BOY FROM THE WHITE STUFF
Is it possible to have too much of a good thing? Only a couple of issues ago, I was rejoicing at the brief appearance of snow – just long enough to pop out and take a photograph before it melted away with disappointing speed. But at least I could say that there had been some, even if it wasn’t enough to necessitate four-wheel drive.
Then suddenly, as February thought about giving way to March and leaf buds began to appear on the trees, the UK had the ‘Beast from the East’ thrust upon it; trains were cancelled, roads closed and Land-rover owners rejoiced.
It’s easy to joke about being a big kid wanting a decent dumping of snow, but in all seriousness, I found myself grateful to have a capable vehicle on the drive. The family modern succumbed to plummeting temperatures and was beached with frozen handbrake cables and dodgy electrics. Not that it would have been much use anyway because, with barely any weight over the driven wheels, it wouldn’t have made it out of the road. The Landrover did, though, and although it was easy to get sideways on the compacted snow, the chunky tyres dug in and gave plenty of traction.
Descending some steep local hills also gave the Series II a chance to shine: first gear, feet off the pedals and let it do its stuff while the majority of the moderns around me slewed and slid – admittedly many due to driver error, rather than technical inability.
For three days, the Land-rover was no longer a plaything; no longer an indulgence. Instead, it became a tool for transporting people safely; running essential errands; and getting us where we needed to go. All in style and with simple mechanical elegance. And no, I’m not smug – just proud to own something that, at 59 years old, can still do what it was designed to do so well in the first place.
If there was a downside to all of this, it was the fact that at below zero the already brittle rubber on the indicator units barely made it back from being peeled open to allow a simple bulb change. I now need a replacement, but I reckon I can forgive it. I may even treat the car to new ones – particularly because I have a sidelight out, too!