Journal Day 82 - Wanganui- W.O.F.

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Wanganui and the damn Van W.O.F. debacle..

Strolled around Wanganui. Nice little town.
Have found a good spot for a full breakfast.
Art colleges and very active local art scene. Quite a few arty Craft shops to browse through. Wonder how many craft shops I've been in now?!

Van W.O.F.
Dropped van into service station station at 8 to get it's TLC. Mechanic has sourced a 2nd hand windscreen (to replace the existing one with its tiny crack), an exhaust pipe and petrol cap. Using these salvaged parts should bring price down loads. Told to come back at 4pm.
Walked around Wanganui to waste a bit of time.

Got back at 4 expecting to see the van sitting there all ready but found instead a windscreenless chunk of metal sitting in the mechanics yard. What happened here...?
Well, the mechanic was able to, as promised, get the windscreen and various bit-parts he was able to salvage of another Hiace... But when he removed my windscreen to replace it he found a window frame of unprecedented rustiness. He told me it was the entire windscreen frame was so rusty that there was no way to put a new windscreen in. He stated that he was surprised that the last windscreen had even stayed in while I was driving and not flown off the front any time I put the brakes on.

So apparently the only thing for it is a visit to the welders down the road tomorrow where a full new frame will be welded to the old one to create something for the new windscreen to fix to.

But unfortunately this means sleeping in the van tonight.... in a van with no windscreen. And it's a wet, cold night here in Wanganui. So got some tarpalin and stretched it over the big hole in the van to stop the water getting in and strapped it down so the wind couldn't blow it away. And moved it around to the darkest corner of the mechanics yard so no thieves would spot the opportunity to loot the van.

To provide myself with some entertainment I took a walk to the cinema and watched Thor in 3D. – Alright movie I suppose. Effects amazing but maybe a bit too much CGI overkill and quite a crap story. And I couldn't really enjoy it anyway because I was thinking about the van and how much the welding is going to cost tomorrow.... Damn W.O.F.

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