THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL
CAUGHT
NAPPING!
ANYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG,
WILL. YES, MURPHY IS VERY REAL.
I was getting ready to do the washing when a ping
told me I had an email. Oh dear – it was the editor
asking for my column and I hadn't written a word!
So I put on my thinking cap to recall some of the
more interesting, frustrating and amusing things
my friends and I have experienced over the years.
LOCKED IN!
At a caravan club rally about 10 years ago, one
couple had gone to bed and all was quiet until
around 3am when nature called and he needed to
go to the loo. The door wouldn’t open! They were
securely locked in.
What he called his wife’s ‘noisy breathing
exercises’ had stopped by now and she was
also awake. I’ll let him tell the rest of it: “After
using every knife, screwdriver, flexible lead and
anything else that I could lay my hands on from
within the caravan, the fact was we were still
locked in.
“I then began to examine the door in greater
detail and concluded that if the worst came to the
worst I could open the door window, cut a hole
in the fly wire and unlock the door. Fortunately,
I discovered that by putting a bit of pressure on
56 \
the fly wire it started to come away from the door
frame and after some time and a considerable
degree of patience I was able to slide my hand
through the hole and release the catch – one hour
and 10 minutes later.”
How did it happen? Our couple had gone to bed
early but their son-in-law had gone to their van
and, thinking they were still out, had fastened the
latch. I didn’t ask how the bladder had stood the
ordeal or if they still needed the loo when the door
was finally opened.
STRUNG OUT
It was, I think, 2009 and I'd bought another bike.
It was bright yellow and if it fell off the back of
the van, it should’ve been easy to find. I thought
of having a string from it coming along the van
and into the driver’s window so I would know at
once should the bike go walkabout. But someone
who knows me and our travelling companion
said, “Don’t do that, with your luck you would
get tangled up in the string and fly out the driver’s
window!”
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