Time off for good behaviour

Remind me NEVER to do this again...

Depending on which part of Cumbria you happen to be reading this in, I’m either that strange-looking new guy that’s only been around for a couple of months, or that weird-looking old guy who’s got in the way of proper news each of the last 301 Fridays.

Good news either way – I’m away for a couple of weeks. Part holiday, part house move. If any of you are currently going through the same nightmarish world of solicitors, estate agents, worrying about when you’ll exchange and where you put the parcel tape, I sympathise.

It is a very odd experience to take all your belongings, wedge them into boxes and then hand them over to a couple of guys you don’t know and trust that they’ll show up at your new place with it all.

Last time I moved, VHS tapes were the heavy/bulky stuff, along with vinyl records. Now it’s DVDs and CDs. Should I ever move again, I’ll just need to make sure the right cloud follows me.

There’s always that worrying moment when your box of music is already heavy, but there’s a gap at the top that you need to fill with something light so it doesn’t get crushed. Pro tip: remember to mark what’s in the box on the outside – if nothing else, it should give the removals team a chuckle.

Some of mine are: CDs and underpants, DVDs and a dressing gown, and dinner plates and a cushion. Unpacking will be a nightmare. Presuming I survive the ensuing chaos, I’ll be back On Friday the 13th of April. Remember to water the plants.

This post first appeared as the second piece in my column/page in The Mail and the News & Star, on the 23rd of March 2018. It was re-titled as "Boxing clever to help house move go smoothly" and included a couple of appropriate pics of boxes, and a For Sale sign. Amazingly, despite my name being in a massive font at the top of the page, one of them had the caption "Pack up your troubles: The Grenfells are moving house". Whoever they are, I wish them luck with their move.

Dear God - has this been a painful process. There are only 3 people in the chain, the first being a cash buyer. You've then got our buyer and us, and we're moving into a newly completed place so are at the end of the chain. We've all had a date in the diary for months... and yet with just days to go we hadn't exchanged, our buyer hadn't booked a removals firm and the cash buyer seemed to think the date was the following month.

We've subsequently had to shift the date... into the middle of a 2 week holiday away. I'll need another holiday to recover.

(CD A-Z: You are joking, right? They're in a box with my underkeks.)

I know I'll regret this...

For @Feisty_Onion @BroughtonLass @LizWestmorland Me... before the grumpiness set in. Have a great weekend.

Malaysian Grand Prix - Vettel hot, but not bothered

Malaysia. It's always hot, and it always rains. Except the 2nd part is no longer true (unless you count the drizzly bit around lap 14). Saturday's qualifying session had highlighted the fact that Red Bull and McLaren seemed well matched on pace, but also that Ferrari were struggling. Whilst Vettel bagged another pole, followed by Hamilton, Webber and Button, Alonso was only 5th, and Massa 7th, with Nick Heidfeld an excellent 6th on the grid between the two red cars. At this point, I would like to break momentarily for a small rant: How many times do I have to say Heidfeld is good? Why wasn't he given a top drive years ago? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! ARE YOU BLIND!!!?? Ahem. The Hispanias somehow managed to a) turn up b) remember to bring cars c) get both of them on the track d) actually get both of them within 107%. Pretty remarkable really. Oh, and it didn't rain. Race day looked a more likely candidate for a drop of the wet stuff. The start was exciting, with

Senna bags Willy drive?

The great thing about F1 rumours is that they change every 5 minutes. Just last week it was looking like Barrichello might be back in at Williams, as new engines, tech staff and a general reshuffle would mean they needed someone who actually knew what they were doing in an F1 car. Which rules out Maldonado, obviously. Now it looks like Senna might be about to get a seat with the team where his Uncle lost his life. I'm sure Bruno's mum must be delighted. I don't hold with all this superstitious mumbo-jumbo though, and with the extraordinary level of safety in modern F1 cars, Bruno should be pretty safe. There is one significant problem with Williams signing him though - and this is going to be a bit unpopular I suspect - Bruno isn't very good. Yes, he put in a couple of reasonable performances with Renault, but Nick Heidfeld (ah... Nick and his lovely beard...) would have been able to do likewise, has he not been dropped. And then they dropped Senna too. Thi

grumpyf1

Search This Blog