Whiskey

We drove home beautifully. Garmin did her job, the trailer behaved and we arrived home in one piece. I pulled straight into the driveway.
Now I am not sure you get the picture - when I say "straight" - I really mean - straight - car in front, trailer behind. Once you are in, you need to unhook the trailer and roll it to the side... or - REVERSE.

Do you think I had EVER reversed with the trailer on the car? Oh no! I had seen it done before, seen how that little trailer runs in the wrong direction and jack-knifes ... and was firmly of the opinion that I would NEVER EVER reverse a trailer and car combination. So - "STRAIGHT" has problems of it's own!

With all that kind and willing help on the Drakensberg side, the very first time I actually needed to unload those bikes on my own– was Sunday evening at 9 pm – when I arrived home. Ironically, I had all the help I needed until then, and no one – including me – had ever thought any of that through.

Full of confidence I called the kids to bring the tools. After all, I had watched this process a few times over. How hard could it be. Turned out – taking the bikes off was no problem at all. THAT process I had down to a T. However, I couldn’t get the trailer unhooked from the car. The turny goody was just turned too tight.

Now I was in trouble – keeping the reversing problem in mind, so unless I got the trailer off, I was not going to make it to work the next day.

Well, if you are not strong – you have to be clever. Taking a hammer, I approached the problem with a fat attitude of – I WILL get you loose.

I tapped the turny thing – but unfortunately, in the wrong direction. But it moved. Then I tapped it in the other direction, and lo and behold – managed to get the whole lot loose.

YEAH!!!!!! I felt inordinately pleased with myself. ACHIEVEMENT – BIG TIME. Without the help of a man – GO GIRL.

Well, I decided to celebrate my success. The Prof had left me a bottle of whiskey – with the cryptic words: maybe one day it will help you. I still wonder what he meant. Did he mean I could “drown” my sorrows? NO WAY. I had decided long ago I would never touch the stuff in sadness.

But hey – this was a celebration – I thought it a good enough reason. Out came the whiskey and a glass. Ummm… and now Yvonne? Well, um, I guess I just pour it the way I saw the Prof doing it. May sound funny – but I had never poured a drink. I had decided not to help the Prof along that particular path of destruction.

He would drink a glass of whiskey every evening, claiming to only feel normal when he had had a whiskey.

So … the only example which I had to follow, was the one he had set me i.e. filling the glass with lots of ice, and then pouring the rest full of whiskey.

I poured it just like that, drank it – fairly fast – hey what did I know about that either, and then slept very VERY soundly that night. I almost didn’t make it to work the next day – but for different reasons than I had originally thought!