Four More Sleeps

While the rest of the Western World might be waiting for Christmas and telling their children "19 more sleeps" to rein in their excitement, in our family we are on "four more sleeps" in anticipation of the Great Adventure on Sunday afternoon through to Monday morning. Mum and Dad are in a kind of temporary routine. Dad's alarm goes off at 07:30 and he shares breakfast time with Mum, cooking toast this morning. Diamond stays a-bed a little while longer. Mum goes off to work for the pre-penultimate time this morning well wrapped in the new pink "Commander Dave" coat, woollen scarf, purple big bobble hat and gloves, lap top over her shoulder. She opts to walk. "It'll do me good", she says.

Dad is off to the caravan this morning to clear out any perishables left there when they stop using it and make sure it is fit to be handed back to 2CV Llew. Main events though are a public screening of the new Mike Maloney (Countrywide Productions) barge film "Red Sails" which features a lot of SB Cambria and actually has Dad's name in the credits. This is happening in the cinema ("The Royal") in Faversham Town Centre and is free so we expect a big turn out and there is an option to show the film again later in the afternoon if it is over crowded.

Then tonight is the next in Dad's succession of farewell do's, this one the 2CV club lot having their Christmas Dinner at the pub the group uses for it's club nights, the Haywain in Bramling, just east of Canterbury. Llew is driving tonight so Dad can have a beer or two.

Last night Dad bad farewell to the Horticultural Society for whom he has been Treasurer for 11 years. It's a lively club holding 4 Shows, a dance, 2 or 3 coach trips (one a 4-night holiday), a quiz and 12 Speakers Nights per year. It has a turn over of about £20,000 per year so there is plenty for the Treasurer to do and Dad has enjoyed it but last night is the AGM where Dad must present the audited accounts one last time. They all seem to love him there (poor fools!) and he gets a nice send off with votes of thanks coming from all ways and a presentation of an engraved pewter tankard. There is a small party in his honour after the meeting which includes a cold buffet which features cheese straws, a known favourite of Dad's and subject of plenty of joking by the many little old ladies and aul' fellas who make up the Society. Dad is succeeded (as they say) by new Treasurer Alf so good luck to him. Dad hopes he enjoys the job as much as Dad did himself, all be it Dad is now pleased and relieved to be handing over the tiller.

Four More Sleeps

Deefer

We here.

Well, here we are. We (Haggis and I) have emigrated and are now residents of the Irish Republic. Dad has come with us to bring us here and will be heading back to UK at the end of the month to bring Mum and the 2CV and little Fiat over, then we'll be back together again.

We had our last night at Pud Lady's on Sunday night after which we packed everything back into the bags and cases. Dad pulled the plug on the new inflatable mattress with me still on it so that I gradually descended to the floor while breakfasts were eaten. Tom helped carry everything out the car. It just about fitted with us on our dog beds on two thirds of the back seat, a little bit easier than on the original journey down because we had offloaded huge bags of allotment onions and spuds onto Pud Lady. We all bade each other fond farewells and piled into the car. Pud Lady will miss us and the games of Scrabble. The final series score after 64 games was 32:32

We headed first for Faversham where we were left in the caravan while Dad went off to see a private screening of the new Mike Maloney barge film "Red Sails", a veritable gathering of all the great and good of the barge world, from officers in the various National barge organisations, former skippers, the ship wrights, sail makers, barge owners and a fair smattering of the Cambria Trust lot; Dad's crowd! The film was excellent and lasted about 50 minutes after which there was rousing applause for Mike and a question and answer session. Dad came back to the caravan for a kip, setting himself up for the long evening drive to Holyhead.

We leave Faversham at 15:30 sneaking through the Dartford tunnel before 17:00 and missing most of the M25 traffic, but it's a bugger of a journey anyway with massive tail backs on the M6 just before the toll road starts and then more getting back onto the M6 at the end of the toll bit. We stop every couple of hours for a breath of air and a comfort stop in a variety of motorway services. We then hit more trouble when the M56 is closed because a lorry has fallen off a bridge onto the carriageway, killing the driver and shocking a couple of passing motorists. We arrive at Holyhead at just on midnight, tired out. More 'comfort stops' in the car-park waiting to board the ferry.

We sleep in the car for the run across, Dad grabs a cabin on the boat but can't sleep well. By 06:30 we are driving off the ferry and headed SW towards Limerick. By 07:30 we dogs are breakfasting in a farm gateway just outside Emo and by 08:30 we are at Mrs Silverwood's getting welcomed in and causing a certain amount of chaos as we nip out the back for a wee in the yard and inadvertently let the three resident dogs (Westies Lily, Maxwell and Yorkie Coco) through to the kitchen where they get under all the kids' feet as they are getting readied for school. More chaos later as builder Tommo is in the house today putting down new laminate flooring in the living room.

Enough for today, though, as Mrs S wants to unplug me to re-arrange the broad band cabling.

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Ferry Tickets

A couple more pics of the Cambria now she is fully rigged and sail-able. Ignore them if you're not as obsessed as Dad (and who is?). Another hot day so we take our walk in the Challock Forest where the dense grown-up chestnut coppice gives a good deal of shade. We meet a lady out walking 2 westies and two wiry haired dachshunds, which is visually an amusing combination. The dachsies are scruffy like an unclipped westie but much shorter in the leg and longer in the body.

In terms of Project Erroll, Dad books his ferry tickets for the first burst of real (as opposed to internet) house hunting. He is going to team up with Mrs Silverwood, the world's number 1 organiser of people like estate agents. She has no fear. They will look round each of the dozen or so which Mum and she have shortlisted and, like an 'observer corps' rather than a battling unit, will report back to central command (Mum). There is only one place which Dad might conceivably be allowed to put any kind of tentative offer in about and we're too wary of tempting fate to even give you a clue where that might be at present.

Today, film maker Mike Maloney (Google "Red Sails Trailer" for more bargey action) calls and invites Dad round to see some 'rushes' filmed during the Thames Barge Match. This is partly to show them off but also Mike loves to run his tentative descriptions past anyone reasonably knowledgeable to get his facts straight. He has some lovely footage there of barges at speed.

There is also a move in the de-cluttering stakes. The lady (Sheila) who is to take over secretarying on the Allotments Committee comes round to be shown the ropes and handed a disk of all the files, and wobbles off on her bike with three lever arch files in her basket, the live file and 2 of archive. 3 fewer lever arch files kicking around in the study when we come to pack properly.

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MUST SEE You Tube Video

Dad interupts my musings to tell you about a fantastic thang which has appeared on You Tube, namely the 3 and a half minute trailer to a film being made locally by a friend of his, one Mike Maloney, he who made famous and popular local fims "Sideways Launch" (about our town's boat building industry) and "A Dream of Flight" (about early British flight based on the Isle of Sheppey). Mike is now making a film about Dad's beloved sailing barges ("Red Sails") and you can see the trailer on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBT_zOC0V0c

or by plugging "Red Sails Trailer" into your search engine. Dad says if you are not stirred by the opening shots of a barge in a heavy sea or the old black and white footage of our own SB Cambria (white haired skipper in jumper and skinny 'mate' in specs) her last Captain (Bob Roberts) and mate 'Ginger' (Phil) Latham, then you are some kind of Philistine and you have a heart of cold cold stone.

Ahhhhhhhhh .... deep sighs of contentment. Wonder in Mum thinks she'll get away with not being SHOWN it tonight!

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