GG JAH 88

My new Trans-Europa Express picture arrived, yesterday, and I am delighted with it, not least because I fully understand what's going on with the German :-)

The Minx put it up in the guest bedroom, this morning (first Extra).

After that, we went down to Caton and had breakfast in the little café there, which was excellent. All these years, and I've never been there before! We'll deffo go again, though. 

After that, we went down to Wickes to buy paint. The plan was that the Minx would spend today decorating what was always referred to as the laundry room, but which is now going to be more akin to a clothes and dressing room, while I sorted out the attic, taking advantage of all of the new flooring that the joiner, Charlie, has put down. 

And as is the way with these things, it took a lot longer than I expected; there was twenty-five years accumulated stuff up there! 

All of the empty boxes from buying computer and music equipment over the years were dropped down into the music room for later disposal, and pretty much everything else was moved into the new space.

I had to stop and stretch periodically; it's hard work moving stuff around when the ceiling is slightly lower than your height. I banged my head properly about six times. 

Still, in the end, the old area, the one I've been using all these years, was completely cleared (and hoovered) and everything that stayed up there was neatly arranged in the new space. The second Extra shows all my CDs, or, rather, the bags they're all kept in. 

Of course, I came across a few treasures, but there was one stand out; a VHS tape labelled 'GG JAH 88'. I posted this picture, today's Blip, onto the Good Gang chat, to which Bob replied "Holy shit !! That tape is like the Dead Sea scrolls'. 

It was filmed on Paris in January '88*. Bob's parents were living there and we all went out for a few days. Borrowing his dad's video camera, we filmed ourselves out and about in Paris. 

God knows the last time I watched it. I mean, I didn't even know I had it! But Ash has the necessary kit to convert into a modern format, so we can all see ourselves in our early twenties as soon as that's done. I wonder how that will feel?

While I was doing that, the Minx made incredible progress with the decorating, and we rewarded ourselves by popping down into Kirkby to meet our friend Vic and her partner, Phil, for a drink. We only found out they were here today, as Phil brought Vic here for a birthday surprise.

After a long day, we planned to only stay for one drink, but we had such a lovely time that we stayed until closing. 

* We didn't have an 'N' for the label