Sunday 15 June 2008

Z is told where to go

So, Weeza and Phil have chosen carpets and other flooring and paint colours, and booked fittings. Furthermore, their tenant has moved out, so the house is properly theirs. I started to feel excited as soon as I walked in again from waving her goodbye, but it took a while for the slow big grin to spread above Weeza's face, as it started to sink in. She's still pacing herself though; it'll be a few weeks yet before she finishes work and moves here, leaving Phil to finish packing up and loading the heavy stuff and leaving the London flat empty. I will so miss my overnight London visits - I usually go up on a Friday, spend a day doing this and that, meet them for dinner - El is a whiz at finding good restaurants with half-price offers - and then we have a day together before I come home on Saturday evenings - but the pleasure and excitement of having her within 20 miles and the prospect of the baby to come more than makes up for it; indeed, it doesn't matter at all.

We thought a barbecue last night. Sadly, the weather forecast was accurate and it rained, until I served up steak in the west-facing dining room, whereupon the sunlight streamed in again. Today, another lovely morning, but it rained at lunchtime, so it was just as well that we hadn't tried again with the outdoor eating. We drove over to the house and then to the station for a cup of tea before the train came in, and it started to tip down yet again as I was about to leave them. It wasn't that far to the car, but I was wet through and my hair was dripping, so that I had to comb it back and the unaccustomed sight of my pale bare forehead startled me.

I tried out the new satnav and am a happy convert. I am a Luddite at heart, rejecting most innovations, but I rather liked the unnagging tone of the directions and, although I ignored the voice at one stage and went my own way, there was no fuss but a few seconds of quiet reconfiguration and then a polite suggestion of the next turning, which was the one I wanted to take all along. On the way home, it was entirely good-natured and caused no dissent at all, unlike Dilly's sister's, which tried to send her several miles the other way to the main Lowestoft to Norwich road, quite unnecessarily. Next weekend, I'll be driving to their London flat and I've got lost doing that before (on a rainy November night; the only other time I've driven there I was all right) and I just don't want the anxiety: which is the reason for the satnav.

8 comments:

Pat said...

How lovely for you to have them close - and a baba. Heaven!
You make a satnav sound very appealing. MTL isn't the best direction follower - if I'm doing the directing. We have to find our way into deepest Dorset on Friday. Fingers crossed.

Z said...

I ordered it on Amazon and it was here in a couple of days - very easy to use and much less annoying than I expected. I don't want to turn into one of those people who uses it for every journey, though!

Yes, by the time El moves it'll be only 3 weeks before her due date; fortunately, she's still feeling fine so is wanting to keep working (extending her earning potential...) until then.

Lois (three-legged-cat) said...

I don't use my satnav for every journey - and wouldn't want to, but I love it.

Mr TLC and I almost never argue (really), except in crowded supermarkets (which we avoid) or if I want him to help with a map/directions (he doesn't drive). Sandra the Satnav has now prevented several rows, she's marvelous!

luckyzmom said...

I'm green with envy!

Dave said...

I love my sat nav.

I am constantly amazed how variable the weather can be in Norfolk - particularly here on the coast. It was a beautiful sunny day all day here yesterday - no rain at all.

Mind you, I'd often set off from here in sunshine, to discover it was tipping down by the time I reached Norwich, and the cricket had been cancelled.

Anonymous said...

SatNav often knows quicker ways than those one has been using for years, I've found.

Z said...

I quite like planning a journey on a map and I can't think I'll stop doing that, but I did go from thinking I'd never want one, to buying it, to really liking it, in just a few days. Mercurial, you see.

I agree, Dave. The Sage rang me on Sat. at about 3.30 and it was drizzling in Norwich then but still sunny at home. There are places where the rain always seems to start, though - when I lived in L'toft it was Barnby and between here and Norwich, it's Boringland.

Z said...

BW, there was one short cut that it knew that I expected it to omit in favour of the major road.