I had been pigeon shooting on the Downs which overlook the Marsh and had just reached level ground when I was aware of a grinding noise coming from the front end.
She spends 85% of her life off road and already had a few rattles which I ignore, plus there were decoys, camo nets, hide poles and all the other paraphernalia I feel obliged to cart around with me rattling around in the back , but this noise was ominous.
I stopped, got out and had a look at the front, which was rather pointless, as I had no idea what to look for, or what to do with it if I found it.
With the engine running and standing still, there was no problematic noise, but I was a few miles from home and standing still was not an option.
I live in quite a remote area (for the UK), so there was nobody around to get any advice from, so I nursed her home as best as I could, with the grinding noise definitely getting worse.
There followed a call to Fabienne the Frenchman, who has a two man workshop where he specialises in imported Japanese vehicles.
The over the phone diagnosis was front wheel bearings gone and he confirmed this when he called round on his way home this evening and crawled underneath it.
Apparently both have almost disintegrated and he recommends that I don't move it.
He will collect it on Monday with his trailer and repair it.
When he arrived I was emptying the stuff out the back (anticipating it going to the Workshop) and loading it into a wheelbarrow to put in the garage.
"The stuff" included 67 pigeons I had shot, which I had bagged up in string sacks ready to put in the large freezers I have.
The Game Dealer collects them from me in 100 lots.
Fabienne went into raptures when he saw them, " Ah ze pigeeen" he warbled, sounding like a young Maurice Chevalier.
In Europe wood pigeon are considered a delicacy and thats where most of mine end up.
He told me how much he loved them and tried to explain how they are best prepared, but like most Gallic gentlemen he gets almost incoherent when he is excited, so I just gave him a sack of 25 and sent him on his way very happy.
I may not have understood much of what he said, but I do hope he clearly understood the word "discount" I kept mentioning when pointing at the truck and the pigeons.
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