Civvy Street

It really does drive me nuts.  Within 2 days of getting away from the solitude of a yacht, I am already at my tolerance levels for fuckwits and  jobsworths.  Things do not need to be this difficult surely?

Tried a bank transfer on sunday which then failed.  The account that is was going to is now overdrawn, another account i have couldn’t handle an internal transfer in the same day so I am almost penniless – I could take money out on my credit card but we all now how much that will cost.

Better still, my car still remains unfixed in portugal more than 9 months after it was DRIVEN into the garage, it still does not run. Ok, slight issue with that but now think on, I have spent 4000€ and bought a new engine, fuel injectors, fuel pump, clutch and flywheel and also 4 new tyres – none of which have yet covered 1 mile of tarmac, and still, today, the car does not run.  So low is my confidence that this car will be ready when I get to portugal, that yesterday I purchased another car so that I can get to Portugal and have the summer off.

Now, being the good citizen that I am, I need special insurance that covers me for european extended use but can the agent sort that for me before tomorrow at 6pm when I want to collect the new car?  Not sure.  Should I return to my old insurer whose own break down and recovery service for which I paid extra, refused to recover my car from Portugal to England?  I don’t know!!!

Because it is so expensive to fly with all of my gear, I am using the Eurostar to get back to england.  This was a pleasant surprise.  A short walk to the nearest tube station, 4 stops down the line and I am at the Eurostar station – Even better still, the Eurostar goes from Belgium to London non stop in just over 2 hours.  And all of this for less than a ton.  I reckon that the total travel time will be less too.  Downside though, I have too much luggage to lump all that way so will drive back to belgium at the weekend and collect it all before heading to Portugal.

The boat I have just finished with is now a week late on my final payment – to the tune of a little over 10 grand and you might begin to see why I am struggling with Civvy Street so much.

Of course, there is some good news – I do have the summer off, I can work again at the local dive centre, I have my study books with me in Belgium and I did find a car at a decent price.

I wonder what Blighty has in store for me.

Bloody hell, Lexa finally subscribed – I think that makes 5 now, geographically speaking I now have readers in South Africa, America, England and also an American in Belgium – I guess not to be sniffed at but it could be better, much better.  I guess I need to try some cheap shots in the headline so i get more hits from search engines?