Today is the big day — we finally hand Gertie over to Tom and Lauren. We had arranged to meet them some time after 2, but first there were a few things to be done.
The room is a little more under control, but we still have more sorting to do.
More cleaning of Gertie's interior — we really want her to be in good condition for Tom and Lauren.
We drove to the nearby post office in Hinckley Road to send off a few more parcels.
We drove back through Leicester to pick up the laundry. Clarendon Laundry had done an impeccable job, and the things we were leaving with Gertie — a lovely warm doona (aka duvet), a doona cover, a couple of blankets — were all as if brand new!
We went across to the nearby Morrisons to buy a baguette for lunch, some disinfectant wipes — and we found a set of baggage-weighing scales (range 0-35kg, just what you need to check your airline baggage! — and, at £3, a good price!) While there, we dropped a few more bags of clothing and shoes into their charity bins.
Then back to the Premier Inn, where we had lunch in room 12, thus clearing out the refrigerator in Gertie, but for two cans of beer and a couple of blocks of Toblerone. We took advantage of this time to take a final reading on the Garmin, which has been keeping track of all our travels. The final distance travelled came out as 31,389.9 miles, or 50,517.1 km. And don't forget that Suzie drove every inch of this. (The circumference of the Earth is 24,901 miles, or 40,075 km, so she drove 1¼ times around the world!) Well done, old girl!
Then we called Tom and Lauren and suggested it might be time for them to come across to us for the hand-over. When they arrived, we took them through the van, showing them all her ins and outs, and pointing out where she might need some special care and attention. After this, we adjourned into the restaurant — more like a pub — and had a lovely chat over glasses of Guinness (and for Suzie, a caffè latte). This is where the deed was done, the papers signed, the keys handed over, and the princely sum of £1 — this was not just any pound, but a pristine new 2015-minted coin. Tom and Lauren have a display case to house it, but they knew we had weight considerations for the flight home, so they offered to mail it to us. That coin will take pride of place in our house. Suspect that the people sorting through our goods and chattels after we are gone will be totally confused by this particular item!
We then adjourned to Pesto, the Italian tapas restaurant where Tom has been working as manager for the last few months. Over dinner, both he and Lauren revealed that they are both moving into their dream jobs — Tom as a 'marketing executive', no longer in the restaurant industry — the job description is much more favourable than 'restaurant manager' in getting reasonable insurance rates (for Gertie) amongst other things, and presumably a much greater opportunity for upward movement. Lauren, too has her 'dream job' — her description — as a 'public relations outreach executive' with Matalan, a large British fashion and homewares retail chain, which she starts in March. Let's hope that we have been a little good luck for them — they deserve it!
After a lovely meal, and a lot of lively talk, Tom and Lauren dropped us back to the Premier Inn. They will be picking us up tomorrow to take us to Nuneaton Station to catch the train down to London Euston.
Distance driven — today, 11 miles ( 18 km ); to date, 31,229 miles ( 50,259 km )
I think the young 'uns look lovely kids and I think they and Gertie will spend a lot of fun time together, So glad you met them on the way and they have bought the dear old van, Take care dears. Love Cathy, PS Bye Bye Gertie
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