Quizzing, Trains, Packing and the Heat

[crystalcazzie]

It's been nearly a month since my last post, so let's have a bit of a recap:

Last Monday Rob and I took some boxes of stuff down to Hastings to put in the self-storage container I've rented.  It was a lovely sunny day and made me really wish I was living by the sea already.  Why does moving take so long!  

I had packed an overnight bag, but we were done early enough that I decided to get the train back to Mum and Tormund.  I could have gone all around the houses with three changes, or paid a bit more to go via Waterloo.  That seemed to be the easiest option, but when I arrived at Waterloo I found out that all trains were delayed due to a signalling fault.  Which had apparently been the case since 11:30 that morning and people were being advised not to travel. It would have been helpful if the National Rail app had mentioned this when I checked my train!  I could have just stayed where I was if I'd known.  (Annoyingly, I also could probably have got the cheaper train and it would have actually been the easier one after all!) 

But I was committed now.  I saw there was a train that went to Aldershot and I considered it, but decided that it was best to hold out for the one that went to Farnham cos if I ended up arriving after the last bus I could at least walk home from Farnham station.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  And finally the Alton train popped up!  I went to the platform and was a bit confused by the signage indicating that it was the Aldershot train.  The screens then changed saying it was Alton.  The train was absolutely jam packed full of people and I decided to take my chances.  Either way I'd be going in the right direction.  We then waited some more as the guard told us that they were waiting for crew and this train was "delayed indefinitely", which is always a fun phrase to hear!  After a while he came on the speaker again to say that due to a change, this was now the Alton train and so would not be stopping at loads of stations that the Aldershot train would have done.  This resulted in a mass exodus and me being able to actually nab a seat!  

In the end I wasn't too late getting home.  It could definitely have been worse.  

On Wednesday I went to Surbiton for another pub quiz.  We did pretty well again, although it looked like the team that marked our first round sheet didn't credit us for an answer we got right.  We didn't bring it up, but maybe we should have cos this time we ended up tying for first place.  My team nominated me to go up for the tie-breaker, which was a mistake.  We had to identify a year and, after neither of us got close from the first clue about North Sea gas, we were then told that it was the year Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted into the Vietnam War.  I said 1968, the other lady said that's what she was going to say but since I'd already gone for it she went for 1967.  And, of course, it was 1967.  Alas.  But on the bright side, second place won us a bottle of wine which we were all able to enjoy right then and there.  So maybe it was for the best.  

And because trains apparently hate me, my journey home the next day was interrupted by the train I was on being cancelled halfway through and us all having to get off and wait for the next one.  But again, could have been worse.  

This week I've been trying to pack more, which has definitely not been helped by the heatwave that leaves me feeling a sweaty mess even before I've lifted a finger.  I also keep spiralling into a panic about how much stuff I have and how I really don't want the new house to end up a cluttered mess like this one.  I did manage to fill and throw away a couple of black sacks earlier, which felt like a victory, but I still have so much more to go.  

One win was a box that I thought was full of books, something that I'm really struggling to let go of, but it turned out that they only made up the top couple of layers and the rest was VHS tapes.  So that was nice and easy!

Hopefully I'll be able to keep at it the rest of this week.  And hopefully the weather will cool down.  It was nearly 30C in my bedroom last night, which is not a temperature conductive to sleep!  (And yes, that is after having the window and curtains closed all day and then opened when I went to bed!)