The beginning of the journey

So, yesterday, the driver and I picked up a 4 tonne truck and had ourselves a bit of a road trip.

We had to take the truck up north to a storage facility close to our soon to be new residence filled with odds and sods from the garage out back here.

I did not realise we had so many tents (4) at last count, not to mention tent poles...about six sets, let alone tent pegs by the thousands!

We took up a lot of childhood memories...... Books from my own childhood and that of the kids...... assignment pieces that when completed we thought were amazing and apparently most of their teachers thought so too.

How does one dispose of such stuff?

I would love sometimes to be cold and callous and just send the lot to the tip, but I am a proverbial hanger-onner and lots to do with my children I have kept, if only for my sentimentality.

I recall doing assignments myself such as the Suez Canal and the book I wrote in 6th. Grade called "Bang" and understand them to be forever obliterated through time and decay but I am loathe for my children's masterpieces to suffer the same fate.

Anyhow, I digress...this is all about our road trip and the adventures we had along the way.

Up to the truck hire place by 8 to pick up the aforementioned vehicle then back to our place to load it up with that camping equipment, bikes, outdoor settings, books upon books upon books (didn't know I had so many of those either), outdoor fire-pits, more books, old children's toys....guess what Mez, not only did I find your Sylvanian dolls house, but your Barbie dolls, some with hair, some without!

Lots of soft toys from baby days and other bits and pieces which we cannot part with yet.

We had loaded by 9:30 am thanks to Jimmy The Mitch and were on our way not long after.

I did not know that such trucks are made with thin iron bars in the back rest and seat which are designed to make one shift uncomfortably from time to time.

The cabin was relatively spacious though and warm, which is all one can ask on such a cold winter's day. We were out of the city and on the Hume by 10 which was pretty good going, as Westgate and the Ring Road are often fraught with stop start intervals. It was our lucky day with that aspect though and we made it up to Myrtleford with just one stop at Milawa for something to eat and an ablution and before we knew it, we had arrived at our storage facility.

The driver unlocked the gates to the complex then reversed up to where the door was. There was an unsuccessful attempt at this stage to unlock the padlock securing our storage space and a brief moment of panic, thinking we had not brought the right key up.

My driver then thought...."Bloody lock must be stuck" (he might have added a few other expletives at this time but me no say!) "What shall we do"? 

I had a go at unlocking unsuccessfully as he made the van suitable for unloading and then came across a set of bolt cutters he had brought up just in case.

Before one could mention Jack Robinson the lock was busted for all time, but it was then he, the driver, had an epiphany.....Perhaps he was trying to access the wrong shed!

Sure enough, we tried the lock next door with our key and miraculously, the shed door opened. I tried without much access to keep a straight face as he realised he had broken into, and without much effort, someone else's storage shed, so, without much fuss we quickly put our lock onto the 'not our shed' shed and proceeded to unpack our stuff into 'our' shed.

That didn't seem to take too long at all and we were finished by 3. 

The next job was to nick into town though and purchase a couple of new locks to replaced the busted one and give to the agents as a conciliation attempt towards the owner of the other shed!

That was done finally and we were underway again before we knew it and it was homeward ho once more.

The truck travelled quite well with minimal noise and as I mentioned before, the cabin was quite warm and cosy. The only drawback was the not overly comfortable seats but I suppose trucks aren't made for their seating comfort. One just gets used to such things as one gets a little older.

No time to check out our new abode today...

That will be done on Thursday as we will venture up again for a 'final inspection' and it's just a matter then of emptying out what we have left (lots!!!). I am sure 'stuff' grows when you're not looking, especially when you've lived in this house/home as long as we have.

An uneventful journey home apart from city traffic had us back safe and sound by 7:00pm.