30 Years

I was sorting stuff and found these

25 years

30 years

You got a badge rof every five years of service with the AA , dont know where the others are , cant remember getting them to be honest. 25 and 30 year awards used to be a big thing with a formal presentation in the Brentford Theatre and a dinner with your workmates. These arrived in the post with a letter that said thanks heres a badge .

Problemo

First problem has emerged , we are to old to spend a year away , travel insurance wont cover us for Backpacker style Insurance , we can have multi trip as long as we go come back and go again !!

so far this week I have seen a Austin 7 , Hudson Hornet , and a MK 2 Zodiac , no pics cos I was driving .

Did find this in the garden though

and Jasmine aged 2 took this

this is caused displacement activity whilst I consider the insurance scenario

Beside the seaside

Done it again

somebody moved the chair just enough for me to catch my little toe on it , here is the technicolour result. Ageing is that thing where you damage more easily , heal more slowly and cant get out of cars .

We progress

Apparently when viewed from certain networks this is translated into german so to beat the system I will do this next bit in German - so geennelmen ve have progressed and ve have a Aussie bank account and ve hav a account for tranaveffing ze funds* , if ve had ze monie we wuld be a appy bunny.Actually my German friend doesn't speak anything like the Von Tripp parody I am trying for. House clearance continues unabated , things I bought to collect (my mini collection , my bond vehicles collection) all gone to the charity shop. We have given so much stuff to the charity shops they call me Martin .

I don't really know when I bought this stuff what my intention was , I can only caution against collections . They take up space , gather dust , make most people wonder what planet you are on and in the end have to be disposed of ,usually at a loss .

Sue is for the off , I keep telling her my teeth are not up to it and I don't want an abscess down under so I need to see my dentist who has taken a 3 week sabbatical to all things dentistry , actually I think he is chasing women in Thailand .  (just a joke) . His receptionist applying the motto of the french army steadfastly maintains "They shall not pass " so I dare not give up my appointment on the 5th , my wife has another chant I am going without you !! Anyway I progress and digress we are getting there , I sorta know where Tasmania is , I think we have to go there first I may go on the ferry cos its rough and I will need things to fill up the white space on the blogg and what sort of adventure would it be to take the easy way . Fings - are congealing , answers are emerging and taking my sons philosophy its coming together , On ne passe pas - No Pasaran , Allons enfants de la patrie Le jour de gloire est arrive !! got to go now my teas ready

* Actually that not the half of it , you cannot in this day and age just go , what happens to the house , the household bills , the car.the car insurance , the tax , mot etc , its alright going off for a ver long holiday but arrangement have to be made , how do I get money (yeah its easy if you dont mind losing an arm to exchange rates and all the other charges companies make for the privilege of getting your own money in another currency there's a lot to do unless you are Reginald Perrin..

Peugeot

A rant I have had for several years ...

Peugeot  think adding this amount of oil every 1000 miles is 'normal'

anyway nuff of that . About six or seven years ago I bought a Hammerite Metal Master electrostatic paint gun. Struck me as a brilliant idea , clip a crocodile clip to the metal object to be sprayed and off you go ,

You have the gun and the aerosol of paint . Load the aerosol and spray away . Bought it for the place in Spain really ,all those railings !! So after years of being left on a shelf unused I decided as part of my clear out to use up the paint and then to bin it , amazingly it still worked

As to why this world beating idea is no longer available , well there are some downsides . First you need 4 AA batteries which only last for half of the paint aerosol so that's 8 batteries . It only does what it says on the tin so its really for metal so it isn't available anymore . You can get them on the internet (£25) you can get the aerosols but like Aldi when its gone its gone..

Preparation

Travel Kit

People retire , next day they go on a world tour or move to Spain . Not that easy apart from sorting my pension out theres the small matter how to fund yourself , where to live ,booking flights confirming flights etc.

Well step one Sue has opened a Australian Bank Account - good stuff .All I have to do now is put some money in it . One step at a time.

Essentials -hip flask - collapsible cups - 50 year calendar - candle holder - onwards and upwards .