The day went well for me. Right up until the point where I was going home. I was driving along, radio on with lovely 60's music (it's 60's week). All of a sudden as a lorry passed me, one of the side hatches flew open! I slowed down immediately and parked halfway on the grass. I put on my safety vest and went outside. No chance of closing the hatch again. At all! So, I got the coach moving again at a snail's pace and moved to the nearest emergency spot. There I started the process of removing the bar that held the hatch in its place. I was hammering away while traffic was swishing by at a speed of about 50/60 miles an hour!
The hammering didn't work. I got the spanner and managed to get the top loose. But unfortunately the hatch still didn't close. I couldn't get the bottom loose, but help was at hand: the ratcatcher! He tore the bar off and the hatch could close. I locked one side of the hatch, but the other side didn't have a lock anymore. In the end we used a piece of rope. I had to go back to the mechanics to get it fixed properly. In the process I was home nearly an hour and a half later. My hands were filthy, I was quite cold and my clothes need a wash!
On the bright side: nobody got hurt and no vehicles were damaged.
PS: the ratcatcher is someone who goes around the countryside, especially near dykes and levies, to check on holes made by muskrats that might damage the structure ànd cause flooding!
How neat that you have ratcatchers and that one stopped by to help.
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