Well guys, I’ve finally got the Marlin ready following a drop off at my favourite garage, Oakdene Autos. Joe Hodgetts owns this garage and his chance passing one evening when I was stranded on the A127 having filled up the Marlin tank, after 26 years of driving her, with a while tank of diesel started the beginning of a beautiful relationship! Joe was immensely kind and helped me bump the car off the busy dual carriageway and stayed with me till the smirking AA arrived to drag me home.
Since this meeting, Joe has had the pleasure of working on my Marlin on numerous occasions and this last one saw the car getting a new set of headlamps, a new hooter, (very grown up it is too), some dodgy wiring fixed and a couple of bearings adjusted. For good measure I have new oil and plugs and I’m ready to go!
The rocker box cover was leaking oil so a new gasket was ordered.This took an age to arrive and it was too late for me to ask for them to order 2 so I could have a spare for the next replacement time. Parts are beginning to become more of a challenge to source now but luckily Joe is old school so still has lots of contacts 🙂
I’m not posting a pic of my jalopy yet because she’s filthy! That’s the car, my friends, not the owner. But the owner’s a bit dirty too and luckily has a good sense of humour which will be vital when travelling with the Summer winers.
Lovely James has been astonishingly resilient throughout his incredible journey through chemo and surgery and his determination to be up and about for our arrival is really quite humbling. We are all very much looking forward to the trip and seeing James and seeing Sweden. It’s been a long time coming and we are nearly there. I happen to have a week in Casablanca a couple of weeks before we sail so I’ll be sorting out last minute stuff in the week prior to sailing. Here’s to nothing else going wrong now!
Sverige här kommer vi!
marlinsgotosweden2014 
Nothing like a trip to get those must-do jobs sorted and I’ve also had my lights upgraded to higher output jobbies after finding the dark lanes of Suffolk a challenge with a dying battery last year. Like Sue it was down to some dodgy wiring and since I’ve had a higher output alternator & starter fitted its been fine. Not quite sure what Sue said in Swedish but I think I ordered one from Ikea recently!