THE GOOD BUCK

I managed to sell the Harley (at a huge loss) at my first attempt. The guy came and picked it up on Saturday, no fuss. The money will come in handy as I’ve got to work a month before I get paid at my new job. I went for a test ride out to the location of my induction yesterday. Good job I did. Google maps doesn’t recognise the postcode, and they said “Javelin House”, which has a different postcode on Google and it’s not that either. And it’s not marked as Javelin House. Which is super. It just says GBA logistics, which is not on the address given, and I’d forgotten for whom it was I was to be working, so it took me a while to find it.

The other big thing is the raised bed. I’ve built it twice now with planks and it just falls apart and rots. This time I cunningly ordered reclaimed oak railway sleepers. They will outlast me. So do it once and it’s done. I had to take the flowers out, take the old raised bed apart, and dig all the dirt out on to a tarpaulin. That was tough on my back.

Today the beams arrived. It’s one thing to say “they are 2.7 metres/ 8′ 10″ and 100kg”, it’s another thing altogether in the flesh. Having to lift one end is tough enough. Having to then drag it from the front of the house into the garden, is at my very, very limit. I managed one on my own, then Wendy helped me a little bit with the parcel truck thing. It was still incredibly tough and took loads of moves. I ended up putting a roller under the front and pushing them a few inches at a time. It was back-breaking.

It feels like a new era is dawning. I’ve done my last agency shift for Sainsbury’s. A week on Thursday I do my induction for my 4 on, 4 off, permanent, salaried, job, around the corner. I’m not stressed about it because the driving simply can’t be any worse. Some of the drops at Sainsbury’s you are at the absolute limit. OK, the guy was saying it’s graft, but it’s just tipping a decker of cages, and reloading it. I can do that.

My sanity is properly back, which is fantastic beyond words. Possibly the loony pills are too good, though. I’m not frantic and obsessional. Which is odd. It means though, that I’m not driven to run to burn off the excess loon. I’ve been getting fat. I was 11 stone 1 pound the other day. Time to get a grip. I did my last shift yesterday, (12 hours 45!) now I’m off for 10 days before my induction, so this morning I got a run and started my diet. If I run every day and cut out sweet stuff I should lose weight quite quickly. The trouble is all day I’ve been face-planty. So it goes. I was quite pleased with the effort though. I set out to do 8 miles at sub 9 m/m, as I’ve not been running (6 runs since February, the last one, two and a half weeks ago). It was so hard I was going to compromise on a 6 mile run, but I was clocking sub 8.30 and at the 3 mile point on the ‘out’ run I kept going. On the way back I even threw in two sub 8 miles. That was a bit ambitious. But I did the 8 miles at an 8.13 m/m average pace. That will do, Donkey. My knee feels a bit swollen now, so I may have done too much, too soon. Which I may as well get on a coat of arms for myself. Tomorrow is a an easy 8, no heroics.

I swapped the carbs on the VFR but the cleaned set was leaking petrol from a bad seal on the float bowl, so I put the other carbs back on and set and balanced them.

I think I’m finally back to fully sane. As fully sane as I get, anyway. Today I went back into the shed to redo my carbs. I’ve stripped them, ultrasonically cleaned them, blown them through, fitted all new seals and reassembled them. The float bowl seals were being problematic. I fitted them, but rather than risk it I took them off again and went to some pains to make sure they seated properly. Then I did a bench set of the carbs.

I cleaned a few other bits while I was working, just because the ultrasonic bath is so groovy.

Also I bit the bullet and listed the Harley for sale. I’m just cutting my losses. I thought I was going to have to reduce it to eventually sell it, but someone has put a bid in for the initial price already. Cool. I just want it gone.

My VFR is basically done now. I fitted a stock exhaust and a new exhaust gasket today. The carb seals kit arrived today so tomorrow I’m going to strip the carbs that came with the bike, try out my fancy new ultrasonic cleaner, then rebuild with a the new seals, set the carbs to factory spec, then swap the carbs over.

That should be that for my carbs, and basically the bike. I will be taking the fairing off to try and patch and mend it. But that’s just aesthetic. I already have all the kit I need for that.

The Harley. The big news there is I’ve decided I just don’t like it. I like the look and I love the sound, but it just feels lumpy and crude to ride. There is an adjustment problem with the gear selector (easy fix) which I’ll have to sort, then I think I’m going to sell it. I’m going to take a massive loss, but there is no point in keeping it if I’m not going to use it. I feel bad about the amount of money I’ve poured into it, but I thought I’d be keeping it and loving it. I think I’ll probably get what I paid for the bike. So all the work I did on it, the parts I replaced or upgraded, too much to list, will all be loss. What else can I do, though? I have a bike that does everything. I don’t need a bike that does nothing.

Just a quick update to my last blog. That ‘trunking to Scotland’ agency job was a bust. It was the old school agency fishing ploy. “That job has been filled, but here’s an entirely different one we need doing.” No.

I went back to the firm who were doing the Home Bargains contract, GBA logistics, and applied with them. I’ve looked, and they had an advert for this job last month, saying £40.5 -£42k a year for 4 on 4 off. Even if it’s 12 hours that’s £18.77 per hour (for £41k). They got straight back to me and arranged an assessment for Tuesday. I asked him what he meant by ‘days’, he said 05.00 onwards! That will do, Donkey! The reason I didn’t take the job last time was because they wanted 00.00 -04.00 starts. If they are still offering the same pay as the advert I saw (not the £16.20 the other agency were stating) I’ll take it. That would be great. On my doorstep, easier driving, 4 on 4 off, regular wages. What’s not to love?

I finally got around to working on the Harley today. I’ve put it off for so long it had grown into monster proportions in my mind. It took me about 2 hours to mix and match the parts from my rear light and the one I’d ordered as a second hand replacement (which didn’t fit. Liars!). It was really simple. I now have a back light and brake light.