Harrison gets a workout

Once again it is the end of the week and time for me to drag my weary self behind the laptop and type this out, with the admonition from A “don’t do a long one” ringing in my ears. And so I will attempt to please her.

 

Stupendously tasty steak

Before I get into the week and just how busy it has been let’s go back to after I finished typing the last post and went to start cooking dinner. We had two huge ribeye steaks, bought from our favourite butcher up in Blackpool, and I did my patent butter mushrooms, oven chips (I can’t wait to get back to my deep fryer) and peas and, if I do say so myself, I outdid myself. The steaks were done perfectly with the fat melty and the blood still running, and everything else was perfect as well. It was a lovely way to end the weekend and while now it is a dim memory it has all been brought back to me by typing about it. I’m good at cooking steaks.

 

I needed my third hand for the transfer application

While I was waiting for the chips to be done well enough to start the rest of the meal I set myself back on with the modelling and found a use for one piece of kit that I didn’t think I’d use yet; it says it is supposed to be for holding tweezers however I could not get them to stay firmly grasped, while not putting more pressure than I wanted on the plastic of the model so in the end I carefully and gently clamped the wing in directly and it worked really well. I haven’t actually touched the model since last week as the transfers really need direct sunlight and I haven’t had time, but it is nearly finished finally.

 

Another tasty burger

The main reason for not getting any more time on the kit is it has been a busy week again. Work has been tiring and I came back from the office on Monday with such a bad headache that I was asleep in bed by about 4.20pm and, other than waking to eat some lovely soup for dinner, slept right through until the alarm the next morning. The headache had been so bad that A even walked round to bring me headache pills during the day. Tuesday was a much better day and I got to go and meet up with my ex colleagues in the pub near work for lunch which was a real pleasure and we have agreed that we’ll do at least one more before I get to go home.

 

Stacking and sorting the train track

That evening I set myself the task of sorting, counting and packing the train track that I have so far. I spent about two hours and didn’t complete it all but at least it was a start. A fell asleep laying on the sofa while I was doing it and I don’t blame her as it wasn’t very interesting but we do have to start tidying and clearing up preparatory for leaving as the date is fast approaching. Wednesday night A helped out and we now have some boxes of nicely sorted track (elastic banded together into fives) and a few over which will get sorted with the final box that is due to arrive this week. I will certainly have enough track to make a good layout.

I don’t have pictures of the next but I managed to pick up a three seater sofa and two single chairs from Freecycle. They were just out towards Manchester and it didn’t take long to head over in Harrison to collect them. It was good to get him moving again (he made a “clonk” as we first set off having been sat for so long) and he made good progress all the way. The tail lift was once again a bonus and the chairs were loaded and we left the collection point within a couple of minutes. These will be my furniture once A leaves with the leather suite and it’s good to have that sorted out. The sofa is currently in the back of Harrison, though we have the single chairs inside as they don’t take up that much space.

Wednesday night was a night out with the extended team at my office as a group of them had come down from the Scottish office for the week. On my recommendation we went to the local with the amazing gammon, egg and chips and I don’t think anyone was disappointed. It was a really enjoyable evening with quite a crowd which slowly whittled down to just me, A and the Scottish guys and it was good to get on a social footing with them. I drank more than I meant to, though not that much, and it took a while on Thursday for my head to clear again.

 

Hugest of tasty pizzas

Thursday evening, after eating lovely bangers and mash with onion gravy we jumped into Harrison and headed over to Fi’s house. This weekend we have been helping Cjc move up there and I had the great idea that rather than have a complicated process of collecting and meeting up in service stations why don’t we just go over and stay the night Thursday where I can work from there on Friday and set straight down south at 4pm without complications. This worked really well and we manage to work our way south and round the peaks to avoid the snow that had closed most of the passes over the tops. When we arrived we had a beer and a nice chat before bed. Working from there on Friday was not a problem at all and by 3pm I had reached a point where I could shut down so off we went in Harrison. There were a few roadworks, and quite a number of accidents, on the M1 but we made pretty good time and reached his flat about 7pm. After a short round of tidying and putting some boxes into the back of Harrison we walked to the Italian in town near him and I had a huge hot pizza with chili oil and Gran Riserva. When we got back to his flat after I was very tired and sat watching him tidying around, then got a burst of energy before bed where we packed up and tidied the last of the DVDs and CDs.

 

Loaded the night before

I slept like a log and woke before the alarm which went off at 6.30. It was still dark so I snoozed it but we were both up and working at the loading by 7am. Cjc has a LOT of stuff and while loads had already been boxed, the volume of boxes was such it had prevented a large amount of the final packing and tidying to be completed. I was tasked with fitting everything into the back of Harrison and so went out, moved all the boxes we had loaded the night before (typical) so they were better arranged and every now and then demanded that Cjc tidy and release an item to me so it could be put in its own special place. One of his friends also came along for the morning to help and she was an immense help with tidying and taking beds down and making cups of tea and generally being of assistance in many ways. I made bacon and egg butties for everyone but that was about the only break and when we finally pulled the shutter down on the back of Harrison at 11.45am we were already pretty tired.

 

Still only about 2/3 full

We didn’t pause but were straight on the road and with only a brief pause to buy a butty and have a toilet break we drove straight to Sheffield. Most of the stuff we had collected was due to be put into a storage lockup he had rented and that morning I had a brainwave and asked A to meet us there to help unload. This was a brilliant idea and without her I don’t think we would have managed. We arrived about five minutes before her taxi brought her and when Cjc had found the locker we went to take a look. A was tasked with emptying his OTHER locker (he already had a small one) and moving the boxes to the new one, while we would empty Harrison and stack it all in there. It did not take long for me to observe that the new lockup would be way too small and after a bit of umming and ahhing (not before we’d already moved a load of boxes to the new locker, unfortunately) we managed to persuade him to upgrade and this was a very good job as even with my master tessellating skills we only just managed to fit everything in it. For a while it looked like we would have to take more stuff back to Fi’s than originally planned and I am so relieved we didn’t.

 

You fat bastard!

It was dark and we were starving as we left the storage so we rang ahead and Fi was ready for the walk (quite a long one, as tired and hungry as I was) to the pub with the good food. It was worth the extra effort though as the burger I ordered (doubled up, with egg and bacon) was immense and super tasty. The waitress didn’t think I’d finish it and expressed surprise when I emptied my plate as fast as everyone else who only had “normal” meals. All the food was good and it was a much slower more contented party which walked back to the house. I was shattered and after a short while back there I went to bed and slept through.

This morning I woke up naturally with no alarm and then dragged my complaining body out of bed (A had already gone for a run! Crazy woman!) down stairs and we started unloaded what had been brought back to be stored there. This was mainly a book shelf, boxes of books, and some kitchen stuff. When we had it all unloaded it was realised that we couldn’t find the little shelf things that the shelves sit on so we found a B and Q and myself and Cjc headed off for it; only a fifteen minute drive we thought. A was left with instructions to have breakfast waiting when we got back but fortunately she waited as the traffic was horrendous and it took well over an hour to get there and back. We did find the correct pieces though so Cjc was left happily stacking books as we were back into Harrison and driving home.

So now I sit here having eaten a lovely spag boll (pictures next week now) and before that had a super long soak in a bath with a generous dollop of Radox for relaxation purposes. My muscles are still aching and I am shattered but I feel human again. It has been a really good workout, this weekend, and not just in terms of physical effort. I now feel comfortable with Harrison and understand his limitations (at one point we were reduced to 1st gear going up a hill!) but also am confident that we will have no trouble fitting everything in and making near enough the progress we need to arrive in three days. I have had another idea as well which is to try and leave a space by the shutter where we can collect Rambo on the way. This is to take us on a route which does not require you to do the major mountains between Bulgaria and Romania, and will also mean A doesn't have to disappear midweek to collect him. This will only work if I can pack Harrison such that there is space, and things aren’t likely to fall on him. We shall see.

Right, a cup of tea has just been brought so I’m going to stop typing (it hasn’t been short, has it… oh well) and see you next week.