Radiac's A-Road Adventure

You may be wondering why I have not updated my diary in weeks. Well, I have been busy. In particular, I have been driving. A lot. Over 1600 miles, in fact.

As I said in an earlier entry, I am moving to Cornwall with Leela, and we rented a flat that is the perfect size and in the perfect place, but unfortunately it came unfurnished. All we had were the carpets and curtains. Seeing as I'm moving out of my other two homes (Sevenoaks and Bath), it seemed to make sense to bring things from those. Just two little problems - they're on opposite sides of the country, and there's no way I can fit a fridge in my car.

The solution? My first adventure into commercial vehicle hire.

Yes, that's right, on Friday I became a white van man for 3 days. I picked up a rental van (a Renault Traffic - a transit-stylee van) at 5pm and drove it around Sevenoaks picking up bits and pieces from my various safe houses. Mmm, it's just like GTA. Anyway, I then drove it home and packed it with half my house, with the help of my dad. We gave up at 1am.

Saturday we continued loading the van and sorting things out, and I eventually set off at about 2pm and drove to Bodmin to pick up Leela (252 miles), then on to Truro (26.1). Driving a white van definitely does something to your attitude on the road. I loved it, I wanna do it again! If anyone needs anything moving and wants to cover rental, petrol costs and make a contribution towards my Own-A-Hawaiian-Island Fund, count me in!

Anyway, getting my stuff to Truro was the easy bit. I then had to unload the stuff.

Anyone who had tried carrying a 28" widescreen TV and a 6' fridge up a right-angled flight of stairs to a first floor flat will understand my pain. I had a sack barrow and a Leela to help, and at least the TV wasn't very tall, but the angle I had to hold the fridge at to stop it from toppling down the stairs and crushing my lovely girlfriend meant that I had to almost lie on the steps and pull the sack barrow into the step more than up - it was pretty hard work. Still, thanks to my strict weight-training regime at the gym, and no doubt in no small part assisted by the steriods I'm taking, I managed it all ok, and we headed back to Bodmin (26.1) at nearly midnight.

On Sunday we popped over to Bristol (143.5 miles) and bought lots of furniture from Ikea, then went to Bath to pick up some stuff (12.7), and headed back to Truro (188) to unload (which was a lot easier than the day before, although the sofa was fun), before going back to Bodmin (26.1). Monday I set off with Leela for Sevenoaks to return the van (252), arriving 3 minutes after they closed, which was slightly unfortunate. They can't have minded though, I just dropped the key through the letter box and haven't heard anything since.

Tuesday, Leela and I went down to Bath (135) in order to prepare the house for the inspection the next day. So when we arrived at 10pm, we started cleaning. Fun! Still, it seemed to be ok when the inspector came over on Wednesday and wandered around the house saying "Yes, that's nice", and all was well. We later met Leela's mum and aunt when they arrived for the graduation stuff the next day, and we were driven to Bristol for a meal (25 miles, but I did not drive myself so it does not really count).

And on Thursday, it was graduation day for Leela and a lot of my friends. Unfortunately I got the times mixed up, so completely missed the CompSci graduation, instead seeing Simon standing at the bus stop and Meri wandering around near Garfunkels. If you're reading this, sorry I missed it and the ensuing celebrations, but congratulations everybody!

Anyway, after playing taxi driver for a bit (going up to uni and round bath several times - parking in bath is a nightmare so I dropped people off where they wanted to go), I was in time to meet Leela outside the abbey before she went in. I then went over to find her mum, and said that I would see her later. The person behind them in the queue overheard, and said "Oh, would you like to go in? I have a spare ticket". Which was very nice - thank you Mrs Sparks. So I trotted in and watched Leela graduate along with her friends, the hooligan sports scienticians and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. After that, we milled around outside the abbey and bumped into Tristan and Peter and we chatted while I took photos. In the evening, Leela, family and I went off to Bristol (25 miles, this time I drove) for a celebration meal in a very fancy restaurant with a load of her mum's friends who showered her with gifts. Alright for some.

I think that Friday was the last day I'll wake up in my own room in Bath, which was rather sad. I've not been able to spend as much time in Bath this year as I would have liked nor as I planned, but even so, it's been one of my homes for 4 years, and there's all of the memories and lovely people I have met there too, so part of me doesn't really want to leave. But the show must go on, and it's not like I can never go back and that I will never see my friends again. You can't escape that easily! So I packed up most of my stuff and put it into the back of my corsa, and headed off to Truro (188 miles), and then back to Bodmin (26.1) to stay - no, we still don't have a bed. It's on order, but it has not arrived.

Saturday we went back down to Truro (52.2) and set up most of the flat-packed stuff we had bought from Ikea. Unfortunately one of the sides for one of the drawers has been mis-drilled, so stay tuned for the ongoing saga of why our chest of drawers has a large drawer-shaped hole in it. Still, the rest of the stuff was fine, so we now have a sofa, footstools, a coffee table, a dining room table, a bookcase and a chest of drawers, all in Ikea birch. Well, not the sofa or footstools, they're black. Now all I've got to do is find something that will hold 300 DVDs and not take up three walls.

And on Sunday, I headed back to Sevenoaks (252 for a meeting in Tonbridge the next day. So ends my A-Road adventure - over 1600 miles in 8 days, no accidents, no incidents, and no speeding. That's right kids, I did not speed at all. Well, ok, my speedo may have drifted into the 70s a few times, but that's what you get when you pay attention to traffic and other hazards rather than the little dial. No, I am a reformed driver, and it has nothing to do with possibly being caught on camera on the M5 a couple of weeks ago - I've thought I've been caught in the past, but that hasn't made me slow down at all. No, instead I have come to the conclusion that it does not matter if I take an extra 30 minutes to get from A to B, I'm in no hurry, and that way I'll get to keep my license. Result.

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