The Great Escape prt 2

The Great Escape Part 2 …………….

Morning All. Yet another week has vanished into the Smith Family past. The weather in the last couple of days has just been plain awful.

Having just spent two nights and two days away on a training course for work, and being a “home bird” as they say, that is no mean feat, I come back to wind , rain and a missing hamster, the same flaming Hamster

The course, in actuality was a bit of a trial to begin with. Everyone in Chez Smudger has a “runny nose” at the minute, so it is, and was, not unusual for us to go to work with a snotty nose. Tuesday was especially hard work. I had to work all day, quick snack tea, and then a two and a half hour drive to get to the course – so I was absolutely shattered when I got there. Booked in, found the two lads that I know that were also on the course, and then had a good couple of hours nattering about this and that before retiring to bed, ready for the morning.

Sleep lasted barely a few hours. When I awoke, the site was quite, the sky very very dark, and my face afire, pain, pain and more pain. I really hate my Sinus’s. I banked up the pillows to try and take the pressure off my face. I sat up. I stood up. I wandered, backwards and forwards, in small tight circles – for FOUR HOURS!!!!!!. As you can guess, having arranged to meet for breakfast at 07.30, I was not in a good state, nor a good mood

Breakfast was a drink of tea, not that that stayed around for long We walked across the campus, and into the training room for the first time. How I managed to learn anything was beyond me, but I did. The day, however, seemed to go on forever. By the evening I felt a little better, but I was drained. “Early to bed, Early to rise” is a well known saying round here, but usually it doesn’t involve the rise first – aw well, never mind.

The second and final day came as a totally different scenario. Although my “Face” ached, the nose sore, but, other than that, I was OK. A big breakfast (just to make up for the previous day you understand ). What was even more surprising was the amount of knowledge I had actually retained form the previous day. The final part of the course was quite complicated, but by Midday it was “head for home” time. Another two and half hours of Motorway driving. Boy there are some really big dimwits on British Motorways. A couple of times I thought I was mush.

What I did notice though was lane three saw some pretty fast cars (doing well over the 70 miles an hour limit I hastened to add), but quite a lot of them where posh cars with “older” drivers – people who should know better. I know we all exceed the occasional speed limit once in a while, and I could even see the rationale, to some extent, if the motorway was relatively empty (not that I would particularly agree with it), to let your big posh car “go”, but the motorway, all the way home, was packed, solid with noise and metal, and how some of these loony’s missed ANYTHING is beyond me

Anyway, I got home alive. Bag out of the van, dirty clothes into the wash, wash bag emptied and put away.

Went to feed the pets and guess what? The Chinese hamster was gone – again. I couldn’t believe it. Another mouse hunt. We still haven’t found her, and that was two days ago.

Yesterday (Friday), was windy, blustery and wet. As I sat, looking out of the Front Room window, I thought – yuk. I knew, I would have to go out in it to pick up Tilly, and I wasn’t looking forward to that at all. Three O’clock came. I pulled on my coat. Turned up the collar. Took a deep breath, and stepped into the tumult.

isn’t it strange where you can find beauty. Not in the bare, lifeless trees, bent and distorted in the wind. Not in the wet, slimy grass, turned mud brown by several hundred hurrying feet.

No the beauty came in a normally boring School yard fence. The wind had pinned the blowing leaves, some still orange and red, but more turning the mustard and shades of brown of their last few days, held against the fence in a collage drawn by nature. Single leaves here, a “shaped” pile held at the bottom there. It didn’t form an image per-ce, but it just looked good. More so because, now that the wind has dropped, it will no longer be there.

Never mind, back to the real world

God Bless

Dave