Farewells and lunch on my lap

Sunday us brought towards the end of what feels like a marathon month of saying good buy. It has been lovely to see many of our friends and family but saying good bye knowing that you’re going to the other side of the world adds a certain poignance to the action.

In addition to saying farewell to Carol, Paul, Aly and Shell today I managed to end up wearing part of my slug and lettuce lunch. Picture the scene... Luke James Carol and Paul go out to lunch (with a discount voucher of course) and as my order is delivered the waitress miss aims and spills a pot of coleslaw onto me. Now this was a spectacular spill hitting my shirt, jeans, shoes, the chair and the floor. The waitress goes read and apologises but fortunately does not attempt to wipe up the creamy and lumpy liquid sitting on my crotch.

After lunch it was into town to register at the YHA ready for our treck. This was no mean feat as getting to Potato Warf was challenging. We quickly located the YHA building but discovered that there was a river and two canals separating us from our intended destination. In what must have been a precursor to our travels proper we traversed a number of bridges, squeezed passed a fence, struggled to negotiate the electronic door and fell into the reception where we duly joined the YHA.

Being legendarily tight we then completed two mystery shops as we wanted a coffee. Normally we seek out coffees at the lower end of the price scale but with a £3 budget we went wild and had a caramel macchiato each albeit from two different outlets as per the mystery shop criteria! A visit to Aly and Shell to drink champagne then topped off our night. This of course was champagne left over from a previous Alice visit as opposed to a fit of reckless spending our behalf.

28/2/11

The trauma of packing...

Today has been a traumatic day for James... we have had to pack. As 2^nd time travellers James realised that the travel Iron and the year’s supply of shampoo had to be jettisoned and that his glass back was not up to carrying 25kg. That said we all know he likes his clothes but upon packing the purposely smaller bag James realised that he could not fit in all his clothes and personal hygiene items. What James thought was a reasonably small amount of clothes was in reality a well stocked colonial trunk. What followed was 2 hours of negotiation and rationalisation of the “capsule” wardrobe. There was feet stamping, pleading and a few items of clothes thrown across the room but in the end he (and me) settled on the following:

·         13 tee shirts/shirts

·         2 shorts/ swimming shorts

·         1 day trousers

·         1 fleece

·         1 jumper

·         1 swimming shorts

·         5 boxer shorts

·         4 pairs of socks

At the end James mused "oh how am I going to be able to manage?" 

After this frankly awful day it was time to eat but again this presented a challenge. Scrooge AKA Luke has refused to buy any food this week and has issued a dictate that “all meals shall be cupboard surprises.” A week of this has produced some culinary “delights” but James came to the rescue. With the aid of £6 of dried porcine mushrooms, a sweet potato, some aged garlic and risotto rice he was able to rustle up a half way decent meal. Far better than the lunch time offering of  a jar of pickled roll mop herrings, ketchup and toast for me (I can’t recommend this) and some old cheese in bread for James.

The evening now beckons and tomorrow Carol and Paul collect the car and the laptop. As such James must print off our e tickets and his collected works of travel. This currently runs to 13000 words over 58 pages. I think he has missed his calling and should upon his return seek gainful employment as a personalised travel agent.

26/2/11

A life domestic servitude is NOT for me...

Each morning this week James has said good buy picked up his lunch and bag and gone to work. I have been left to do the house work. My god its dull. I will never make a stay at home husband! Cleaning and sorting out the house takes so long and then I become neurotic about keeping the house clean once James returns. Shoes are banned, dinner needs to be cleaned up immediately after eating and the glass shower divide wiped down after use!

Leaving is getting even more real now. I have emptied the kitchen and we now only have 2 plates, cups etc. The TV has gone to the tip all cupboards are empty and the house is clean. I am off to York tomorrow with a sofa for the students and 6 boxes for James' parents. The rest of our stuff is either in the loft, the top bits of our bedroom cupboards or more likely in the tip. It is quite amazing the amount of junk you accumulate in 8 years of living in the same house.

The evening heralds a night of downloading talking books onto my Ipod, eating what i know as 'cupboard supprise' and James knows as "more crap food why cant I have a pizza I am board of eating out the freezer and cupboards now"

India is calling....and the British weather guarantees we go!

Time is galloping along. January and the best part of Feb have passed us by in a blink of an eye. We became rather popular in the last 6 weeks with all weekends spent with friends and family and a good number of the week nights too. It has been lovely seeing everyone although I have said "see you in 12 months" rather a lot. The good news is that some of our friends and family will be visiting. This is harder than last time as everything was within the reach of easy jet. Now its long hall followed by a carrier with a less then favourable reputation- yes even worse than easy jet.

The last few days in the UK are beconing and I think the weather is doing its bit to ensure that we leave as its got colder wetter and more miserable. Whilst we may pine for some heat I guarantee that within 6 weeks of our tip I will be posting about how hot it is... Oh how British.

James will spend the last week dressing leg ulcers in the community whilst I tidy, pack up and have a quick trip up to York to hand over the running of the business to Carol.Oh it is good having a mother in law who is a natural property manager. I don't think the tenants will get away with anything on Carols watch.

If i sit here blogging James will tell me off so I best dash and box up the kitchen.

Luke

Last day tomorrow

In anticipation I have got into travel mode... came home had a sleep for an hour and then had a few drinks. Oh a year of worklessness sounds good to me!

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