The requisite amount of faffage

Just how much faffing is required when it comes to trailering boats? It always seems to be disproportionate to the task in hand, and tonight was no exception. If you also want to take 2 hours 20 mins to trailer two fours, you will need:

1. an organiser who is the only person who knows where the trailer is etc. etc. to turn up at least half an hour late
2. several of the trailerage crew to not show, and a bare minimum to show at all
3. to increase the number of trips needed between the boat house and trailer by as many times as possible by forgetting trestles, boat ties etc. etc.
4. to not notice until you come to tie the boat onto the trailer that you have less than half the necessary number of ties, and so need to send out to the shops

Yesterday's exercise was truly erg(h)

If there's one thing worse than using an erg room after 10 gung-ho men, its using if after 10 gung-ho men and with another 8 such of the species. Really they were no advertisement for their sex.

Public versus private transport

I did the maths. Yes, it was possibly going to be cheaper to hire a car and get my husband to drive us both from Cambridge to Birmingham for the weekend, than to get the train. Certainly it would be more flexible, and should be quicker. The variables I didn't include in these calculations were:

1. forgetting a map (which might have increased the petrol usage)
2. getting a puncture on the M42
3. having to pay for the replacement tyre (a rare and expensive one, bien sur)
4. forgetting to buy a map for the return half of the journey

In terms of stress levels, it was a bad deal for hubby.

Nevertheless it was nice to go home and see everyone for 3.5 seconds and do the 'being a family together' thing which in my parents house these days equates to taking the dog a short walk, watching the TV and torturing each other with the cryptic crossword in the Radio Times. In addition, the dog had dressed up for Halloween and was doing an impression of 'Frankinmut' (he had rather large stiches protruding from his muzzle where he'd had a biopsy a few days before); I got to see the 'all new' Shirley Baptist Church (gone are the pews, the marble and the traditional layout - this jury is still out); and I also visited my brother's flat in the 'Hemisphere' development opposite Edgbaston Cricket Club (what used to be the Tally Ho Tennis and Bowls Club).

Quotes of the weekend:

(Milly, 4 year old niece): You're the bestest girl in the whole world ever.

(Joe, 12 year old nephew): You've got nanny hands.

You've got to take the good with the bad.