She Says - Time Running Out…

We’re really feeling the pressure right now. I worked out yesterday that we basically have 10 weeks left and not that many free weekends! We had a long weekend, which was very productive. Xander has done loads more on the bike, in fact it’s actually back together again but needs some more work before it gets on the road. He’s also completely finished and installed the tool box. I spent all Saturday getting everything that can be sold at this point in time into the lounge, and all Sunday pricing it! We went to our first car boot sale on Monday, but unfortunately the weather was really bad and it may not have been advertised well, so few stalls actually set up and few buyers made their way there. We were home by 9am after arriving just before 7am! Still, they didn’t charge us the £5 pitch fee and we made £14!!! That’s nearly half a day’s travel!!! (we’re working on £30 these days due to the world economic state). Hopefully the next car boot will be on a better day, but we have few weekends to get out there selling stuff before we have to sell the car. And we have so much tat to get rid of!! It’s amazing how much stuff we can actually pack into our little car – even the king of packing thought it wouldn’t all fit! I have to get a photo to show what’s there, as it’s all sitting in the lounge waiting for the next sale.

Xander has now told his bosses that he’s taking all of June off, and has somehow managed to avoid the expected trouble that would bring, due to how he wrote his letter we guess. So he’s down to 4 weeks left at work, while I have 5. My boss and I are in a bit of a panic about getting everything sorted out before I go, but there’s not much we can do except get on with it! I feel really unready to leave work – I thought I had all the time in the world to get everything done but most days I feel like I’m going nowhere. I lost half a day last week to just trying to put my lists in order and work out what exactly needed doing and what will have to go onto the new person’s list! I lost another day going to a meeting for my boss, which was timed most inconveniently for the middle of the day in Birmingham, meaning I tried to work on the train and afterwards but not so successfully! At least it gave Xander and I the excuse to go see the X-Men: Wolverine movie but I cringed at the cost of movie plus food – nearly a day’s travel in the end!!!! I’m being super-stingy on money, but accept you need to have a little fun every now and then…

My biggest dilemma lately has been hair washing! I’ve been working on new methods since we decided to travel. First was to reduce the amount of shampoo I use by adding some water before applying. However, my long hair needs a fair bit of conditioner and there’s little I can do about that. I discovered that Lush makes solid shampoos and conditioner (yes, only one for some strange reason!) plus 2-in-1 blocks. I’ve never had much luck with 2-in-1 washing, but thought it was worth a try. All seemed good to start with, but the more I used it the drier and itchier my head got. Using the solid conditioner helped, but of course was not ideal. Another problem is that the solid conditioner smells of patchouli, which I don’t notice strongly, especially by the end of the day, but Xander despises!! So I’ve been hunting to find a spray leave-in conditioner, something not so strange back home but rare as hen’s teeth here, and when I finally found one (in fact, two!) it was Aussie brand. How weird?! So I’ve found that normal shampoo followed by either solid or spray-in conditioner works fine. I’m also testing a solid shampoo from Lush in place of the 2-in-1 (first time today so no results yet!). I’ve told Xander he may just have to put up with me using the patchouli-smelling stuff every second day as a compromise…But what a hassle! You may be asking yourself by now ‘what’s the big deal?’ At this point, every bit of space and weight counts and we simply don’t have room to carry large bottles of shampoo and conditioner. On our backpacking trip, we carried small bottles that only had to be topped up a few times, but this time is much longer. Do I buy whole bottles of product only to waste most because it doesn’t fit in my small bottle? Do I end up with really cheap stuff that makes my hair horrible? The whole idea of small solid products is brilliant (especially when they are supposed to last 80 washes!!) and so much more convenient – for application, transport, even fits better in the toiletry bag! Definitely worth it in my opinion.

I’ve also been hit by the depressing realisation that I’m never going to see a friend get married! My friend Morgan is getting married in August, just after we leave, and my best friend just got engaged! I know there’s no way she’ll wait till I come home and I honestly wouldn’t expect her to. I’m now missing a work colleague’s wedding this weekend as we are going to London to talk to friends who work with a large conservation organisation who we might be able to do volunteer work with in Africa. We’ve been trying to set that meeting up for months so couldn’t say no! I hit the same situation in 1996 when I went to the subantarctic. Two of my high school friends got married while I was away. There hasn’t been another wedding since and now I’m leaving again, up they come! Maybe one day…