Page 56 - IT'S A RUM LIFE BOOK FOUR Volume 1 "Northcote 1984 to 1998"

photographs and then, a maximum of one hour.

Just down the road I did find a lady cutting her lawn and decided that she was our best
hope.
In fact once the situation was explained, she was a marvel. Somehow she had her son’s
tool box at hand and I selected a number of screwdrivers and various hammers to aid my
endeavours.

We moved Hebe and the carriage back on to the road and faced her in the direction we
should take for our return. This put the undamaged side on view and problem one was
solved.

The tyres were a complete nightmare on their own.
At no time were they ever designed to be fitted the way I was trying. But bit by bit, by
levering and hammering, tugging and pushing, they were almost back.

Almost, but not quite!

The rubber just would not push back exactly is it had been.
To anyone who knew about these things, the wheels looked dreadful, but I thought they
would get us the two miles we needed to go.

I returned the tools to the lady with my profound gratitude and returned to the carriage with
five minutes to spare.

Some serious explanation had to be made to the vicar about his gatepost and all in all the
wedding party were disappointed to have “missed the fun!”

We managed the return journey without problems.
The gatepost cost in the region of £500 and the repairs to the carriage cost over £2500.

The complicated wrought iron steering turntable beneath the front of the carriage had been
bent out of line too!