Is that safe?

Whenever we tell anyone about our plans you can almost guarantee one of the first questions that will be asked is 'Is that safe?'

The fact of the matter is that we live in South London, 'Is that safe?!' We will indeed be travelling though many places on the trip, some of those will no doubt be more dangerous than Tooting, (although probably not as bad as Hackney). Most 3rd world cities are hotspots for petit crime, but we'll be spending minimal time in the cities, and a vast majority of places we visit will be safer and far more welcoming and friendly than any of the London suburbs.

Most of Africa is very rural and there aren't many foreigners about. People in these places don't hang about waiting for the odd foreigner to come through so they can take advantage. Are these kinds of places any more dangerous than a rural English village? Probably not. From all accounts people are just friendly and inquisitive. Our two biggest risks by a long way are mosquitoes and road accidents. Both of these risks can be minimised with the right precautions, which we will be taking.

Roll on December!

Eagle Eye Paul

The other day we took the day off work to drive up to Peterborough and visit Footloose 4x4. We went though the whole vehicle with Paul who immediately pointed out what he believed were general design flaws. He tried to talk us out of the 4 man tent, which he's managed to do as long as we can sell it! See pic, Any Buyers? We then got the car onto the hydraulic lift to take a peek underneath. 2 minor oil leaks and a minor fuel leak immediately spotted, along with hairline cracks in bushes, missing bolts here and there. All seen and noted down. That man has an amazing eye for detail!

There were also a few things pointed out which weren't perfect, but we shouldn't have to replace if we want to save a little money. Always nice to feel you're not being ripped off and told to rebuild the entire vehicle!

I was concerned we'd payed a lot of money for an overpriced frying pan (The transmission was getting pretty hot!) but apparently he was a good buy, which is always nice to hear. Generally Stanley is in pretty good health, no real rust, and no obvious major problems.

Why is it that boats are always female, but cars seem to be able to be either sex? It appears that overland vehicles generally have male names, but I guess they usually are quite manly machines.

So, back to the point. We've now waved goodbye to the car for a few weeks, he's going to get totally dismantled and required spares purchased. Once that's done we'll go back up to Footloose and put him back together again with Paul / other mechanics so that we know him inside out. Always handy!

Starting to really look forward to getting out of London, getting excited already and departure is still 4 months away!