See Y'all Later!

Another early start today, and it's gonna be a long one to say the least.

First job, get to Heathrow with my friends hubby and brother and not forgetting Emily, the basset hound who is also emigrating to the USA. We set of early enough but by the Dartford Tunnel it appears we're in a bit of traffic doo doo. I.E. we aint really moving much and time is ticking on by. Emily is suppose to be at the airport by 7.30 am so that she can be packaged up and loaded onto the plane from the Cargo area, but the time is now 8.30 and we still aint near the airport.

We finally get to the doggy departure lounge at around 9.15, where the staff are very helpful and agree to let Emily on the plane despite the fact we are so late. So a bit of paper work and doggy number 1's and 2's done I wave goodbye to 1/4 of my friends family as she's wheeled off into the distance in her crate.

Next, we head over to the terminal which the flight is leaving from and meet up with the other 1/2 of the family, and with some of our other friends who have turned up to say goodbye... I hate goodbyes too, but since we're all running so late its pretty short and painless, though I have to say that didn't stop me blubbing like a baby - I'm gonna miss all of them so much, they've been fantastic friends for over 6 years now, it will be weird not having them within a commutable distance. But this isn't about me, it's about them starting anew and making a go of things in a different place... and I hope it works out well, in fact I'm sure it will, they are the sort of people who make any situation work out to their advantage.

With my friends safely through to the departure lounge I then head off back to their house with my friends brother. We've got to go back to their place to finish loading up the skip with the remainder of the stuff from the house, including a sofa and 2 super king mattresses and anything else that needs to be removed from the house and either disposing of, or putting to one side for other people to pick up.

The trip back to their place was much easier than the trip to the airport, and since I'll be loading my car up with bits and pieces again I reverse my car into the drive way. It was however only when I got out of the car I noticed that the skip was missing. MISSING!!! How can a huge yellow metal box go missing??? It wasn't even full!

What's worse is that I don't even know who they got the skip from... but what I do know is that the skip shouldn't have been picked up till tomorrow, so who ever they hired the skip from has fucked up and removed it a day early.

So I get on the mobile, which isn't an easy task when you take into account that the house is a mobile black spot, no reception anywhere unless you stand in one particular place in the house facing a particular direction and don't move. I finally trace down the skip people who at first deny hiring the skip to my friends, they after they admit that they did, then deny that they had received the message about picking the skip on Thursday... and when they finally admit that tell me that the skip was fully loaded anyhow... which it wasn't.

I have to say my patience was worn about as thin as a piece of paper sideways by now, and so quite frankly I was very rude to the skip people, and told them basically if they didn't have a replacement skip here ASAP I would be suing them for the loss of a days skip use and would make their lives very unpleasant from hereon in.

Strangely, the rude approach worked, to some degree. They deliver another skip, but it's a mini skip. So despite me telling them what I had to put in the skip (a sofa, and 2 super king mattresses) they had decided to deliver something the same size as a shoe box. I mention this to the driver and he tells me not to worry, just stuff what ever I can in it, after all it's free. So thats exactly what I do - I stick it all in there to the point where there is more sticking out of it than in it. Screw the skip people, they've messed me around and consequently they can suffer an over loaded skip.

With everything now done at the house I take a final gas and electricity reading for my friends and set about going home. To my delight the m25 has reopened and I have a breeze of a drive home with very little traffic on the roads.

But by God, I'm knackered...

Posted by Abi on the July 6, 2005 9:51 PM