So we skip forward in time and space to Bath, at the end of April. As J's blog shows, much has happened.
We spent nearly a week in Lisbon after our hosts returned to the house-sit. It has a lovely historic centre and our apartment was only a few hundred metres from the main square. We did a lot of walking, and a few bus rides as well. Castles, churches, museums and shops galore. Plenty of coffee for J and cake for me. Unfortunately they just couldn't get tea right - either the tea was dreadful or the pot was, or both. More often than not I had half the pot over the table before my cup was full. Such a simple thing to get right but so many shops couldn't manage it!
We stopped in London for a few days and caught up with R&G, R&D. It was nice to see them again, especially so far from home. From there we moved to Bath and straight into a flat that J had found and organised while we were in Portugal. It's a great flat in a beautiful town, so it should be a good year. J went directly to work on the Monday while I jumped in a rental van and drove to Edinburgh. After a night on a mate's couch I loaded all our stuff into the van and drove back again. 1200km in 30 hours. I got lost on the way back as the Nuevi's batteries gave out at a crucial 
junction. That sent me off toward London on a rather long diversion (stayed on the M6 rather than turning on to the M5 in case you are wondering). Never mind. It's lucky we decided on the van as there was no way all our gear would have fit in our car if it hadn't been STOLEN. No I'm not bitter.It's a good thing it all went relatively smoothly as our reserves are rather low. All sorts of refund cheques (Council tax, car tax because the car was STOLEN, house deposit, insurance premiums) have been arriving though, so we're just keeping our heads above water.
In a fantastic piece of timing the power socket on my laptop broke meaning I can't access my stuff to prepare for Italy.
The only way it could have been worse was if it had happened while I was there. I went on line and ordered the part on Tuesday and it arrived Wednesday - that's bloody good service! Meanwhile I have transferred my data to my old laptop (with thanks to J's school technicians) so can now start prepping. Hopefully the techs are soldering the new part in. The old one has a very, very noisy fan so I ordered a replacement for that but it still hasn't arrived. Not so good service. It's a simple job once it arrives so both laptops will probably be ready at the same time.I am in talks with a group who are travelling to the Cassino area in May and need a guide. I hope to get 3 or 4 paid days guiding while I'm there, which should help pay some bills and also get me a foot in to the industry.
It's yet to be confirmed, so cross your fingers everyone. JP has just arrived back from Italy after visiting the area where Granddad was hit by artillery fire and seriously wounded. I believe JP was launching a book, but he had a good look around the area Mum and I visited in 2004.I got about a quarter of my article written while in Portugal and since getting back have discovered two great photos that will help illustrate it. As I wrote earlier, I won't be able to get over that side of Italy to get the matches this trip, so I have time to write the next three quarters, and perhaps discover more photos.
While waiting for bits I started some modelling. I know, I'm a sexy bugger but still, the idea of me modelling is not something that immediately comes to your mind. Actually I built the Apollo 11 command module and lunar lander, complete with Neil Armstrong. I discovered that my shakey hands are not good for kitset building, and that the only thing that superglue is super at gluing is fingers. I can stick my fingers to anything but I can't stick the foil that covers the model to anything else. I also discovered I'm too impatient to do a really good job... The next kit, btw, will be a Bailey bridge. If anyone happens to talk to Ray, (or if you are reading this Ray) can you ask him to check his emails as I have some questions for him.
J's all excited because she may have found me work at her school. She's kind of like my pimp at the moment, so the sooner I get work the better. It's a little awkward with be scooting off in two weeks for two weeks though.Otherwise all is well. Chez R is open for visits if anyone would like a day in Bath. Just give us some warning so we can buy more plates...
PS. Please excuse the ahistorical spacewalk.
