I coined this term after declaring to Lawrence that I had
writer’s block and that was my reason for not posting a blog for so long. Then
I thought I was being a bit ambitious calling myself a writer, hence ‘blogger’s
block’.
I also felt that we hadn’t done anything exciting to report
and he was horrified! “We picked up the Landcruiser!!!” he exclaimed, as though
this was excitement itself. So yes, several weeks ago we picked up our shiny
blue Landcruiser from somewhere in London (having made it safely from Australia
with only dead battery to bother us) and drove it back up to our friends on
Northamptonshire. As it has been modified to support a one tonne living space on the back, the damn thing was like driving in a bouncy castle. I felt sea-sick.
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| Landcruiser with coffin attached. |
We then had to drive it to Munich – the prospect was
daunting. Can you imagine driving a bouncy castle 1000km, and on bad roads at
that. Fortunately it settled down a bit and wasn’t quite like being on the high
seas.
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| We spent overnight in Strasbourg - beautiful |
As I write, the gorgeous new ‘home’ is being fitted and we
should be driving off on stage 3 of our adventure next Thursday.
We have been staying in Bonn with Stuart, Lawrence’s
brother. He’s had some surgery and spent 5 days in hospital so we were chief
dog sitters. I’ve been force feeding him (Stuart, not the dog) healthy food and stocking the freezer
for the next few weeks. I also put the dog on a diet.
Prior to all this excitement we spent 3 weeks doing the
rounds of friends and family in the UK. Sister Helen in Glasgow, Paul and Liz
in Stratford-on-Avon, Priscilla in Surrey, Pete and Kath in Wales (yes, they
had us back), and finally Stephanie and Mark in Spratton. The weather slowly
improved and summer finally arrived.
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| Lunch in a castle in Wales |
Today in Bonn it’ll hit 30 degrees – now THAT is exciting.
We’ve bought new bicycles as the fold-up ones have outlived
their usefulness. We’ll leave them in Bonn for Stuart and his daughters when
they visit. Our grown-up bicycles looked a bit daunting at first, but yesterday
we cycled the 62kms to Koblenz, along the Rhine. My arse may never be the same
again. I feel like I’ve been on a camel.
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| Ready to hit the road |
We bought some of those padded cycling pants. They give you
the unfortunate feeling that you done something nasty in your underpants, but
they do help pad out your bum. Maybe this is why so many Germans have fat
arses, they do cycle a LOT. It really is the thing to do here. I love watching
the old ladies, riding along sedately to do a bit of shopping or go to the pub.
A nice change from the UK where they get on motorised scooters and terrorise pedestrians.
Today is Sunday, so we’ll walk down to our favourite pub on
Rhine for lunch and enjoy this brilliant weather while it lasts. Stuart is
allowed out now and can finally have a drink, having finished his antibiotics.
Lawrence and I have had quite a few days off the booze, getting in some liver
cleansing ready for the next onslaught when we get back to France. Needless to
say, yesterday we had few beers after our LONG bike ride.
So, Hilda has been sold and is now living with Steve. Mojo
has also gone to a new home with Tim and the trailer has been sold for a song
(some lucky character got a real bargain there.)
Will post photos of our new home once I get my hands on it –
can’t wait!
