The first monster truck to crush a car was apparently driven by a chap called Bob Chandler in 1981. There is a bit of debate about this is the high up circles of monster truck folklore but suffice to say, the whole car crushing thing was a hit with the paying crowds and so, 30years on, it was with a huge amount of delight, family Gamble headed to the Great Dorset Steam Fair to see Big Pete - the biggest monster truck in Europe - crush some cars. 

In a word - brilliant. Noah loved it almost as much as me, Sheba and Cords were keen but a bit bored by all the chat between car crushes (Big Pete weighs in at 7.5 tonnes, 13ft wide and 18ft long - has electronically controlled independent rear steering if you're interested). 

Anyway, I want one. I want one for the practice, for home and I want to kit it out as a mobile vet surgery. Unfortunately one tyre costs £3,000 (I've checked it out) and so I'll stick with the landrover and keep dreaming of crushing caravans and fiats.

Very sadly, I think Tim the cat may have had a run in with one recently - either that or a large dog. His pelvis was a bit of a state but these last couple of weeks have involved a huge amount of on call (18 nights out of 26 - violins at the ready), finishing book 2, fixing cats like Tim and screwing him back together. I've also had a run of treating lots of coughing pigs, lame cows, a few sick chickens and I did a vetting on the most amazing 3/4 Cleveland bay the other day so failing getting a monster truck to get around in, I might settle for a cleveland bay instead. I reckon this horse could have crushed a caravan and I wouldn't get arrested for roaming all over the forest on him...