thirtysomething...

So I had this whole book written about what's been going on the last couple of weeks. After reading it through a couple of times, correcting grammer, spelling & the like I came to a realization. It Sucked. So you'll have to do without my crappy epic.

Here's a shorter version:

My mother, her husband and my grandparents came over for a two week stay. It was Mom's first trip off the North American continent, and I think she did pretty good. Her husband Jim had been over about 20 or so years ago, and my grandparents came over, if I remember correctly, 25 years ago for their 25th wedding anniversary. Heather and I had a few things planned for everyone to do, and then they took side trips during the week as well. The main places we all went to were Sissinghurst Gardens in Bendenden, Stonehenge & Salisbury, and London. Closer to the end of their stay we took an old steam train from Tenderden to Bodium and wandered the grounds of Bodium Castle. When we went to Salisbury we stayed overnight at a B&B on an old farm, which was pretty cool. Parts of the house dated back to the 1600's ,1700's & 1800's. The owners kept adding on and adding on. Very interesting. Drove by Sting's house on the way to Stonehenge from the Salisbury Cathedral. Sorry no pics of that.

I say this knowing that it will be read by those involved...I love my family, but damn, they can wear you out. :)

Once everyone left, Heather and I had 2, count'em, 2 whole days to ourselves before getting on a plane to the US. Originally the trip to the US was scheduled to be two weeks for a wedding we wanted to attend, but the bride and groom decided on a tiny (read: courthouse) wedding, a family dinner afterwards, and a Family & Friends Get-Together sometime later TBA. We missed all those things. :/ Oh well. We had other stuff we needed to do anyway.

While we were there, I picked out all the tile needed for the House Renovation. Confirmed plumbing fixtures, flooring options, re-supplied the renovation bank account and generally milled about taking pictures of the renovation. It's coming along!! Heather said all we would need to stay at the house was a tent and a cooler. There was already a Port-o-let on the front porch. Took care of a few household upgrades for a friend, worked a SCCA Club Race in the middle of everything... It was Non-Stop the WHOLE time we were back in the US.

Speaking of the Club Race. Well, let's have some backstory. On the plane ride over, I had trouble with, well, my plumbing. Kept feeling like I had to go ALL the time, and when I actually got up, there wasn't much coming out. Back on the ground, it continued, but no troubles now with flow. I figured it was just travel & stress issues. Jump forward one week to the next weekend. A bud of mine and I took his parent's RV to Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. It's Saturday, I'm working Corner 9 in the middle of a straight-away, just before the ass-puckering "Kink" at 10 and 11. I'm drinking tons of water to stay hydrated cause we're out there all day. Also having to run off to the woods by the Corner Station to take a piss between EVERY Practice Session, and Qualifying Session. At this point I really didn't think much of it because of the amount of water I was drinking. We (the SCR autocrossers working the event) went out that night to a Greek/Italian place, have a few beers, then head back to the track.

Sunday morning. During the morning constitutional everything seemed fine, and then BAAAAAAAAAM! I'm literally bent over in half, sitting on the toilet in EXCRUCIATING pain. I really thought I was gonna die/explode. This was no "Lactose Moment" that I'm occasionally prone to have. This was something else Entirely. Sad thing about screaming in pain while sitting on a toilet in an RV that's parked about 200 yards from a very active racetrack. No One Hears You. AT ALL. Even if you do it for 3 or 4 hours. I must have passed out cause when I came to Practice & Qualifying were over, and it was lunchtime, and I was (relatively speaking) in no pain. Walked over to one of the Ambulances in the Paddock, explained what happened to the EMT and he goes, "Kidney Stone. That's what you've got. And I can't help ya."

WHAT?

He said he didn't even have an aspirin to give me. I gave him the "You're full of Shit" squint look and walked back to the RV.

Crap. What now. Well, I summoned up the courage, explained to my friends what was going on and slid into the MINI and drove to Charleston. The next day, went to my doctor's office, got some antibiotics and pain meds. By the end of our stay in the US, it was all over. No Pain, No constant need to pee. Only the dread of getting on a 9 hour plane ride and having the gravel begin again. Back in the UK, still no problems. I will tell you that I had my bottle of Lortab VERY close by on the plane.

I must have passed the stone at the track, but I never saw it. :shrug:

Well, that's all I've got for now. If you don't see anything written here for extended periods, it's cause what ever I wrote sucked. I've realized that I can't force myself to write something and if I do, it's not enjoyable to read, IMO.

As always, click the thumbnails to view the photo journals. Be sure to read Heather's Guest Blog & her photos!!