Rain, rain, rain

Yesterday I took advantage of a break in the seemingly never-ending rain that we’ve been on the receiving end of for the past week or so to take a look at my lawn mower in the hope that I could get it ready to go for when the rain eventually stops. Things are getting quite urgent now because the rain has done nothing to stop the grass growing – quite the opposite actually – and as soon as I get a chance, I need to give it a good cutting, especially around the back, before it becomes too long for a hand mower to manage.

Unfortunately, the news was not good. The front wheels became detached after hitting a large rock last year (in fact, the design was so shoddy that they’d never actually been properly fixed on, just relying on the plastic axle mounts being a push-fit into slots on each side of the metal deck) and although I’d devised a way of fixing them back on again, it wasn’t initially successful. However, the results proved that the method would work, so I then decided that as time was beginning to get a bit short, I’d clean out the fuel system and carburettor and then investigate the bad vibration that I was getting the last time that I used the mower. Whatever I did to the fuel system was successful because when I pulled the cord, the engine started immediately and ran at the correct speed with the throttle open, just as it should do. So then I turned the mower over to check the blade, which is what I thought was causing the vibration, and it was then that the scale of the problem became apparent. The blade was bent, but so too was the main shaft from the engine to which the blade is attached, and it was this that was throwing the blade out of balance and causing the vibration.

I bought the mower new, only two years ago, off Ebay, so although its 4-stroke engine is still only low hours and running perfectly, it looks as though the mower itself has come to the end of its useful life. Luckily, I got it for quite a low bid, so I’ll probably just advertise it on Le Bon Coin ‘pour pièces ou à réparer’ (for parts or to repair) as it would be too much of a waste of time for me to do it myself. I already have a string of jobs lined up and in any case, the grass needs cutting now. So what to do?

I need a good, solid mower but on the other hand, it will have a tough life just as the original one did, because of all the stones that keep getting thrown up here in the Dordogne. So I’m reluctant to buy another brand new one which will most likely go just the same way as my old one did. Because I was anticipating something like this happening (I know what my luck is like :-|) I’ve been checking what’s been coming up recently on Le Bon Coin. The answer is, not much, and what has looked interesting has, as usual, been miles and miles away. This morning I looked on one of the British ex-pat web sites, and lo and behold, a nice looking 46 cm cut mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine had just been put up for sale. So I decided to take the bull by the horns and contact the advertiser, which is how shortly afterwards I found myself heading northwards into the Charente in torrential rain.

For some reason, whenever I have driven anywhere in the last few months, it has always been in heavy rain and this morning was no exception. In fact, the rain was epic in both directions and at times visibility was so bad that I had to turn the wipers onto double speed to maintain visibility. Luckily, traffic levels were quite low but the rain spoilt what would have otherwise been a lovely drive through an area that I’ve not been to before. I ended up doing a quick deal to take the mower off the seller’s hands but now that I’m home again, for the time being it’s still out in the back of my car.

When I got back, it appeared that my house had been subjected to a deluge while I was away and there was the usual river outside my back door. Also, the front grass had several pools of standing water on it, something I’ve not seen before, so I may as well leave it there for now as although as I type this, the sun is defiantly blazing away outside (for a few moments…) the grass is much too wet to test it out on. As we used to say when we were kids, rain, rain, go away. Please 🙁