Travel panic

I woke up this morning to the sound of the builders starting work on number 11, vacant now for a year and needing renovation. It was finally bought by a developer hoping to make money from a loft conversion and a rebuild of the utility room at the back where the drain was found to have collapsed. Two young men with a chainsaw started by destroying climbing plants covering the garden wall and reducing the magnolia to a tree stump. Gone is a blackbird's nesting habitat and refuge for the flock of sparrows which have been much in evidence lately. Only last night we watched a mother and youngsters foraging in the bushes on our side of the wall.

Much of the morning was spent packing my bags properly, making sure they were within the weight limit, and printing off paper documents, including boarding pass, to back up the digital ones. We had a message to say the car was ready to collect, so I made my way to Splott by bus and on foot to retrieve it and was lucky enough to get a parking place outside the house for Clare's convenience, when I got back. Next door's utility room had been demolished while I was away for just an hour, and the detritus piled high in the tiny front garden of number eleven. Assuming a skip was ordered by the foreman, it didn't arrive. It looks terrible.

I cooked lunch and then went for a walk in the park. Inevitably there were more things I needed to pack and more re-arrangement of bag contents, but in the end, all was well. Unfortunately when I rang for a taxi I was told that all the firm's early slots were taken. I tried two other firms which had robotic answering services which I found impossible to engage with properly, and both concluded by referring me to their mobile app. I was utterly shocked and very distressed by this, and in the end I phoned Richard Hill, one of  St German's Churchwardens, and he agreed to take me. Early, he said wasn't a problem as his partner goes to Penarth to join others for an early swim and her rendezvous is at half past five! I couldn't believe my good fortune. The problem we early trains is that one can never be too sure of their reliability, as there can be maintenance work undertaken overnight that can sabotage the regularity of the timetable.

Thanks to Richard, I can sleep soundly tonight. What a good friend!