A van, Darren, £50.00 for petrol & a pocket full of dough

Three weeks later.

Meet Darren, he is one of the nicest people that I know he has a wonderful heart and has one of the most interesting jobs that you can imagine. He works in the city area collecting furniture and valuables from house clearances. I first met him in a pub in Hawkhurst. I met the entrepreneur in him trying to get out and was soon seeing him starting a second successful career in music.

After moving from Hawkhurst. Darren moved shortly afterwards as well and I lost contact I hope he is well and his life is full.
We travelled up to Basingstoke stopping at Clackets services for diesel. Darren mentioned that he had a few bits from his business still in the van but he was sure it would not be a problem. The trip was packed with fun as I always enjoyed Daren’s company because we where never at a loss for something to talk about. We reached Basingstoke and thanks to my Nokia 6630 and the Tom Tom GPS unit we found the address easily.

We reached Basingstoke and Daren opened the back of his van. It was half full of furniture! I phoned Catherine and Gabbled a short message to her saying the van was full how on earth was I going to get the buggy bits in there.

The gentleman was selling the contents of his garage as they where obviously moving. He had a range of other strange objects inside including a piano. His partner Donna had obviously asked him to get the bits out in the anticipation of our visit.

I asked Daren how and why and what he said he had a drop in the early hours and he thought the buggy bits would fit. Never tell a man with a van his job, guess he was right :-)

The general condition looked on the surface not to bad. There were two large holes in the rear seat area, the engine cover was broken and the rear seat area had a brake in the fibreglass. Some holes in the fibreglass where evident everywhere but I thought it was possible to make it fit my chassis and do the repairs. The gentleman who I believe was Andy told me that the car had been on the road in the past and was a head turner but unfortunately it had got into bad repair and it was evident that his family and forced move where talking every bit of cash he had. Still from his dreams to my own maybe this is how they pass without us knowing I can only say that we travelled back home in the van and I must have had the largest grin on my face that was humanly possible.

I must say Catherine has always been behind me and has always shown that she fully believes in what I can achieve. I am sure my family thought I was mad especially when they saw what I had spent my money on.