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 As our 25th wedding anniversary approached back in 2003, Debbie (the Missus) and I decided that we would like another dayvan. It was to be a mutual present to each other. Oooh I just love those kinda presents!
So first course of action was to scour the internet (as you do). I located a fairly local dealer who was advertising a Chevy G20 and thought it was a good starting point. We planned to go look the following day.
On the next morning my wife had 'one of her moments'. "I've seen our van in a dream", she said, "it's green and beside a huge railway bridge. A sort of .... big viaduct thing !". She has dreams from time to time. Being a total sceptic of paranormal nonsense I always try to dismiss them and this time was no exception. "You saw the address we are going to" I said. "Old Railway Yard, you just dreamt it because of that". Obviously she denied that, but I had written it down and it was very possible she could have seen it.
We set off and eventually found the place, It was a depressing site. A yard full of trade-ins, is all I could describe it as. You know, every car looked tired and frankly in need of 'intensive care'. We had a good look around out of curiousity and because there wasn't a soul around anyway. We realised that we would never be happy with anything there so we returned home.
Undaunted it was straight back on the net. I don't know how but I eventually arrived at the Bauer Millett website. I had never heard of Bauer before and had no idea they were in Manchester. I looked through their listings and saw a 1999 Chevy Express van, I clicked on the link and there it was. I could scarcely believe my eyes. The whole van was deep emerald green and sat before a huge railway arch !! A tingle slithered down my spine.
 I called Debbie to come see. "that's it" she said "that's the one I saw". Now this time was different. Even now Debbie struggles with her laptop, back them she literally could not even turn one on. There was no possiblity of her having seen this van before. But there it was, exactly as she described. As I say, she has had dreams before which I've struggled to explain, but this time I have absolutely no answers !
Manchester was a fair hike, but whilst I do not much believe in 'paranormal' stuff I do believe in 'omens'. It's a contradiction I know, but that's me ! I called Bauer and the van was still available, so I arranged to see it the next day. It's a couple of hundred miles from my pad in Suffolk, but I knew I just had to see this one first.
The following day saw me pressing North to Manchester. After a small mystery tour around the City centre I found myself at the Bauer Millett showrooms. As I parked up and walked across the road I saw those railway arches again. It was quite eerie ! Once inside I was met by the sales manager (apologies, it is some time now and his name escapes me), he quickly ushered me over to see the van. She was a beauty. Deep emerald green and gererously equipped. Three piece bed (vital for a sleepy head like me), sumptious leather and all the AV stuff to keep youngsters happy.
My wife is a sucker for kids, She pretty much had in mind ferrying around all our neices and nephews on weekends away ! It was probably the easiest sale he had ever made. I popped a deposit on her and headed home.
A week later saw me making the same journey again, only this time by train. I really enjoyed the journey actually. In another life I was a trainee driver of diesel locomotives at Stratford, London. I'd done just under six years when I left, so I appreciated the sights ! It wasn't long before I'd parted with my bankers draft and the paperwork was done. The journey home was even more enjoyable. She was an incredible ride, smooth and effortless.
Since that time we've toured both at home and abroard. We've towed the carvan to Billing and slept in that whilst our guests have slept in the van. She's been a real pleasure to own. The only blot on her copybook was when a crankshaft position sensor went down. The van had to be recovered home by transporter. This fault was easily detected by my mechanic when hooked up to diagnostics. The main problem was that we had been in Central France at the time.......... but that's another story !!!
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