2021-08

That was the biggest plunder that happened to me this year. And now I have to pay the school fees.

Every year we hire a well-known company to transport our tractor and a boat to Coffee Bay. That costs around € 2000 and it hurts a lot, but it works smoothly and safely.
This year a new colleague promised me to use his special truck and only have to cover the fuel costs. Who would turn that down ?? !!!

When the time came and I asked them to bring the truck for loading, there was suddenly a problem: He suddenly needed a special road permit that cost around € 4000 and that would not cover the fuel costs.

I was of course not enthusiastic because that was just a wrong excuse anyway.

My colleague then said that he had promised me his help and that he would keep his promise. He sent me a boy with a land cruiser to take the boat to Coffee Bay. The boy had never been out of the province and was totally panic stricken about how to get to Coffee Bay.

He also had his girlfriend with him, which was really a joke.

My colleague came personally with another 4 x 4 car and a trailer for the tractor. We met at our shop at 5am. The trailer was much too small for the tractor. I asked him why he came with this trailer at all and he said is,he was surrounded by idiots ...

At this point I should have called everything off immediately, called the transport company and, as always, had everything professionally brought to the place. Yes, I should have done it !!!

But the chaos continued. We were then at least smart enough not to let the boy go alone with his girlfriend. Beulah drove on the same day and so he had to wait for Beulah and drive in front of her.
Beulah, who really doesn't drive fast, gave up after an hour and drove on ...
He made it to Coffee Bay with an undamaged boat, but the brakes on his car were done. And so he couldn't go back.
In the meantime, as long as they were waiting for new brake pads, the two of them lived at our expense in the Ocean View Hotel and had the best time of their lives. (where they work they live in a shack without TV, without bathroom, toilet and everything)
We indulged them.

Of course, my colleague couldn't find another trailer on the same day - it was Sunday !!! - and so more stressful days passed until he finally rented a trailer and drove off. At least we were told. However, whoever arrived in Coffee Bay was anything but my colleague personally. At short notice he found a terrible fisherman who urgently needed a vacation, especially if it was free ... He then came straight away with his wife and child. Age !!!
This fisherman - whom we don't like at all - also broke his brakes and had to wait another two days for spare parts with his family.
In the meantime he enjoyed a lot of brandy and cola for our health .... gulp!

The tractor drove a kilometer, stalled and died a gruesome death. Cylinder head gasket.

All for nothing !!!

Besides the costs, this chaos also caused a lot of stress, of course. The stress was actually much worse than anything else

But we were still able to successfully carry out our Sardine Run program.
just when I wanted to send down our own tractor - our tractor is too heavy for a trailer and needs a special transport - Beulah found a local with the help of the manager of the Ocean View Hotel and he made his tractor and driver available every day for very little money .
Sometimes you're just a little lucky.

When the Sardine Run was over we brought most of it home and had to leave a boat and the broken tractor behind.
After that we first had to go on vacation and now it is high time to get the rest back.

This is an ideal opportunity to get poor Spike out of the house. The corona death of his wife dealt him a bad card. He has a 12 year old daughter who now needs his full attention. In addition, his wife brought a good wage into the family, which is now missing.

Anyway, the plan was to bring the things back from Coffee Bay. I wanted to rent the trailer for the tractor and use it to haul Spike's 4x4 to Coffee Bay. There we would first replace the ball bearings on the boat trailer before one of us tows the boat and the other the tractor.
Good plan until I talked to my mechanic.

He almost had a heart attack and said we would ruin two cars and put our safety at risk if we did that. Although we haul boats to Coffee Bay every year, such a trip is tough for any car and the tractor is twice as heavy as the boat and requires compressed air braking aids to drive safely on the road. As a result, both of my colleague's cars no longer had brakes.

Enough mistakes have already been made and so I took the advice of my mechanic to heart and called my transporter to take the tractor and boat to Shelly Beach for me.

On Tuesday Spike and I drive to Coffee Bay, replace the ball bearings in the boat trailer and meet the transporter for the store on Wednesday morning.
Maybe we'll stay another day for fun or drive home after the transporter.

That costs 300 euros more than if we had done it all ourselves and who knows what can happen when you drag heavy loads.
I am happy and relieved that at least one person has some common sense ...