It is half past seven and I am in bed. Mark is going to be in bed in a few minutes as soon as he has finished in the shower.
We are so tired we can hardly see.
All the same, we have done it. It is achieved.We have got Oliver back to school.
We had to get up early yesterday, because of Mark’s mother coming to visit, which was nice, but as soon as she had departed we were swallowed by a frantic panic of laundry and packing and last-minute fixes to the camper van. It had to have the brakes bled and the water pump installed and the resulting mess cleared up.
Then we had to go to work.
It doesn’t sound like much when I write it down. It sounds like the sort of day that can be achieved at an easy stroll, but I can jolly well tell you that it wasn’t. To get the camper van out the taxis had to be moved into its space, it had to be taken to the garage and filled with diesel, and then into the alley at the back of the house to be filled with water. Then it had to be packed with everything we thought we might need.
Just to add to the adventure, it is parked next to the taxi rank, and when we went to pick it up somebody banged on my window and asked if they could have two taxis down to Bowness. Of course we said yes, we have been known to boot the children out of the back of the taxi if somebody is flagging at the side of the road, but it didn’t exactly help with the mellow flow of the day, most especially because I had left the sausages in the oven whilst we popped out to the van, and when we got back they had burned.
These things happen.
Anyway, we worked until three in the morning, with no more than the usual collection of intoxicated nuisances, and then dashed home.
We showered and threw the last things in the van, and we were off.
That also sounds a lot faster than it actually was. By the time we had finished emptying dogs and running back for things we had forgotten, it was half past four.
We chugged up over Shap Fell and fell asleep at the side of the road.
Mark and I staggered back into the cab at about ten this morning, but Oliver slept through until half past one.
Then we drove through Scotland.
We are here now.
We are in the woods, and everything is peaceful. Oliver has gone to school and we have emptied the dogs.
We are going to go to sleep.
Mark has finished in the shower and it is eight o’ clock now.
I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.
