I've now done 3 trips to Ireland, recently twice in two weeks, both of these to remote houses just outside Kilkee in County Clare on the far west coast overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast then a 5 and a half hour drive to the unload address, unload and then a 5 and a half hour drive back to Belfast. I know what you’re thinking, why didn’t you go to Dublin; the ferry journey is shorter and the drive would be about 3 hours.
Belfast is in the UK, no paperwork; Dublin is in the EU, paperwork, passports, red tape. Brexit’s wonderful eh!
1st time we went, the ferry docked 2 hours late, so it was a bit of a mad dash to get back again, but we made it with about half an hour to spare. Customers name was Tim, his dad who met us and helped us unload, was also Tim. On the first trip I went with my son and on the second, with a lad called Josh.
We had a problem on the second trip in so much as the ferry company messed up the booking and the night ferry for the return was full so we were transferred to the 10:30 sailing the following morning, which of course meant a stay overnight in a Premier Inn in Lisburn.
Our journey up was sort of eventful, we were asked to go from our load up address in Barton le Clay to Retford in Nottinghamshire to refit some legs on a sofa which had been delivered the previous week. It was literally take the feet off of one end and refit the front leg at the back and the back leg at the front, we weren’t in the house 15 minutes and then we had to head across country to Birkenhead for the ferry.
The route took us via Sheffield and then across to Manchester using the Woodhead pass, which meant passing through Crowden and going past the Campsite that my Mum and Dad were Wardens at, back in the late 1990’s.
We arrived in Birkenhead early enough to find a Wetherspoons for our evening meal (Cheaper and tastier than the boat).
Ireland was obviously much the same, the boat docked on time and so we missed all the rush hour traffic getting out of Belfast that we had been caught up in the week before. Got to the house, unloaded and then took the scenic coast road to Kilkee, quick walk on the beach, photo opportunity and then on our way. Premier Inn, so it was up for breakfast and then onto the ferry. No full Police search this time, unlike the journey out, where they were at the port and searching every car and van including a body and bag search and checking you on the system.
Here’s one for you, how do you kill 8 hours on a ferry on a daytime crossing when you don’t have a cabin?
The missing dog saga! Mentioned this last March, a dog that ran away from a house in Toddingdon (Gives it’s name to the service station on the M1 near junction 12) in November 2021. The family have campaigned heavily on its behalf, on social media as well as an aggressive poster campaign. Most of the local villages in Central Bedfordshire have been fly posted heavily. The posters have spread into parts of Luton where they reassure us that ‘Kizer’ is still being seen. Some villages have gotten ticked off with the posters, which have been updated 3 or 4 times, and they have removed them, as they do look scruffy and do make the place look untidy.
I probably shouldn’t say this but I am sorely tempted sometimes to stop and take them down myself and to be fair, it’s been nearly 18 months and most of us are sceptical that he is still running wild, even in survival mode. If he is still alive, I suspect that he is being looked after by a new owner.
He is apparently, larger than a cat but smaller than a fox, so if he is being seen, it’s running across a field and so it’s almost certainly a fox or a small muntjac deer.
I realise that it must be difficult to deal with, but when do you say, I think we have to face facts and accept that he has gone and our only hope of getting him back is when who ever has him, if he is still alive, takes him to a Vet and his chip gets scanned!
Recently had the task of packing a flat in Bayswater in London, which overlooks Hyde Park. It is technically a flat but it is on 3 levels and also I was only there to pack the ornaments and the wall art, of which there was some very large, very impressive and very expensive items; most worth a few thousand each including a couple of Picasso sketches!
Another piece, which was about 5 feet square, was just made up of broken up records glued to the backboard all overlapping each other in a random fashion and in the middle was the centre piece with the label of the Aladdin Sane Album by David Bowie and then in acrylic paint, painted on top, from the label almost to the bottom of the frame, was the red and blue lighting streak from the cover of the Album. Very impressive and very heavy!
I was there for 3 days and we were there for 6 days in total, putting it into storage whilst the flat has a refurb. We also had a couple of vans full of stuff to go to the customers other London flat which they will use when they visit London during the refurb works. Spookily the second flat is in Whitfield Street which runs along the back of the building I worked in back in the late 1990’s in Tottenham Court Road, so I knew just where it was and that it has good view of the BT Tower, which is just around the corner.
One of our nephews is over from the States, he’s an Airman in the US Air Force and is stationed in the UK for the next 3 years. Met up with him and he came to see if he wanted any furniture from my Dad’s house, he took a few things and a work colleague had a couple of bits as well. He had met up with us all a couple of weeks earlier and we all went to and escape room together. We did escape and it was really good fun, intense, but fun. I’ve a feeling that we will be doing that again sometime.
At Christmas, the rest of his family came over to see him so of course we all had to meet up. Grandma wanted a photo of all her Grandchildren, it’s been 10 years since they were all together so I think she thought that at 87, if it takes another 10 years she may not see them all together again. We also went out to lunch on New Years Day which was cool.
I was going to say that I’m sure we’ll meet up with him again over the next 3 years and then in February it was his Birthday so we all went 10 pin bowling with him and Grandma bought us all lunch. I won both games and had my lunch bought for me, happy days!
Now conscious that I’ve done nothing to my family history for months now, I think the last action was when we visited one of my dad’s cousins whilst away for a week in Cornwall, but even that didn’t advance me very far. The subject was discussed at our annual family get together at Christmastime, so in time for next Christmas’s meet I am to endeavour to update the tree that I have and print a copy, so that the others can see just how the cousins and more distant family members that are often mentioned are in relation to our small family group all fit together, both across the tree and historically .
And on that note I really need to get AutoCad working again, as that is the programme that I have all the layouts drawn up in.
It is also bugging me that I have not done anything to my Covers Section for over a year. To be honest, I get home from work, cook and eat dinner, watch a bit of TV and that’s me for the evening. I am trying to get into the habit of writing a paragraph an evening, which is going well so far, that’s three evenings, three paragraphs!