The rusting hulk finally goes

Who can remember those long ago days when a barrel of oil didn’t cost a king’s ransom?  In those times ordinary people could afford to run an oil fired heater and plenty of families here in New Zealand had them installed for winter heating.   But not for many years now, the price of oil skyrocketed and just kept going up, up, up.  We have one of these heating units which has not been fired up for many years, plus an oil tank to go with it.  This rusty tank stood beside the back wall of the house all these years and was in the way of our house painting.  We really wanted it gone, but how on earth do we get rid of it?  It is not the sort of thing that can be taken to the dump.  Our friend Derek came up with a good suggestion.  Why not contact the Wellington Vintage Machinery Club, they could be interested in using the oil and kerosene mix to fire up their old engines? 

They jumped at the chance and turned up this morning with a truck equipped with a “Hiab” type crane on the back to lift it onto the tray take it back to their club rooms.  Ropes were hooked around the tank and the crane lifted it away from the wall of the house. 

While it was suspended, the next step was to remove the legs from the tank so it would be more stable on the back of the truck.   Out came the hammer and after a bit of banging and twisting, the legs soon dropped off from the base of the tank.

With one deftly working the controls and the other guiding, the tank was soon lowered safely onto the back of the truck and firmly tied down.

That didn’t take too long at all.  They had collected several old oil tanks before, they said, so they certainly knew what they were doing.  How about some morning tea, boys?  It’s lucky I had some home baking left to offer them.

We are so grateful that the rusting hulk of an oil tank has been removed, and just so pleased that the Wellington Vintage Machinery Club can make use of the oil.  Thanks to Derek too for his suggestion.  Robin wasted no time in getting his paint brush out to put some etch primer on the now accessible part of the back wall.

The last little bit on the back wall