The Painted Lady
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2008
1
20
67
Trip End
Nov 04, 2008
Weymouth,
United Kingdom
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Today the bus was about to change colour.
Bill arrived first and started painting the front. I had a slight issue in that my scruffy clothes hadn't arrived, so I was sanding and painting in my uniform. Not wise. We were soon joined by Mike, Jo, Ian and Rick. Great to see some new faces up there, getting stuck in.
It turns out that red paint shows up quite well on white trainers, as I found out to my cost. I also found I had a red foot as it had soaked through my sock too. After painting, I also looked like I had red nail varnish on.
Finished !
Anyway, within a few hours we had the first new coat on and in some places, two coats. Fantastic progress ! I felt obliged to treat the team (well, it was only Bill and Mike left by the time we finished) to a few pints to celebrate. Bill wondered if, as he had now managed to fix the transmission oil issue, if I could possibly transport his darts team on Monday night.
Hence, on Monday night I was back at the bus. I'd forgotten that the back panel was off. It was raining and I slopped around in the mud, fixing the panel back on. As I reversed out, nearly taking the fence out, I remembered that there was a plant pot under the bus to catch oil drips. There wasn't any more, just plastic pieces.
Out on the road, I couldn't help noticing how other vehicles were flashing at me. It took a little while of fiddling to work out how to operate the headlights. That's better !
Collecting and dropping off my first passengers went suprisingly well, I think I'm getting the hang of this driving thing. The water dripping from the ceiling above the drivers seat is still irritating though.
As I swung the bus confidently off the roundabout towards home, there was a loud crash. A hundred-weight of pots and pans which had previously been arranged neatly on shelves were now arranged less neatly throughout the bus. I also found that the jack was embedded in the mud as I had driven rough-shod over it in my haste earlier. Oops.
I'm off tomorrow to make my guest appearance as speaker at the Chickerell Luncheon Club. I popped in today to find out what audio/visual equipment there was for me to use. I had dreams of Powerpoint presentations, showing photos of Ethiopia and the bus. It turns out that they have an amplifier. That's it. Bugger. Looks like I'm just talking then for 15 minutes. Wonder how I'll fill the last 14 minutes...
