Bryony gets a spring clean in preparation for the lifting of lock down

 Giving Bryony a spring clean

We managed to get Bryony home today and hooked up to the house electrical supply for the first time since the start of November. It was so exciting. A tiny taste of things to come, even if it was on the road outside our house!

This all happened because our storage yard has opened up for the first time since lock down and that meant we could drive our car in and drive Bryony out. It was like the great escape – imagining some form of lockdown freedom yet to come.

Now some may claim this wasn’t an essential journey, but given our battery problems and engine management warning lights, we argue it is. You can attend your second home for emergency repairs. Bryony is our second home. She needed some emergency repairs.

It took 20 minutes to reinstall the vehicle battery which has been kept at home since it flattened itself at the start of January. We managed to rescue it using an expensive seven stage charger unit but we weren’t confident the battery would start Bryony this morning.

The vehicle battery sits in a floor well under the passenger’s feet and it is awkward to access. It’s hard to get a socket set onto the terminal nuts and so adjustable spanners have to be used and that’s fiddly. The carpets have to be lifted and folded right back into a tiny space and they keep springing back into position. You bang your head on the dashboard console frequently. It’s all terribly frustrating stuff.

Cut a long story short, on turning the ignition key, Bryony started first time. A run up the dual carriageway in 4^th gear and engine revs at 3000+ and the engine management light went out, all the emission deposits having been burned off. Another job sorted.  

Back home, parked partially up on the pavement, we hooked Bryony up to the household electricity supply. Following the instructions in the Harmony instruction booklet and making sure that various switches were turned on in the correct sequence meant that everything started up properly.

We started cleaning the interior. Who knew hoovering up dead flies could be so joyous? We made a shelf for the bathroom wardrobe (a rather ‘Heath Robinson’ affair as we don’t want to drill into the wood panel sides – so a plywood shelf resting on four white plastic sink pipes – functional but not aesthetic in any way whatsoever).  

Surfaces were disinfected and polished, carpets hoovered, floors swept. The electrics were checked and fridge, sockets, TV and interior lights tested. The heating was switched on and the Truma panel didn’t throw a hissy fit – now there’s a first! Warm air was blown throughout the Moho for a few hours whilst we checked the window and skylight seals and then we just sat there admiring the interior view. It sounds so sad!

After a few minutes musing on great trips to come, we started on the outside, where the tyres got their inspection. Sidewalls were checked and odd stones removed from the tread. We even discovered the date on the tyres. They are already two years old!

Up top on the roof, the vin number and number plate roof decals were stuck down after the area had been given a clean and a polish and the black streaks were washed off the exterior sides.    

The engine bay was scrutinised. Steve tried to look as if he knew what everything was. After referring to the manual a few times - water, coolant, brake fluid and oil all ended up at the right levels and the ad-blue got topped up as a bonus. 

Despite sticking extra tape around the locker door, the wet locker remains ‘wet’. Very irritating. We have no idea how the water gets in. We have checked every seal, every joint. It will remain one of life’s little unsolved mysteries!

The toilet cassette was extracted and we discovered two little bins with lids below it; neither big enough to hold any Aqua Kem bottles of any size, sadly. But we now know where to store the rubber gloves! The external locker got a tidy up and suddenly there was about a third more space available for something else!

What a pleasant way to spend a few hours and now the anticipation of our first trip away in 2021 burns brightly. The next few weeks will pass very slowly! Hopefully we will see you out on the road after 12^th April sometime. In the meantime, remember stay safe and well and ‘take care out there’.

Steve and Maggie