I have written before about our village elders, their red pick up trucks and rules of the local roads. Some things are written on tablets of stone, "the red truck shall have right of way over all other vehicles, irrespective of junctions, width of road etc". And, "the red truck goes in one direction only... forward". That sort of thing.

We do have one gentleman who is an exception to the rules. Not in his belief that he is king of the road, but in that he has baulked tradition and drives a dark blue, fully enclosed van.

He purchased the vehicle new about 3 years ago; and so far as I'm aware gears 3, 4, 5 and reverse are still in pristine condition, never having been used. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the rest of the vehicle. Not a single panel is unscathed, mainly now decorated with a wide variety of scrapes, scuffs and dings; the wing mirrors have long gone and not a tail light lens remains. Sometimes all 4 tyres have air in them, but quite often one is flat (only at the bottom though so that's OK).

It's always advisable to add an extra 10 minutes to your journey out of our village, just in case you should catch up with him on the way down the hill - a guaranteed 15kmph maximum (on a good day with the wind behind him).

A few evenings ago Tony and I were wandering through the village together when we heard a mobile phone ringing. Glancing round we saw the very elderly driver of said blue van sitting in the vehicle, phone pressed to his ear, shouting into it. My first reaction was to be mildly impressed that a gentleman of such advanced years had embraced modern technology sufficiently to have a mobile. It then dawned on me that I could hear the phone ringing whilst he simultaneously tried to talk into it...

Someone, please show him where the little green button is ;0)