Legally sorted

Passprot (and Visa) turned up today, phew :-) That's a weight off my mind, everything else is within my power I think. I went back to the hospital to get my toe checked out, hurts when I walk but wasn't too bad driving. Having said that I haven't tried driving the Vitesse yet, the clutch is pretty light so I should be OK.
It'll take a few more weeks to heal fully and I need to keep it strapped up for another week or two.
Tomorrow the work on the car starts in earnest, whilst I've been laid up I've made a list and prioritised it, it won't all get done and to be honest I think if I just jumped in the car now and went it would be OK but I will feel better after I lay hands on the car!
I also heard today that Carl Shakespeare with whom I did the run last year has just got a ticket for his Sprint. He's built this up from a bare shell and has put some serious hours into it. He's coming round tomorrow so I'm looking forward to seeing the car then.

Almost there now

Well the pain has subsided in my toe and I drove for the first time today. I had some shots for India yesterday and that seemed to go OK and I had a call from my company's travel people to confirm that my Visa has been granted. That means my Passport is on the way back to me :-) Should be with me tomorrow when I also go back to the fracture clinic. The weekend will be the first time I've touched the car for a month, fortunately it's pretty close but I do need to pack!

Ouch!!! That really (and I mean REALLY) hurt!

So imagine the scene, I am back from holiday, tanned and completely knackered, been travelling for 12 hours through the night and I'm a bit, well, clumsy. I have some bad news and then some good news on the phone, more about that later. Whilst I'm taking and making these calls I'm thinking "I need some sleep". Then I hear my mobile ringing but I've put it down somewhere, I walk quickly out of the study and with my bare foot I clout the door frame, hard, very hard, as hard as I can! Ouch, that really hurts, I hobble about and miss the call, I look down and my little toe is at the weirdest angle you can think of, it's well broken!!
So that's a few hours in casualty, a couple of x-rays and some "manipulation", a little bit of swearing and a bucket of pain later and I'm done. It's all strapped up now and quietly turning blue and yes, it still bloody hurts!
I should be able to drive so the 10CR is still on, I should be able to walk on it in a few days/weeks so the trips to India are still on but now, I need some sleep!

A different perspective

Well here I am in sunny Cyprus, lying by the pool with nothing to do but eat, drink and relax. So far I've seen a Herald and a Cortina estate - OK the Herald is the same one I've seen every year for the last 15 :-)
I lst two days reading Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows and tomorrow I intend going on a quest for some alloy tube to make my velocity stacks with - other than that it's just the daily grind of beer, wine, BBQ food and sunshine, it's a hard life!

Horn trouble briefly revisited and a life change

Well it's not my relay - I haven't got one!! GT6s had a relay, Vitesses didn't - go figure!! That kinda blows that theory doesn't it.
Anyway, I've run out of time really, I have been working in Newcastle for the last 9 months, well there and Dundee with a bit of Belfast and the inevitable Norwich thrown in. That job has come to an end, great people in Belfast and Newcastle and I was sorry to see it come to an end to be honest. It had to end, my employer was pulling Claims out of these locations and my job was to migrate the work to Dundee and ensure an ordered and business like withdrawal - oh and my self appointed job was also to make sure everyone had a bloody good party at the end with far too much beer - mission accomplished!
So, to the next job - well I have a holiday for 2.5 weeks starting Tuesday so my mind wasn't really on anything but that. Queue an approach to manage another function - a real job not a project and back in my spiritual home of Claims. Now Claims has changed a bit whilst I've been off in IT and project land! Anyway, the job is to manage some of our operations in India, a bit of a drive that so I guess I'll have to take a plane or two! I've virtually agreed to take the job but I've yet to really see how that will affect my life - different time zones, new challenges, diverse culture and many other issues besides. I'm not the worlds biggest fan of what my employer has done done in offshoring but I can see some good business reasons in amongst the "other" stuff that clouds the issue.
Suffice to say I am up for it and, subject to the detail of the job package, will be out there in September for my first visit. The job is UK based but that means a lot of travel so I'm not sure how it will affect my various Club activities. I'm Area Organiser for the Hants & Berks TSSC and I'm entrants officer for the Club Triumph Round Britain Run 2008. These are my formal commitments and I will try and honour them as fully as I can - the AO role is likely to suffer the most as it means a meeting every month and I'm likely to be away for a few of those. The CT role I hope I can do "virtually" if I can set it up right :-)
As for driving the cars, well I'm currently planning the first trip out to India around the Ten Countries Run and my holiday - much rushing about with passports and Visas to fit it all in!! I know the dates of most things so I will try and keep them clear. As I get used to the travelling I hope I'll be able to get Visas etc sorted around Club events :-)
I do wonder what it will be like out there, will I see any Heralds or Standard Gazelles? I somehow doubt it as all our centres are in new modern areas. I will be visiting Bangalore, Noida (New Delhi) and Pune (Mumbai/Bombay).
Back to the car - I'm going to have to do an assessment on some of the jobs I have left - do I have a go and risk not finishing them or do I just take the spares just in case!? Undecided but largely the car is ready so I think it may be the latter!!!