Dear Diary (the calendar and planning kind of one),
I am, quite frankly, shattered. Exhausted to the point of not posting a blog yesterday. Why, you might ask? Well, you shouldn’t because it is all your fault. What on earth possessed you to allow the schedule of diary entries over the last two days? Have you lost your mind?
Wednesday morning – admin morning. That’s fine. I have no issue with that whatsoever. Just north of £88 spent at the post office later, having written sixteen letters and addressed sixteen envelopes (some silver, some purple) to be returned to beneficiaries, solicitors and the GLD, you gave me an ETA of between 3 and 4pm for Tea in Twickenham. Hm…. conscious of my severe dislike of driving in London, a window of time rather than a specified arrival time was much appreciated.
Success! I arrived at 3:45pm and followed the instructions for how to enter “Fort Knox”. Thank heaven for the strict and specific instructions from my host as I would otherwise have failed to gain entry. In fact, several pedestrians and the failure of Mr Security Man to remove one of THREE bollards almost scuppered my attempts…. I was not to be beaten!
Tea was much more than I expect and sandwiches and scones were demolished – many thanks for my invitation to tea (you know you are!) and also for the car boot (trunk in some languages) of magazines for a charitable organisation which I am involved. They will undoubtedly be well received by our members at the next Members Meeting.
And so, onward. 16 minutes to Hounslow, or so you said Gertrude. Lies. Grand scale lies. Over 45 minutes later, I arrived in Hounslow. What the heck!? This journey did not serve to improve my liking of London driving. However, very positive Committee meeting in which much was achieved/planned/actioned. Happy Chairman! And so, onward to my bed for the night which, Dear Diary, was in Southampton….?
Arrival at 11pm and departure via taxi at 5:15am left little time for Zzzzz. In fact, 3 hours and X minutes on the alarm when the head hit the pillow. Checking out at this time of the morning is clearly unusual as it was nigh on impossible to find a member of staff. The taxi driver was far too chatty for my liking. Seriously buddy – it’s 5:15am and I have managed to woof down half a cup of coffee. Shush!
So, you decided, Dear Diary, that I was flying to Newcastle. Leaving Southampton at 7am to be there for shortly after 8am. Not a bad plan, without all the other bits beforehand. Never have I managed to get to Newcastle so quickly and I have done the trip a fair few times over the years by road. [Shakes head when thinking of these horrendously long trips.]
Managed a coffee at Newcastle airport prior to be collected by my ‘chauffeur’ for the day and we (‘chauffeur’ and his lovely wife) ventured across to the house which was to be our ‘residence’ for the day. Without boring you with all the minutiae, Dear Diary, you planned my flight times well (in terms of on the ground logistics). We had plenty of time to change the locks, clear the house of clothes, books and household items, have three estate agents visit and a local auctioneer …. and even have lunch! Many thanks to my ‘chauffeur’ and his lovely wife as well as the solicitor on the case for all their hard work. A job well done and now we can move things along with our dear departed’s estate.
A few hours to spare before the return trip to Southampton so I could catch up with the team and get some research done. 8pm flight back to Southampton and landed around 9:30pm. Lord above – I have never seen so many cars exiting a multi-storey car park at 10pm! What on earth….!? Taxi ride (again, of the ‘please stop talking’ variety) back to pick up the car and then back home shortly before midnight.
Wow, Dear Diary, you sure gave me a hectic schedule there. Now, can I have a rest? Oh erm, apparently not! You have me running a course at the Society of Genealogists in London tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) and then two lectures on Monday and Tuesday evening next week. All three (course and two lectures) on different subjects.
I think I’ll get 40 winks this afternoon!
