Author: peterb51

27th March 2025

I had to cancel my drinking session with Lloyd today, and there were hundreds of crumpled up tissues in the bin. It has got to that stage, the human body amazes me having the capability to produce all that snot, what use is that?

I felt a little better after lunch, and went out into the garage to glue up a repaired drawer front, replace a back leg section that had crumbled away, and strip the top from another dresser.

I must admit that did take it out of me, so I gave up after that and went back inside, and drinking a ginger tea.

I have thought about how I got the cold in the first place. I’m sure it wasn’t from the flight, the only idea was when I got really cold walking to the corner store in inappropriate clothing. I sure the cold virus is in our bodies all the time, kept under controlled by our immune system, but when we get soaking wet, cold or generally rundown our system gets over run, and hence we start to feel sick.

I have been taking ivermectin, you know the horse medicine, from all the bad publicity during Covid. As a virus is classed as a parasite, this attacks and destroy them. Well I’ve taken two, and the jury is out, but towards the end of the evening something seems to be happening.

I learned today of the passing of an old school mate.

Richard Morgan had a career in the Royal Navy, retiring early spending the rest of his life on a small Greek Island, I will miss seeing his paintings, and pictures of his favourite restaurant table looking out to sea. Sail away Richard.

26th March Wednesday 

The lurge has crept up on me. It started with a scratchy throat and runny nose, whatever it was it pissed me off. I thought I had got passed that, but whether it was getting cold the day before that started it off or not, I definitely got something.

We had to deliver a dresser to a place in Zeeland, I mustered all the strength I had to help Kelli load this monster into the truck. Likewise at the other end it required the same effort.

This did put the mockers on my work list, instead I lay on the sofa drinking hot ginger tea.

25th March 2025

My first task of the day was a brisk walk to the corner store to get some milk. It looked a beautiful spring day, the sun was shining, and the lake was blue. I slipped on a hoodie and took the sunshine. Coming back was another matter. A cold breeze was blowing from the west, and what direction was I walking into? Yes, the west, it was bloody freezing. My nose and eyes were streaming, my hoodie did not perform a very good warming function, and I realised that spring was still a long way away.

My core was cold, even though I learned my lesson that cold feeling was with me all day.

We did our shopping, it was still familiar to me, and Kelli had returns at the UPS store. She is such a regular there most know her name, and no doubt she will be invited to their Christmas party.

Unlike Amazon, who have to deal with her returns, I expect there is a crate with her name on it that gets auctioned off at the end of the year, she won’t be getting a card from Jeff Bezos this year.

Once we got back we finished a dresser. This one we decided not to paint. I had scraped the top and applied a few coats of finish to it.

Pictures were taken and posted, and sold!!

That’s how I like it.

24th March 2035

Snow returned to Holland, maybe just a sprinkle, but it was there, and it was cold.

We had to take a dresser to Grand Rapids, it was one that Kelli did on her own, it looked great, but it was a heavy beast.

The address was next to the highway, we had to get it out the truck, carry it across a wide cycle way, up some rickety steps and into a porch, not the easiest delivery. The thought of falling through the steps concerned me, but they stayed intact.

We then had to rush back to sort out Kelli’s tax returns. 

I was suffering, although not a brilliant night, the jet lag was catching up with me. It takes a couple of days to readjust my internal clock.

All the way back I had to force myself to stay awake, my eyes felt like they were full of sand, even a strong cup of coffee failed to boost me.

However I did mange to scrape a large dresser top and start to repair a cracked drawer front.

Kelli was amazed that I even managed to do that.

23rd March 2025

My first real day back in the US, custard slices and bacon rolls are now a thing of the past, although writing them out stirred a longing that cannot be fulfilled.

It’s time to get back to small helpings and healthy breakfasts, after the three week indulgence.

Even though I was living in a bit of a fog, I went into the garage to glue some support rails to a couple of drawers for a dresser that we were are due to deliver tomorrow, that was the limit of my abilities, the rest of the day was to chill the heck out.

Another job was to replace the mechanism of our clock. I brought one back with me that I had, so I dismantled the old part and replaced it with the new.

When it came to the reassembly I had to connect two clips that held the clock body into the frame. These were quite strong, so I wasn’t sure how to refit them.

At this point my brain went dim, I had chosen a direction where I had to depress the full force of the clip, which was bloody impossible.

Kelli came along, took one look, and click, click located the clip with no effort. I looked in disbelief at the simplicity of her action, I sank into the floor in my embarrassment.

This was going to be the talking point when we went to Kelli’s mums house for ice cream. 

On the many times I’ve been in the same embarrassment, I always answer “ oh I did that for a laugh, I’m not really that daft”.

The truth is, I didn’t, and I really am.

22nd March 2025

The day has arrived, nothing about delays on the airline website, so fingers crossed.

I managed a few hours sleep before Nicola and Colin arrived to take me to the bus station.

Some say they only do it just to make sure I leave the country, but I’m sure that not correct. After complaining that there were no custard slices, we headed off for the coach.

Bath was surprisingly busy at four in the morning, not just the travellers, the clubs had turfed out the late night revellers.

The coach driver was sticking to the rules, he emerged from his cab exactly ten minutes before departure, and started to load up the luggage.

Then we climbed abort the Islam express, or so it seemed. The ethnic balance was certainly not equal. The coach started its journey, stopping at various places along the way. I proudly took up two seats, like any proud Englishman would do. 

There was a short stop at Swindon where even more joined, taking up the last available seats.

Then on to Heathrow, all this time the clock in the coach was two hours fast, enough to freak out anyone without a watch.

There is a long walk from the bus station to terminal three. This required two trips in a lift, one of which didn’t move because I was standing in front of the button. There was a lot of pointing and words I didn’t understand, but eventually it got through to me.

As I was traveling Premium Economy I didn’t have to print my own tags and boarding cards. This kept me apart from the plebs.

Once through the improved, much larger screening area I went to have breakfast.

I decided against the full English, not because there were no English people serving, but rather I didn’t want to spoil myself. I chose to have an egg Benedict, what arrived was not what I expected. Sure there was an egg, but it was sat on a piece of toast, with bacon and a foul slab of black pudding!!, it looked bloody disgusting. 

Whatever Eastern European interpretation of an egg benedict this was, should have been consigned to the slop bucket.

I carefully dissected, and extracted the offending invader, placing them on the side of the plate. I noticed that black puddings were served with everything, even the vegetarian menus.

The delays that I anticipated did not materialise, the flight left on time, and arrived in Charlotte early.

The customs person that processed me was friendly, and welcomed me back to the United States.

I had about an hour to wait for my second flight, which is close to the time it took to navigate my way through the remodelling that was taking place.

I found a place to sit and read my book until they called my group number.

Then the dreaded announcement was made, a slight delay due to a problem with the door.

I checked what aircraft it was, and fortunately it wasn’t a Boeing, but Airbus. 

The delay kept getting extended, I wasn’t concerned, “take as long as you need chaps” I thought, the door is an important part of the plane. After a number of engineers went through the tunnel entrance, it was announced the boarding would start.

I think we were delayed by thirty minutes, but Kelli’s smiling face made the long day worthwhile.

21st March 2025

I woke up this morning to the news of disruption at Heathrow caused by a fire at a nearby electrical substation knocking out power to terminals 2 and 4.

I was able to check in to both my flights, but that could change. 

I wanted to try the breakfasts at Merkins farm shop and cafe just outside Bradford on Avon. I had never been there, and its reputation was well known.

The use of galvanised corrugated iron, brick and wood in the decor was a typical material choice in trying to maintain the “farm” image, but it does get overused. The choice of “tatt”masquerading as gifts, was typically uninspired. 

However the food was good, a generous portion filled the gap, and although my criticism might sound like a Tripadvisor write up, it wasn’t meant to be that. Whenever I visit farm shops and garden centres, this is what I look for, originality.

The US, especially around the Mid West are far behind in developing this concept.

But Merkins is good in what they offer, and I will definitely go there again.

I used the rest of the day to do all the cleaning and any small repairs and touch ups that are needed.

I  don’t understand why some people allow the chairs to rub the wall, with out realising it.

I moved the Eames lounge chair upstairs into the bedroom for that reason. 

In an attempt to reduce the risk of it happening again  I adjusted the mechanism on my two soft pads to reduce the tilt, hopefully that will stop the problem.

I did all the vacuuming in record time, my lunch consisted of whatever I had left in the fridge.

This consisted of the nobby end of a baguette and a small jar of marmalade.

It was like chewing a hand grenade, I had to naw at it like a rodent, eventually breaking the crust.

Fortunately I had an invite from Ryan and Louise to join them for a Chinese dinner. This was the first in many years (I might have been tempted before, but the one in the town had closed)

This was wonderful, as I had to return the beast, and there was nothing left except a pat of butter.

They had just returned from Barcelona, bring back with them typical Spanish mementos, a tattoo and nose piercings, and they did that sober!

Ryan had a brave attempt at explaining the reason why he let a crazy Spaniard loose with an electric drill, but it was lost on me, his generation have a different interpretation of a mid life crisis, I’ll stick to shouting at pensioners. 

20th March 2025

Now back in my habitat, I still awoke at 6.30 but no Bobby licking my neck. I walked up to the local shop to get milk. Where I live is high up on the hill, giving me great views of the town below, it looks like a model, at night the lights sparkle, I always stop, sometimes to catch my breath, and look in awe.

I had a visit from Damian, we had a good catch up. He is living a very complex life, it makes the peace negotiations in Ukraine seem insignificant, but I’m sure he will sort himself out eventually.

Today was the highlight of my trip, the biannual pilgrimage to the Mint room Indian restaurant with my Herman Miller friends.

I did have some research to do on a chicken biryani.

On my last two visits, and having the same dish, I had a dry, itchy throat the next day, like I was starting a cold. I decided the only way to disprove, or prove this theory was to have the same dish again.

I was wrong, I had no ill effects at all, darn it.

So Mint Room, you are still okay.

All of those sitting around the table all have different stories to tell, some good, some bad, but the common thread is we shared the best times during the same era, these are people I would want to share a dessert island with, although Bob would have to learn new jokes.

I had a warm feeling inside, maybe the biryani was doing its stuff, or was it I had a wonderful time, perhaps both.

 18th March Wednesday 

Another glorious day, an early morning walk to awaken the senses.

I have really enjoyed these past few days.

Having the freedom to walk the dogs and just run their hearts out is not something I cannot do in America. There is nothing close to let our dogs off the leash and letting them run. There are parks a short car journey away, but even then people are reluctant to let their animals loose.

Early morning walks are not something we do, Kelli has her morning rituals, taking an hour to look natural, but she can’t be rushed, just selecting suitable clothing for the day is a complex process, requiring input from the weather channel.

But I guess the main reason for coming back to England is the change of routine that is important, it’s about seeing my friends and family, the cottage doesn’t feel like my home, even though it’s full with my possessions. I’m a transatlantic gipsy trying to integrate with American culture, and maintain the one of my homeland, I need, and always will keep my Britishness.

The day was made perfect by yet another custard slice courtesy of my sister Nicola.

This one had to be savoured as it is likely the last for a while. The excess custard dropped on the plate, I hadn’t perfected the correct eating protocol, nearly, but some of the filling got away from me. This requires “ the finger scoop” which I conducted perfectly.

I continued to wade through the video tapes, finding the one Bob Wood conducted tests on glass doors from back in July 2002, I think it was all about customer confidence, although it did highlight the product vulnerability, not that we didn’t already know that.

18th March 2025

It was a beautiful morning, a time I feel that’s it’s great to be alive. I see how the sun has been called the life giver, I opened my eyes wide and took a deep breath, it was going to be a good day.

As the dogs were exploring and sniffing at everything, I contemplated my life, as I do regularly. I found some video tapes, from an old format that I had forgotten about. Fortunately I still had the player that worked, so I slipped in a tape and waited to see what was on it.

The screen flickered into life, I saw images of my visit to Hong Kong from December 1999. It reminded me of all the great opportunities given to me working for Herman Miller. 

I went there with Tim Wallace, where we were developing a desk solution for China.

I think we spent ten day travelling around, the industrial areas of China looking at venders who could manufacture product, little did we know years later that we would have a manufacturing plant there.

It was fun watching all the scenes that I had captured, I expect the landscape has changed drastically since then.

I reminded me of things that we have lost, and didn’t realise it. The paper boy deliveries, the milkman making his deliveries at seven in the morning, this was part of the world when “making a living” was more important that making vast profits, or so it seemed.

It was a time when deliveries were made without charge, unlike now when that charge cost more than the item you want delivered.

But we accept the changes, moan about them, but carry on our lives.

My friend Dave from the studio days came over, almost immediately he starts talking. Like my time with Martin forgetting names was the common thread. We spent a lot of time Googling to complete our conversation. 

We talked about humour, and how it’s used to defuse situations, we both shared the belief that there is humour in every situation, including grief. He was alway accused of being insensitive, like the time he told the joke about two men in a pub, one said “My wife told her father to go into the garden and pick some peas for dinner. Whilst he was doing it, he had a heart attack”

The other man replied “ That is terrible, what did you do?”, the first man replied, “open a tin”.

Unfortunately he was telling it to a person whose father had just died of a heart attack.

It was like the time when Kelli’s dad, Dave, died. I was one of the pole bearers. When the casket was slid out of the hurst and I took the full weight, which was considerable, I asked the question, “ Did he have to be buried with all his tools?” I thought it was funny.

I hope that when I go, someone will make a joke about me, lord knows there must be a lot to choose from.