Anyway, it was a lovely drive, and when the traffic ground to a halt, it was quite fun to be able to stand on the seat and have a look around, just like Rommel in North Africa. Even better was the return journey home. There is something truly special driving in the dark with the sky above you and the wind rushing through (what's left of) your hair. I've even done it when it's been snowing, although many would class that as foolishness.
Whilst the temperature hit 30 degrees as I passed Gatwick, by the time I'd gone through the South Downs, we were at a rather more pleasant 20 degrees. The sky was still blue, and there was not a spare inch to be found on the beach. Brighton at it's best. In the early evening I continued my preparations for next Sunday's run, managing a very creditable 5.8km in 38 minutes. I will have one more run on Wednesday, when I aim to do the full 8 km, then I'll be set for the Olympic Stadium and ever lasting glory (cough).
I had travelled to the south coast because The Boy and his Sister have a whole pile of stuff in storage there. In the aftermath of their mother's death, much was put into storage rather than put them through the trauma of having to shift through her belongings and through away stuff that would they would have been emotionally attached to. However, more than a decade has now passed, the storage costs are phenomenal at £100/month, so the time has come to sort it out. But we've not visited the facility for ten years so I had to act as the advanced party...firstly finding the place again, then making sure the code for the entrance was still working before opening the combination lock. I fell at the last hurdle when I realised that the padlock didn't contain two of the digits that I 'knew' the code would consist of. I had to ask the man to cut it. Fortunately just as he was about to, he realised that I wasn't pushing 'the button'...so I did, thought of a number, doubled it, added 45, divided by three and then took away the number I'd first thought of and it sprung open. A quick check shows that most of it is just going to be junked. I shan't be there as The Cat's Mother and I will be away, so it will be The Boy, his Sister, their Uncle and Grandma in Wales who will be looking through everything. It will be a very emotional moment I don't doubt, but better now than ten years ago and better now than never.
