Dorchester for the day

Wednesday 26 September

Up early again today, it was still dark for goodness sake! Anyway we dressed and breakfasted like yesterday and we were off at 8.10 to Dorchester VW garage arriving at 8.45am. Not much happens in Dorchester till 9.30am so we sat in the reception area drinking their coffee and reading out of date issues of ‘Top Gear’, nearly fell asleep again.

We were told the van was going to take all day so we needed to occupy ourselves till mid afternoon at the earliest. Before we walked into town we went to the body shop and explained to the manager that we had had a front spoiler fitted and would he check over the installation. Kev was not happy about the gap between the spoiler and the bumper. The manager confirmed that it could be better and he would arrange for it to be sorted by the time we came back to collect the vehicle. We have been so impressed with the service, We couldn’t thank him enough - VW Dorchester ‘We Salute you’.

The walk into Dorchester from the garage is not that far but it is all uphill, quite a climb too. We then did some shopping till about 11.00am. Petra, as we know, is a fan of Thomas Hardy and his house ‘Max House’ is on the outskirts of Dorchester. We made our way there and flashed out NT cards as we went in. The house was quite interesting and designed by Hardy himself. We didn’t realise that he was a fully trained up and awarded architect. A typical Victorian house really, quite dark as you would expect, except in the study which had large glassed windows which he used to bang on when we was not happy with the gardeners.

We spent a good hour in the house and thought the visit was interesting as were the staff and volunteers. We walked back into Dorchester town centre to have some lunch. Wetherspoons were doing an unbelievable offer of two meals for £5 so we went in to take a look. Thankfully, all the tables were in use. We thanked our lucky stars for the close shave we had had and out of spite, used the loos on the way out.

Petra had of course packed a picnic lunch requiring only bread so we hot footed it into M&S and got some mini rolls. We sat on a bench outside enjoying our apple smoked cheddar rolls and plum tom’s. The only thing that spoilt it was a religious man standing nearby with a blackboard and easel. On it was the word (written vertically) J E S U S. He had then turned it in to an acronym at which point we turned off and did some people watching. Isn’t it strange how friends wear the same type and colour of clothes? 

There was  a rumpus with a small boy who was adamant he was not going into Poundland. Frankly, we could see his point but it made no difference and he was pushed through the door with a promise of a bag of crisps and a Coke. You could head the poor little chap at the other end of the shop still complaining bitterly. Also outside Poundland was a ‘well to do’ man who also didn’t fancy running the gauntlet and was standing waiting for his wife to buy the necessary. The thing was he had a very nice camera, a beautiful Leica which he wore across his chest and guarded it with his life. No surprise really as you need a mortgage to buy one.

We did a bit more shopping and wondered back to the garage for 2pm. We were quite tired by now and didn’t care if Campy wasn’t ready we just wanted to sit down and the coffee is free and very reasonable. 3pm and Campy was delivered back to us windows fixed and bumper sorted all FOC. Fantastic, we feel we are now ready to go.