13. Truck moved at last

It's Christmas Eve, what else can you do but set off on a journey to Bedford in a  7.5 to truck right in the middle of the "last minute Christmas shoppers" I was up early to check that the Dartford Crossing was open again after the storm and while I was at check for road closures as there had been a few due to flooding and fallen trees.

I reconnected the batteries loaded up and left around 8am, I had tried to find a route around the Low Emission Zone cameras...only time will tell if I managed that or not...I planned to fuel up at the last Service station before the M25 which I made in good time, I filled the front tank up and jumped back in the cab,,,,could I get the truck started again..could I hell, I know about the few missing teeth on the flywheel and usually a few waggles on the gear stick frees it to a point where there are teeth,,,but not this time, I even released the brakes and let the truck roll back a bit then I lifted the clutch to try and turn the engine a wee bit to clear the broken teeth but it didn't' work, So I phoned my brother in Luton who jumped in his car to drive the 90 miles over to see if he could help and at the same time I got hold of the AA and got them to agree to come out as well..only they quoted me about two to three hours as they were very busy.

My Brother  Dave, beat the AA and between us we managed to jerk the engine to a point where the starter could engage and we were off again , after a quick call tot he AA thanking them for their help but we don't need it now.

I could see , while driving up the motorway how bad the storm had been there was water everywhere...

At a steady 60mph we got t our destination just outside Bedford around 1pm only an hour later than I expected, so the truck is now in secure storage and not bothering my neighbours anymore or the Low Emission Zone bloody Pirates and the upshot of course is it is now a lot nearer to Santa Pod raceway only about 10 miles now so that will cut down on the mileage a bit...roll on next year.