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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
