226. Hot glue gun

Avignon

Matthew, Claire and Edward departed for Italy where they are meeting Claire's sister and husband for a family holiday. Spectacularly, their departure was a well oiled machine focused on getting on the road at ten. At twelve, the camp administrator arrived to see if they were staying another night, Matthew assured them that they would be about thirty minutes. The departing photo on the  (almost, Roman is also in the Camper) left was taken at one thirty. They are great fun and we look forward to catching up with them in Italy.

On getting up in the morning, Edward, Roman and Audrey decided to build a roller coaster with the horrible coarse ply that I have removed from the Giantavan front locker. Adults breakfasted to the sound of sawing and hammering. At some point roller coaster became a boat, probably in deference to complexity. Turns out all the sawing had achieved little so I was tasked using the new ten euro electric jigsaw. It is spectacularly crap and instantly snapped the blade as the clamp is so short that it only grips the very top of the supplied blade and tries to drive through the two holes. Luckily, I had also purchased a ten euro grinder and was able to modify the remaining piece of the blade. I now have the technique of using the jigsaw as it cuts to the left so I aim right. Regardless, the kids were happy with the result.

I decided, as we are here for a bit, to tackle the air-con fault, man up and order a new control PCB as the man in Morocco had failed to resuscitate our current unit. The unit is made in Italy but my efforts so far have only managed to find a replacement PCB in Australia. I will go and see the agent here in Avignon on Monday. I will also drive out to the Disco workshop to see if they can book the Disco in, not on a public holiday.

The days are warm here, it is spring and the air is full of pollen, from the grass and the trees. Pollen is coming off the Plane Trees I'm OK as long as I remember not to rub my eyes. Occasional coughing fits only cured by drinking water and spectacular sneezes which the family always enjoy. Fyfe is suffering the most.

After Edward & Stuffs departure Jacqueline walked into Avignon for for a haircut and the three younger children tacked their wood working project proper with Fyfe making good use of the new 240V drill and the tech screws formally used on the front locker. I unpacked my new switch mode arc welder, un-typically read the instruction manuals then tackled the cracked caravan steps as a trial project. I must say I am completely impressed. The metal was incredibly thin and I was only welding at 25A with 2 mm rod. The welder is very smart and increases the current to strike and then decreases the current to the set level once welding. If the rod sticks the welder cuts the current right back so that you don't have to fight the stuck rod off with the welder grunting continuously as you had to with the old transformer welders. The automatic darkening face mask included was an absolute joy to use. I am looking forward to using the welder the front locker project.