21/07

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Picking up the car

Today was an extra special shiny day. A bit like Christmas. Better even, because today we went to Land Rover’s Head Quarters and picked up our Landy – name still to be decided (come to our fundraising event tonight and if you’ve bought the winning raffle ticket you get to name her).

After a couple of meetings about various things – Serena and me grinning and fidgeting like a couple of kids, we headed out to do the ‘seeing of the car’. In a car park full of gleaming Land Rovers we both spotted her immediately, shining in the sunlight, emblazoned with the Fault Line Living livery (thanks Rob at Ready Rads) and looking like the toughest yet nicest vehicle in the car park.

She is not just an ordinary Land Rover (if there was such a thing), Pete from Vehicle Ops has really spoiled us. On top of her already spectacular expedition spec, we also have spotlights on the front, work lamp on the back, fridge (yes fridge!), split battery tray, cage system in the back, sockets for our laptops and cameras, generator (yes really!), security boxes and window grills, roof rack, jerry cans. Wow. And she has a gorgeously distinctive white roof that we all love. It makes her feel a bit more homely – which is good given that she is our home for the next three months.

Her inaugural drive was to Kevin at Nene Overland who is sorting out a few extra bits and bobs for us. To say that drive was nerve-racking is an understatement. She’d only done 36 km and our driving training seemed like a distant memory. Plus there were various terrible Land Rover casualties in car park to remind us of what could go wrong (diff lock on whilst on the motorway anyone?). Shaking like a leaf, we took it slow, ignoring the tail behind us (well, maybe a few of them might check out our website right?), Serena navigating like fury so we didn’t end up in central Leicester in rush hour. Phew.

I think we’ll remember this day for as long as we live (well, Serena and I will because Adam was languishing in the Iranian Embassy collecting our visas).

Thank you Land Rover.