When I am in the UK I get confused about what day to put on the post. You see 25th May is mum's birthday (she turned 91 this year), but I called her the night before, being the next day in New Zealand. So when I do a post for 25th May, I suppose it has to be for where I am, which is here, but it is a bit difficult trying to sort it all out. So on the NZ 25th, being the Hove 24th, I called mum and we sang her happy birthday, Sally and Jacques and me. She loved it. The good thing about my mother is she always loves everything so it is a pleasure to do anything for her.
The day after mum's birthday it was still the 25th over here. Weird. I once thought you could travel in time by whizzing around the world eastwards, but now I know that wouldn't work, because I just tried it, and here I am the day after. Travel can be so illuminating.
We had a splendid breakfast with lots of coffee and nuts and healthy things, then randomly selected seven sisters to visit because they were close and looked interesting. We took a lot of photos and left only footprints, though I did steal a couple of stones (I always do) which I think the beach could spare. We walked along the top of the falaises and lay on the grass and watched the clouds and remembered our youth. The wonderful thing about the British is that they let you walk everywhere, and put signs around so you know where you can go. There were people walking all over the place with packs on their backs and emergency rations hanging off them. They are very intrepid over here.
Now I have to report how Jacques saved my life. 
He noticed that the left rear tyre was a bit down (not depressed in an emotional sense, but down none-the-less) so on the way home we stopped to get it pumped up, and the fellow who did it said it wasn't safe, and I should get it fixed. So my afternoon entertainment included trying to get my telephone to work so I could have conversations with Mr Budget about the car. I won't drag you through the details, but it seems Mr Vodafone won't let me buy a bundle of data over here, but I can still send and receive communications with the outside world at an inflated cost when I can't find a wifi connection. Back to Mr Budget. He put me on to Mr AA, who put me on to Mr Express Tyres, who asked questions about the car and tyre, such as did I have a spare (no) and was there a tool kit in the boot (yes) and what numbers were written on the side of the tyre (DOT 7GUC P57) and then what other numbers were on the side of the tyre (215/40R17 87W). Then he came and changed it for a nice new one, and showed me where the old one had melted on the inside, and confirmed it was not safe and could have blown out any time.
Let me tell you about the motorways over here. They are four lanes wide and you can't just sit in lane, because cars feed
in from the left side all the time, so you have to move to make room for
them and then you get squeezed in between huge artic trucks and it's
very scary! So to have a blow out when stuck between big trucks would not be nice. So thank you Jacques. Not only that, Sally and Jacques put red flowers in my room! They are always very good to me. I attach a photo of the flowers and the view from my window at their house.
PS Many of the photos are by Jacques, but not the one of him.
Tomorrow's post will explain driving under the Thames, finding Ilkley, and seeing Deb. I am only a day or so behind, but it may seem longer if you are in NZ, but it's not real, it's a function of the time thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment