We didn’t get two steps in the door and the lady was already taking notes…soon as we get back to camp they’re going to take pictures and we’ll be English countryside celebrities.

Then off to Swindon for goods and services, check email about the car.  Nothing special.  That’s just where you heard from us yesterday.

When we got back to Malmesbury, though, we gave the fella with car a ring.  He already settled with somebody on it.  At this point though, we were desperate…so the Irish Dunny came out and we had a little haggle session.  Turns out he almost did the Rally this year, was married in Vegas, was willing to give us the car cheap and throw in the use of his tools, parts, and garage to get us off.

So, time to celebrate.  But it was raining, and we’re too cheap for pubs right now.  Dammit, we had all this cooking gear and potatoes and canned hamburgers and wine, but nowhere to set up shop…then a light shined through the clouds onto that piece of monkey poo car just sitting by the tents and I think we both had the same realization.  We were going to get some use out of that bastard.  So we lit the stove inside the car and made potato/canned hamburger stew and drank 3 bottles of paint thinner wine…and it might have been the most satisfying meal of all time.

Irresponsible?  Not when you’re awesome.  We were up at 7 this morning and took a bus and 3 trains to Haslemere and just finished servicing the new car, the new Chariot of Awesome (just another SJ, don’t worry kids, no huge changes there and we still got what we wanted).  We’re going to flip the other one on ebay and see if we can actually profit off her

To Henley this weekend to party with Stevie and do some good English stuff.  Like drink, I guess

Skip, out. (SkipLizard Homepage)

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