"Well alright!  You all go!  I'm not sitting in the front with Malcolm while you're all sat in the back like gypsies. And I'm certainly not sitting in the back all that way.  Definitely not," I said indignantly.

Malcolm agreed.  It was a silly idea.  Mam stared at me, her eyes narrowing.

"We're all going or nobody goes," she said defiantly, as if it was originally our idea to go in the first place.

The girls began to whimper, sensing the trip was slipping away because of a disagreement. Mam stood thinking, wondering whether it was a sensible idea after all.

"There are only two seats in the cab," I reminded her, "and there are six of us."

"We'll be alright.  Get some cushions and something for our heads.  We're not as fussy as you pair," she said, looking at the girls but referring to Malc and me.

She had decided to brazen it out.  The girls shrieked with joy, and set about cleaning out the back of the van. Borrowing various cushions from the chairs indoors, they laid them down on blankets and rugs.  And then they piled in, with enough food, drink, books, beach balls, and various bags to fill another pick-up, all within minutes, shouting, "Come on!"

Malcolm and me looked at each other and grinned, trying not to embarrass them by laughing.

"Well, they look comfortable enough Malc, but what if it rains?"

"It's not going to rain, Ronnie, it's a lovely day! Come on, let's go, or it'll be time to come back," said Mam, impatience and discomfiture creeping into her voice.

Our neighbours in Heol-yr-Onen must have thought we were a sight.  An opinion I expressed as I got in the cab.

"Never mind how we look, we'll manage. You just drive away," ordered Mam, giving me one of her 'don't you dare answer me back', looks. We stopped at the first garage we came to, for air and petrol, and put on special smiles, as if everybody travelled like this nowadays.

We thoroughly enjoyed spending money and making sandcastles at Porthcawl.  But the most memorable was the return journey. As expected, traffic was bumper to bumper, alternating between slow, stop and start, for most of the way. We were doing alright, until we encountered what seemed like an endless incline. Then our little van began to have mechanical hiccups, until it gasped and stopped completely.

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