{"id":1198,"date":"2011-02-09T23:06:44","date_gmt":"2011-02-09T23:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2011-02-17T17:19:32","modified_gmt":"2011-02-17T17:19:32","slug":"wednesday-feb-9th-2011-t-minus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wednesday-feb-9th-2011-t-minus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, Feb 9th 2011, T-minus 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I was awakened quite early by thoughts that there really was a lot still to do and only two full days remaining.\u00a0 The thoughts wouldn\u2019t let me lie in so I got up and started to pack the van with another load of stuff that was to be thrown.\u00a0 The recycling place was only open until 12 so I had to move fast.\u00a0 I decided that almost all the stuff that hadn\u2019t been sold yet might as well be thrown, so out went the working tumble dryer, the working computer printer & scanner, the working toaster, and the perfectly functional knackered old chest of drawers that Vickie used to have in her room in Burgess Hill.\u00a0\u00a0 Out went the paintpots and tins and tools that are surplus to any requirement at the moment.\u00a0 Out went assorted metal nonsense, . \u2026and boots and lampshades, and toasters and hammocks \u2013 yes hammocks! How lucky am I to have acquired a plural of hammocks in my life.<\/p>\n

The man at the dump again seemed cheerful and happy to help me.\u00a0 I was so glad he didn\u2019t choose a misguided life at the Tresorerie<\/em>, or at a bank.\u00a0 As I left we shook hands and I felt sorry that I would never be able to dump on him again.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I spent the rest of the morning scavenging for things that might be valuable commodities in my future life.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have room in the van for the bike so I took what I could from it, which turned out to be everything except the frame and the chain.\u00a0 The new owners might like to make some sort of sculpture out of these and Le old van.\u00a0 Well that\u2019s what I would do given the talent.\u00a0 Hell I might even do it without the talent.<\/p>\n

John<\/em> came shortly before lunch.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure why he had come because he is suffering from Alzheimers a bit, but I reminded him he came in order to look at something or other.\u00a0 \u00a0After some short banter we remembered what it was \u2013 the chairs.\u00a0 I have got two traditional old antique genuine Windsor-style chairs that match his existing one exactly.\u00a0 I said he could have them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I also wanted to tempt him in to look at the fridge-freezer.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the few items that remain unsold – or unthrown at any rate.\u00a0 He struggled up the stairs to take a look at what was left of the house and we measured the fridge-freezer together and it was deemed to be too something.\u00a0 Early I think he said.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need the fridge-freezer this early.\u00a0 Fair enough, I could bring it round later on, ha ha.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0 I could see some sort of interest in his eye.\u00a0 It could have been due to the connection we\u00a0 made the previous evening, or it could have been the pain in his back, but he asked how much I wanted for it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I said I didn\u2019t want anything for it.\u00a0 It would be a gift if it was something that he really needed in his life right now.\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Well in that case you must tell me what is the going rate for the chairs and the frigo and I will pay you that\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u2018Well normally it would be one hundred thousand euros\u2019, I begun (then waited until the translation device had kicked-in and he would start laughing).\u00a0 \u2018But because I hardly know you and I need to offload this stuff, shall we call it 25 euros? \u2018<\/p>\n

\u2018Don\u2019t be ridiculous\u2019, he said.\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019ll give you a 100 euros\u2019.<\/p>\n

I shrugged my shoulders \u2013 I was learning fast.\u00a0 Bah!\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

After a generous omlette for lunch (I was using up the eggs),\u00a0 the Mexicana furniture couple arrived to pick up their stuff.\u00a0 What a lovely couple they were, although a bit of an age gap between them.\u00a0 He clearly punching well over his weight and doing everything he could to please her.<\/p>\n

I helped load the furniture into their van, and said they could have the wardrobe and the single bed if they wanted \u2013 because I knew they had a G\u00eete to fill \u2013 and I knew I had a house to empty.\u00a0\u00a0 They took them but offered no money (she was still Scottish at this point).\u00a0\u00a0 Then she looked around the garden and spotted some cartwheels I had inherited with the house.\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Are those for sale?\u2019 she asked.<\/p>\n

Actually you are very fortunate.\u00a0 They just came onto the market today.<\/p>\n

\u2018How much do you want for them?\u2019<\/p>\n

One hundred thousand euros.\u00a0 But as you\u2019ve taken the wardrobe free of charge I would be prepared to let you have this piece of French equestrian history for just 50 euros.\u00a0 \u00a0Fittingly, two Pony\u2019s worth of euros we shook on.\u00a0 And considering that the cartwheels were just lying around the place with no future prospects, I considered it a deal worth shaking.<\/p>\n

At this level of entrepreneuralship\u00a0 I might be able to living in france.\u00a0 Oh bugger too late.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After they left I was determined to pack the van.\u00a0 I wanted to put as much as everything in as possible so that I could see if I could sneak some non essentials in.\u00a0\u00a0 I spent the rest of the day making sure that every square inch of the van was packed.<\/p>\n

Soon after a delicious sunset, I took out a ready-meal from the place where the freezer used to be and popped it in the oven.\u00a0 The fact that the meal wasn\u2019t already ready made me think that I had been conned a little.\u00a0 And it wasn\u2019t as delicious as light.<\/p>\n

I had a bath.\u00a0\u00a0 It was as luxurious as the moment dictated,\u00a0 Unfortunately I had already packed the bubble bath but I had left a two-thirds full bottle of shampoo (that which I had used to clean the van). So the shampoo\/car shampoo became bubble bath and slightly slippery bath I had.\u00a0\u00a0 But it was hot and bubby and steamy and it was happy to let me add more hot water from time to time. \u00a0\u00a0And I had candles and a glass of wine and a book to read and so it was very like luxury in the middle of all this rustic.\u00a0\u00a0 My long, last, luxurious bath made me positively glow afterwards.\u00a0 I felt like a new van.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was awakened quite early by thoughts that there really was a lot still to do and only two full days remaining.\u00a0 The thoughts wouldn\u2019t let me lie in so I got up and started to pack the van with another load of stuff that was to be thrown.\u00a0 The recycling place was only open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adieu-le-chassaing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1203,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.splunge.co.uk\/richnilk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}