When the wheel fell off the trailer on the motorway in Belgium we nearly bought this caravan. Not so much because it fits the style and grace of Camila but just because it was cheap.
After haggling we gave the owner the money and were ready to tow it off. Only then we remembered that the plug at the back of our camper van is not standard. It does not have 7 wires but only 5. It's part of its English heritage to be excentric. Just like the wheels of our English trailer have only 4 bolts and not 5 like the rest of Europe. In England things follow English standards that nobody else follows or understands. A bit like the rules of cricket really... nowatamean geeza!
Anyway, as the butchers dog had never cut a slice of meat I contained my compulsion to grab a hammer to do the job and volunteered to provide the replacement for our hobbled trailer.
Ken who had sold us the trailer via eBay had spent 2 hours re-wiring the trailer to match the 5 pin plug of the camper. It was a cold evening on the outskirts of the M25 but his kindness and diligence is memorable. His family stood around with us and we all enjoyed a warm cup of tea together chatting and joking while he resolved the conundrum.
In Belgium I tried to apply the knowledge I had gleaned from Ken to re-wire the caravan. It was getting dark. It was also cold and drizzly. But there was no cup of tea to keep me going. Cause it ain't England, innit Harry! I tried and failed. I tried again motivated by the thought of staying stuck in Belgium (we had not thought of Bruges yet) but the cold and damp just got to me.
For years living in England I thought that preparing a cup of tea was a early-warning system invented by Miss Marple to announce an imminent murder. But now I know that it is the famous cup of English tea that has resolved so many criminal cases, repelled invaders by air, sea and land and warmed up the damp, sometimes dreary English climate to make it so attractive to foreigners.
Anyway, it was definitely not my fault that day in Belgium when I mis-re-wired the camper van trailer plug. Had I had a cup of tea we would have had back lights (the red ones). Instead we had a fog light (red too but not suitable for driving). We only realised that there was a problem with the trailer lights when they were broken in Hungary. It explains why the truck drivers were clonking their horns at us all the way from Belgium to Hungary. And all we could answer is: F*&$ off!
All this to say that if Belgiums drank tea they would have conquered the world!
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