Flat tyre drama

Today I had lunch with Michael, my nephew who is presently living at Clapham. Apparently this is a very popular area with Australians living and working over here. Clearly they’ve moved out of Earl’s Court. Because we were meeting for lunch I went into town much later than I normally do. And how fortuitous it was.

For as long as we’ve lived in Farnham, there’s been constant complaints about the traffic through the Borough, down Castle Street and up Downing Street, in particular big articulated lorries. I remember one snowy Sunday a few years ago when a truck had managed to wedge itself in the narrow, single lane leading from Downing Street to the Borough. I think I blogged about it.

Needless to say, the roads in Farnham were never intended to carry big trucks and a lot of them find it a bit of a squeeze negotiating the corners. For a traffic hater like me, they quite often give me a jolly good chuckle as they find themselves trying to squeeze through in all manner of small spaces.

Now, I’m not sure what happened today but it looks as if this truck driver had turned from Castle Street into the Borough when he (literally) ran into problems. I only saw the aftermath so can only guess what caused it. Whatever happened, it meant havoc for the Farnham lunchtime traffic.

The three (yes, all three) wheels on the back, passenger side of the trailer were destroyed. It was as if a small roadside bomb had gone off underneath them. There’s quite a large and chunky iron bollard at the bottom of Castle Street so maybe he caught it as he swung his long load round.

It was attracting a lot of attention with passersby clicking away on their phones and discussing in excited tones what could possible have caused such a thing. One old chap, standing near me as I took some photos, was laughing fit to…well, have a fit. He was also complaining (between guffaws) about the incompetence of Satnavs, European truck drivers and the other cars blocking his way across the road. (Not just me then.)

You can see from this closeup, the damage done to the wheels.

Quite horrendous. But I didn’t have time to stand around and chuckle with the rest of the Farnham pedestrians because I had to head up to the station to meet Michael.

I haven’t seen Mike for years. The last time was a few Caloundra trips ago when he came round to Mum and Dad’s for lunch. Though, of course, I’ve seen him on Facebook so it’s not like I wouldn’t recognise him…which I did, straight away.

We walked up to the Queen’s Head for lunch and settled in for a few hours. He has grown into a confident, cheerful and conversational young man. He’s a credit to his family, I have to say. Over lunch and a number of beers, we chatted about all sorts of things.

I gave him Dad’s ring (the main reason I was meeting him) with Mum’s note, leaving him to open it while I went to the bar. I think he was touched, remembering Dad and having a moment of reflection on his own.

Anyway, as I said, we had a lovely time discussing all manner of things ranging from Mitchie and Natalia (and how they should go to Greece), travelling around Europe (he LOVED Budapest), the nature of beer v lager (he’s not that keen on the real ale though doesn’t mind a pale ale sometimes) and the Mighty Shots (he said he might come to a Tuesday home game with us).

But, as is the way of all things, he soon had to leave (poor Emily was back at the flat, a bit distraught after not getting through an audition for a cruise ship tour – she was one of 400 going for 20 dancing roles) so we walked back to the station and waited for the next train.

Of course, as per Mum’s instructions, I took a photo of the two of us.

At the station