What a Day the First of May

The re-landscaping of the south end embankment and the dire and dangerous state of the small wooden terrace by the summer house meant a re-think of that little area.   Ideally the platform needed replacing and some properly made railings put in place.

The rotten wooden platform deck was soon swept away leaving us with a need for some stylish and functional railings if it was to be reinstated.  I turned to the place where anybody who has a rather specific needs turn these days - EBay.

Lo and behold these turned up in Blackpool:

They were described as brand new, galvanised and powder coated and were precisely the length I needed - 3.4m.  Bids were invited from £50 so I put in a bid of £50, fully expecting it to be soundly beaten but no. I won them.

That unexpected result meant we would have to go to Blackpool (an hour or so's drive) and collect them from an industrial estate near to the airport.

Our newly acquired Mitsubishi Shogun and the huge trailer I made from a caravan chassis would be called upon for their first major test - and mine for driving an automatic. I used the Yanmar diesel tractor to manoeuvre the trailer into the station car park, the hard way via the station drive zig-zag entrance. Both vehicles had stood largely unused throughout the past year.

Everything worked perfectly and what a bargain those railings turned out to be. Seems they had been made to order but the client had had a change of mind, preferring twisted uprights to straight ones - that's Blackpool for you I guess. Anyway we got £1,200's worth of brand new railings for just £50!  The makers were lovely people and were glad to see them go to a good home despite their loss.

All told a delightful May Day thanks to two astonishing EBay bargains (the tractor and the railings), the powerful and luxurious Shogun and the home-made trailer I knew would come in handy one day. Oh yes, and a take-away lunch from Greggs at Salmesbury (don't knock it until you have tried it).

The grand finale was a text-book 'push-reverse' operation with the little tractor to get the enormous trailer and load back into the water tower yard - in the critical gaze of a a coach load of passengers waiting at the station for their coach from Carlisle. Two of them gave us a welcome shove when the tractor's back wheels lost grip in the yard's gravel. Think of those tugs that turn huge aircraft in tight spaces at airports - same sort of process.

Today has been a major milestone of post-broken-neck achievement.