More Bread and Butter

It's been another of those busy weeks when most of the work has been fairly short-range, but with a couple of longer jobs to bulk it up.  Monday started with a trip from Royston to Long Eaton, with a little job from a nearby village to Huntingdon on the way . . .  but then it finished, because by the time I'd returned home it was almost dark, and time to look to the next day.  The evening's ringing was quite fun, though.

Tuesday was almost similar.  Coventry was the morning's destination, but the factory I visited was right beside the eastbound A45.  In quieter times, it had had an entrance from the main road, but this has long since been locked, and grass has grown all round the gate.  Instead access is now from a local road, involving a detour of several miles once I'd passed the beautiful art deco front of the building.  Again home well into the afternoon, but two complementary jobs to Luton finished the day nicely, and I was also allocated an early start for the following morning.

6.00am found me at a depot in Shefford, to collect some kerbstones - special ones with inspection 'lids' - to deliver to the site of what appears to be quite a substantial extension to Bristol Parkway station.  It was the preliminary to quite a long day, because when almost home I was diverted onto a local job, and then on to a strange pairing of Haverhill with Thetford that kept me out until about 9.30pm, by the time I'd enjoyed a Little Chef curry on my way home.

Thursday was quite revealing (apart from being rather wet!) After a delivery in Stewartby - a strange village whose history I have yet to learn, but is, I believe, all tied up with the former brick-making industry - I was off to Birmingham, where I delivered to an inner-city factory.  As I took a sharp left-hand turn into the street, I was quite intrigued by a small estate of modern houses on the side opposite me.  I then saw two Victorian warehouses on the near side, with a narrow passage between them, and the name of my target company on a board on one side of the opening.  Driving down was no real problem, and the heavy rainfall made it essential, to get as close to the destination as possible.  I did have misgivings about reversing out into the street afterwards, though.  I needn't have worried.

As I discovered when I examined the location on Google Earth in the evening, the site is triangular, with one point being the entrance into which I now drove.  The opposite side of the triangle is formed by a large building, the far side of which faces the Birmingham Canal.  My delivery was to the factory on the left, and after he'd moved their lorry from in front of it, the man who greeted me indicated that I should drive right inside.  I should think it was half the size of a football pitch, with a roof almost entirely of glass, so it was quite light and airy.  A delivery that I had first viewed with trepidation proved to be a doddle!

Yesterday, too, was interesting - although in a completely different way.  Two familiar jobs began the day, first to Pinewood Studios and then over to Suffolk to a factory on a former airfield near Beccles.  Returning home about 4.00, I could be forgiven for thinking that, on past performance, the working week was now over.  Not so.  An hour later, I was asked to collect a small consignment of wine to go to a nearby luxury restaurant-cum-golf course.  I arrived in darkness, but SatNav took me to the very door.  The problem was that they had already received their wine delivery.  This was for an event taking place in another part of the estate.  I tried in vain to locate this, following one path and then another in the darkness.  Then suddenly, a young lady on a golf buggy drove up and asked if I needed any help.  My explanation was greeted by an expression of delight, "You're a life-saver!  That's for us - shall I lead the way?"  "I'm usually told that when I visit a hospital," I retorted gently, but my problem was solved and I was more than happy to accept the offer.
On the home front, I have been pleased this week to renew my electronic acquaintance with a distant cousin in the USA.  She has furnished me with some more details of our common ancestry, so once a few regular chores are out of the way I shall look forward to digging into these with a view to extending my family tree by a few more twigs.