IT'S Sunday and for the first Sunday in what seems like ages, I am not working. I celebrated with a lie-in, a run and a drive-by past Toolstation, Wickes and Asda. The house is chugging along, at a pace similar to that of an 80-year-old woman with a 40-a-day cigarette habit on a pushbike with two flat tyres. But chugging, nevertheless. The bathroom has been painted and tiled which is progress but still lots to do to it before we can give it a new door and I can move in there until the end of the year when the rest of the house is finished. I can hear Himself sawing something angrily downstairs now as I type this. We just had a dispute over how I was holding the hoover up the wrong way to detract the dust from the hole he was drilling. I hadn't realised there was a right or wrong way to suck up dust, but my eyes have been opened this afternoon I can tell you.
Last week we both knew it was time to have 'the talk'. It had been building up for awhile now and we had both been avoiding being the one to approach the subject, but time was ticking along and needs must, as they say. I had a driving test at the end of the week and was in desperate need of help with parallel parking and reverse around a corner. It just never seemed to click with my driving instructor and if you fail the maneuver, you fail the lot, so I was getting stressed. We both knew that Himself teaching me would be a recipe for full-scale, Die Hard-like disaster, which is the reason I had not asked up to now and he had not offered. I agreed that I would listen and not talk back or throw a strop (people agree to strange things when they're desperate) and so we put some brown boxes into the boot and headed around the corner to the industrial park. Ten minutes in and Himself was in full lecture mode after I reverse parked into one of the boxes. While I calmly tried to explain that it didn't count as there would be no car behind me on the test (they get you to park behind a car but none behind you), Himself refused to acknowledge this and instead chose to highlight the fact that you'll probably always have a car in front and behind you in real life, and what would I do then? A point well-made, but by that stage I decided it would feel better to rev up his engine and see his face go red to annoy him further than to agree with him. He then attempted to draw a diagram of the correct way to do it, at which point I was getting ready to drive into the other box. That's when the police pulled up alongside us (no joke) and had obviously just come over to amuse themselves with the sparring couple in a car surrounded by brown boxes.
'Excuse me miss, was that box upright before you got here? Cause that would be a fail now you know," police guy sniggered, as the policewoman next to him cackled hysterically before they took off again down the road. Funnily enough, after that we settled in to a good hour of me reversing in and out of the boxes perfectly once Himself had passed on his technique for quick and easy parking. I did get the reverse park on my test and managed to ace it - mainly due to the practice we had put in that week - so I was extremely grateful. Something tells me we won't be sharing his car though.
The driving test was a big deal for me and had been one of my main resolutions this year so every time I remember I've passed I feel a real tingle of delight. It's such a weight off knowing I never have to do it again! Next up is the marathon in 3 weeks' time. That will be a very challenging day for me but I'm ready for it, mentally anyway, and I'll wing the rest on the day. But for now, I'm going to make the most of the rest of my Sunday off. The sawing noise has ceased downstairs and it's suspiciously quiet. Maybe I'll head down and offer to hoover up the dust from it...
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