Last week’s blog ended, unusually, being written on Monday
but I’m back into my routine of sitting down with the laptop and tapping away
into a document so I can publish this tomorrow morning using the internet in my
office. For some reason this week feels like it has been really long and
sitting at her parents’ kitchen table typing away on my lunch break last Monday
feels like months ago. A lot has happened this week I suppose and that will do
strange things to your perception of time.
So last Monday, after I finished work, we were in the car
and off to go past her Nan’s for the last time before our evening flight. We
picked up some chips from a fish and chip place in town which weren’t that
great sadly and had a good time drinking tea and nattering before it was time
for her mum to drive us to the airport. The flight was not very exciting but
was short and once again being in 1A and 1B was such a pleasure. Just to be
able to not rush around to get to the gate and then have the leg room to
stretch out and finally to be first on and off the plane; worth every penny.
The bus to take us back to the carpark arrived relatively quickly but it was
completely rammed; we only just managed to get on and a few people who were
waiting were not able to. It turned out of three buses one had broken down so
they were short. Everyone on the bus was really pleasant and kind to each other
and helped each other out to disembark despite the crush so it was not a bad
experience really. We were home within an hour of landing and after a brew hit
the sack.
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| A bit of a blurry picture of a macaroon |
Tuesday felt like Monday to me and my boss and two
colleagues were in another office so it was just myself, Lee and Ade. Lee had
made everyone macaroons for the day before and at my insistence he had saved
some of me and A. They were lovely, with a really dark chocolate filling. I
took one back for A who wasn’t so keen on the filling but liked the actually
macaroon. This is a particular obsession of Lee’s and he goes on about trying
to make the perfect macaroon so it was nice to finally taste one of his
attempts that he was quite pleased with.
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| Weathered Class 150 in First Northwestern colours |
I had received quite a lot of deliveries over the weekend
while we were away and one of them was the Class 150 in First Northwestern
livery which I had ummed and ahhed about buying. It came without a chip in it,
but had a space for one, so on Wednesday I got back from work very excited
about getting the chip fitted. About two minutes later I went back to the sofa,
frustrated. The body of the loco is fixed on with three screws which is fine
until you find out that none of your screwdrivers are small enough to reach
down to them. I spent the next two hours looking for a specific screwdriver set
for taking apart locos and then gave up and ordered a jewellery set for next
day delivery.
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| Lovely pie with a lovely message |
Dinner was outstanding on Wednesday (when isn’t it
outstanding, actually?) as we had some mince to use up and I had no suggestions
then A came up with the idea of a pie. The pastry was lovely and the filling
was amazing but she didn’t make enough for me to take in to work the day after
as I was planning on a pub lunch with Lee. Anyway the pie deserves more words
than I have given it, particularly when you look and see the little heart shape
and “Made With Love” picked out and just about visible post baking. I had
seconds and was completely over full but it was worth it.
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| Putting books into boxes |
The pub was great on Thursday having hoped to have gone on
Tuesday with our boss but been let down to only go to the café round the
corner. I chose the hunters chicken this time while Lee had my usual of Gammon
with double egg. It was nice to get out of the office and actually take a
lengthy lunch break. That evening while I was reading A got a box and packed up
the books. This weekend our plan was to do as much packing as we can so that
next weekend, when we get back from my parents with Harrison full of kitchen,
we are ready on the Sunday to do the full load. Lee cannot now help on the
Sunday however Loz has said he’ll come over so we do have a bit of additional
muscle to help out.
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| The Kong Wobbler, bright red and huge |
I’d put a large order into Amazon for the final things we
need for the journey (thermos flasks, fuel for the cooker etc) and while
putting that order together I’d added some toys and things for Rambo. I thought
I’d get two kongs as he destroys them very quickly so I picked a red one and a
black one and never thought anything about one of them being called a “wobbler”
until I opened the box and saw what it actually was. It is huge and will
probably hurt a lot to try and kick but hopefully he will have fun with it. He
is a spoiled dog, he really is.
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| Tiny screws and a DCC chip fitted |
The jewellery screwdrivers had also arrived so I took ten
minutes around lunch to make sure they worked and they were perfect. It took a
bit of fiddling to get the body off the loco once the screws were undone but
actually fitting the chip was a doddle. I put it all back together and then
waited for the evening when my mate Bob was coming over with a load of locos
and his rolling road so we could set up the Z21 controller I had bought and
make sure it all worked. For a while I was tempted to go and buy a piece of
hardboard and actually lay an oval of track but the rolling road was a better
idea, particularly as I have no soldering iron to make up a power feed to the
track with. He arrived on time and I helped him carry in a stack of boxes and
we were able to have a get it all set up really quickly, but with his own
controller which he had also brought. He has some locos with sound on them and
they are great; eventually maybe I will do that but for now the fact that a
sound chips is five times as expensive as a non-sound chip is just too steep
for me.
A had made an outstanding lasagne for our dinner and when
she carried it through to the dining room then turned around and put her coat
on and went to the pub, leaving us, we were very amused indeed. Suffice to say
we ate our way through over half of the lasagne before heading back to the
living room to hook up my equipment and check it all out. While I was doing
this Bob was pleased to borrow my jewellery drivers so he could put a chip in a
Northern Rail Class 150 he had bought recently as well so that worked out.
Everything worked well first time out of the box with the Z21 and the app on
the tablet I bought and now I need to get a soldering iron and either set up an
oval or get some rolling road of my own so I can bed the loco in. One thing
that was a really pleasant surprise was he had brought a loco to give to me as
a house warming type gift for the school. It is a steam loco and has a chip in
it already and it will fit in with the idea I have had to have an independent
section of track with steam locos on it as if it were a holiday attraction.
I’ll stop geeking out now, ok?
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| I had to try and cut the transfer to make them fit |
When Bob left he dropped me at the pub where I had a pint
with A which was very nice; it is a very friendly place. We were both pretty
tired so we didn’t stay long and walked back in the rain to get a cup of tea
and then bed. Saturday morning was a lie in but even though we stayed in bed as
long as we could we were still up and about by about 9. Sadly A had work to do
over the weekend which was rubbish for her so I left her to it and went and
finished the Red Arrow kit. This only involved putting on the transfers but I
had a lot of trouble with the triangle on the underneath. There are vanes on
the bottom of the wings and the transfer was supposed to go over where they are
however it would not fold over and sit flat. I worked it out in the end and
carefully used the scalpel to cut each transfer so it went around the vanes. It
isn’t perfect and there was a little tear when I cut the first one but from a
distance again it is fine. I will now package this up very carefully to go over
to Bulgaria on this trip.
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| Piling boxes up ready for the pack next weekend |
The rest of the day was taken up with moving things around
in the dining room, then stacking boxes up there, and finally taking the big
desk down in the office. I put the freezer outside to defrost and actually
accidentally left it out over night; thankfully there were no little creatures
in it when I took it out to the shed today. Most of the boxes in that picture
are actually full of trainset stuff; nothing like collecting huge amounts of
stuff just before you’re leaving the country again.
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| The clothes rack slides back into its box |
The final task was to start clearing the dressing room which
included taking apart one of the clothes rails we bought to move here with. It
all just about fit back in the box it came in, with a lot of tape and a bit of
swearing. All we are left now to pack is some glassware and other bits from the
kitchen and her clothes. All of this will be done before next weekend so they can
go into Harrison on Sunday.
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| Emerald Green (Revell: 61 Humbrol: 2) |
And so to today. A was still typing away on the long file
that was taking longer to complete than she had expected. The sun was out and
it was a lovely day so I set myself up on the dining table with the new kits
and decided I wanted to make the Sea King. I pulled all my paints together and
started to sort out what I would need and realised that I had bought paints for
the Concorde and the Air Ambulance, both of which are Revell and the Sea King
kit was an Airfix which used different numbering for the colours. I will now
have to source a couple of Humbrol paints with which to complete this kit but
fortunately it came with some paints so I have been able to make a start
anyway.
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| Harrison is now fully dressed |
I managed to drag A away from her desk long enough to help
me finally fix the flag up on the back of the cab in Harrison. We used a staple
gun and this was good enough to hold it firmly in place. I was also able to put
the phone holder together and before we leave on Friday I’ll stick my cable
tidies around to keep it all under control for the journey. It really is
getting very close indeed now and I think this is starting to sink in quite
firmly. This afternoon I went upstairs to wait for A and fell straight asleep
for an hour without meaning to and right now she is dozing on the sofa next to
me.
So what I am going to do now is finish typing this and then
sit and read for a bit before heading to bed and hope that, unlike last night,
I can actually sleep and don’t have to come down at midnight to read some more
and drink whisky in the hope it will help (which, incidentally, it didn’t). I
have finished my Travis McGee series after 21 books and so am now casting
around for my next book. If the next one I find is even half as good then I
will be happy.
