Thumbs down for Avtex

A good day for travelling.



The view at 8:00 am this morning.

I was off towards the M5 by 9:15 thanks to my sat nav routing me faultlessly through Cheltenham.

Research had established that Exeter Services host an M & S, but finding it after taking Jct. 31 was beyond the sat nav's ability - a bit of a nightmare of roundabouts, traffic lights, multi lane choices and more signs than trees in Sherwood Forest.

I am now on a friendly CL south west of Oakehampton with elevated views of Dartmoor and only one unoccupied motor home for company. The rain that persisted for much of the journey has blown over leaving a pleasant blue, but cloudy sky.

At the end of my last caravan trip I had extended the three waste water pipes under the rear of the van (kitchen sink, shower, and bathroom sink), and run them into one to make them easier to connect into the water water container. On arrival I discovered that my engineering genius had caused the sink waste water to back up through the plughole in the shower tray, so I had a wet carpet, and another DIY job separating the pipes again.

My expensive Avtex tv and its proper Avtex aerial have been a source of some pride. The aerial has a suction cup fitted with a lever to depress the cup making it adhere firmly to window or panel. The lever snapped off today, being made of some feeble plastic, so I have had to trap the edge of the suction pad under the edge of the caravan window, and i'm glad to say the tv is now operational. This is another example of rank bad design that I often rave about. Any layman could have told the designer that, because of the force required to operate the lever, it should be made of something much stronger. I will be having words with Avtex when I get back home.

Tomorrow I plan a long drive to one, and possibly two, Marilyns, and hopefully a report more related to my mission will follow instead of another maintenance schedule.