Ruth says I’m lazy. I say I just have no patience for building or fixing things. My definition of lazy is someone who sits around and does nothing all day. The last thing I want to do is sit around and do nothing. I prefer to be outdoors and active…rock climbing, running, competing in 11 hour adventure races, climbing mountains…well you get the point. I see domesticated duties as an intrusion on the precious little free time I have outside of work. Why turn a wrench, when I could be climbing Scavenger or some such route. I say, let a mechanic turn the wrench, after all that’s what he gets paid for. Why am ranting about this?

Well I spent the greater part of Saturday helping Ruth’s dad change the front and back brakes on our car. I was happy to let our mechanic do it, but Ruth’s dad is a born grease monkey and enjoys banging around on cars. I don’t. Still, I felt obligated to pitch in seeing how it was my car. I spent 5 frustrating hours grunting and groaning, pulling and pushing nuts, bolts and springs. There were a couple of times I thought we were going to have to call the AA to rescue us from a sea of brake springs that refused to go back together.

End the end, we did it. We over came the gods of metal and machines, and in the process, saved about £250.

Sunday

I got back from Bristol early this afternoon.

I spent the afternoon unpacking and repacking my suitcase. I’m off to Scotland for a week. Unfortunately, it’s not a leisure trip. I’m there to meet my new boss.

Can’t hang out here to long, I leave for the airport in about 10 minutes.