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Collection Date

The collection date has been confirmed for the 26th October 2002.

Van Hire

I have hired a long wheel base Sprinter van for U-Drive in Southampton. Although they were not the cheapest they had the right van which I could book for Saturday only - collection Friday night, drop off Saturday night.

Plan of action

  1. Drive to Nottingham on Friday 25th October with helpers: Helen (my wife) & Jon (my mate).
  2. Stay with Rog (another mate) who does quite a few jobs including: Rock Band Tour Managment, Carnet Processing & T-Shirt Printing.
  3. Drive to Mansfield for 9am and bang on the gates until they let us in.
  4. Collect the kit - easily recognising all parts and neatly placing them in the van.
  5. Drive home to Southampton in time for a swift half (or two).

Well that's the idea anyway.

Execution

Well it wasn't that drastic. Given that everyone who has done the collection said it was an 'experience' I was preparing for one of those 'experiences' that normally leaves someone mentally or physically scarred!

Friday and Saturday pretty much went to plan, the Van was collected, we stayed with Rog, and drove to Mansfield in time for 9am - there was a slight digression from this point on....

When we arrived we were sent to the back yard in Grove Street where the initial collections would be made, there was already a queue of vans wiating before us although we were about 4th in line.

On the stroke of 9:30 the gates were opened and we were 'organised' into 'tidy' rows.

Our turn came and we passed over our hard earned cash, and received two large trolleys full of potential 2B. The dogs are two rotties held in an ivory tower that punctuate every movement and word from a customer with huge amounts of barking and attempts to leap 40 feet to the floor. Jon especially seemed to provoke them into greater heights of activity - although that maybe because he smelled

- different ;-)

We had some trouble recognising a few items but Tricky was around to help whenever we needed it - although we did get some helpful comments from a neighbourly collector from Devizes who, when asked if he could recognise a part, said "It's a tube" - so that was nice ;-)

Once we had completed the packing , we were off home - this took longer than expected due to an accident on our route. Once we had arrived home we had little time to celebrate because we had to get the van back. We unpacked and 'chucked' it all in the garage, stopping only long enough for a few photos.

Thoughts on the day

  1. Take boxes - we were given this advice from Ian Milne - and he was right!
  2. Take gloves - the metal IS sharp and you WILL cut yourself at least once
  3. A hicube van or a Sprinter van are the perfect size - the chassis fits!
  4. Make sure you check off everything before you leave
  5. You need at least one other person - but two is better: one to lift and one to check it all off

 

 

 

 

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