Thursday started with our normal 6:30 am walk under blue skies and warm temps. In fact it was such a wonderful day that I decided to walk into Huntingdon and pick up a few groceries. It is about 3 miles from the house and I was halfway there when a very attractive woman in a red MG with the top down, the car`s not her`s, picked me up and gave me a lift to Tesco, the Loblaws of England. I wanted to take a picture of this attractive lady in her MG, but she was on her way to get her hair done and wanted me to wait for the new hairdo. Keep posted.
English grocery stores are so civilized - one stop shopping for food, beer, wines, and spirits. With the exchange rate of about $1.50 CAD to the pound, I can purchase the same wines I can in Ontario but at much cheaper prices.
I had only my backpack so weighing priorities, I came away with a small number of food items and three bottles of wine, including a bottle of Wolf Blass Chardonnay Semillion, a wine difficult to find in the LCBO. I and the wine arrived home all intact about 45 minutes later - no red MG this time.
Louise arrive home from three days in Germany and we had a quick dinner as it was parent-teacher night for Maeghan and they had to be there for 6:00.
Jeff has been monitoring a website called Freegle, very similar to Freeware in the US (it actually was started as a response to Freeware demanding that all moderators for the different groups throughout the would be US citizens.) Jeff enjoys the odd cigar in his ``Pad``, i.e. the garage. When asked where Jeff is, the answer is he`s changing the oil in the garage. If you look out at the garage you can see the cigar smoke billowing out of the doors.
On Freegle he found someone offering two upholstered chairs, a love seat (but we don`t refer to it as a love seat because it is going to be used in the boy`s pad), and a couch. He had contacted the earlier and was promised that they would hold them for him. This night we got the call that they would be around and we could pick up the furniture. Jeff and I got ready to go and realized that Louise has the Volvo SUV and we had Jeff`s little car. After 15 calls to Louise`s cell phone - she couldn`t answer because she was in a meeting one of the teachers - we decided to drive in and switch cars and leave a note for hoping that in the panic she would feel when her car was not where she had left it, she would notice Jeff`s car and check her email messages. Luck was with us as she called just as Jeff was writing the note.
Off we went to pick up as much furniture as we could fit in and on the Volvo. We were directed to a barn down a dark lane. Upon arrival we could hear a motor running in the barn. As we entered this humongous tractor pulled to a stop and a man exited the cab. Now I have a mental picture of what an English farmer should look like, and this one did not disappoint me. On his head was a sweat-stained fedora; boots and baggy pants, a shirt, a vest, a sweater, a suit coat, and a fag in his mouth completed the picture. One thing I did not expect was that this gentleman was blotto. We were greeted with a lop-sides smile and the statement that he ``had a wonderful and lunch``. Mind you, this was at 6:30 in the evening so it must have been a wonderfully long and liquid lunch! And I shudder to think he drove that huge tractor back from the pub.
We hurried to move items out of the way to get at the furniture. I was afraid if he tried to do some moving himself, he might end up on the floor of the barn and be quite content to lay there until morning.
We were able to load the two-seater (a.k.a. the love seat) and a chair in the back of the Volvo. As it was raining lightly we decided to return the next night for the three-seater. He informed us that he would be in the pub for a pint or two around 5:00 the next night and we welcome to just come and help ourselves.
The furniture is now installed in the pad and it looks quite comfortable with the exception of needing a heater. It`s a mite damp and cold in the evenings.
The chair and Jeff`s supply of cider, which is quite excellent I might add.
And close to hand if you don`t care for a glass of cider.
The work desk with the computer.
The two-seater in place.
The must have dart board.
And a jewel of a find on Freegle - a model of Nelson`s ship of the line, HMS Victory.
Now everything is in place for the next poker game.
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