So, before the pictures (and videos), a little background.
I'm English, born and raised. Moved to the U.S. some 37 years back.
I have a friend up in Yorkshire (Huddersfield), he's a huge car nut (and like me, a huge Top Gear U.K. Fan) but has spent months and months in hospital in the last few years. He hasn't been able to work for at least the last fifteen. In 2013 he spent three or four months in hospital undergoing some rather nasty 'stuff'. I was planning on visiting around Christmas but all the flights got cancelled. So I rescheduled for July 2014 (I'd been there before, rented a generic VW diesel SUV. This is part of the storyline!).
I'd told him that with all those narrow roads, twisty bits, poor signage, stray sheep and so on that maybe it might be better if he did the driving when I was there (since he knew the area etc) on my next visit. Got him to send me a scan of his drivers license so I could add him to my next rental. Had him thinking I'd be in a generic rental...
He's my best friend, the kind that you can spend an entire evening playing online poker with while jabbering on Skype video taking the piss out of each other, calling each other names, the kind of friend where the banter is respected for the really good lines and at the end of the evening, both are smiling.
I'd apologized several times because they'd shut down all the flights out of Newark Liberty over Christmas, therefore not only had I missed spending that with him, I'd also missed his birthday.
So come July, emailed him to say I was on my way. Asked him to have him or his GF listen for my arrival because I wanted some video of the entire vacation thingy (they live on a cul-de-sac, easy to hear a car approaching)...
This is how I arrived at his place...
[youtube]XXLty69hp1k[/youtube]
After he'd picked his jaw up from the floor and I'd topped up my nicotine content, and had a proper cup of tea (can't get those in the U.S.!), we did a little drive out to a Tesco (picking up some supplies). He brought his blue badge (disabled parking permit) with us.
*insert huge grin*
Tesco isn't a Walmart (The U.S. folks would appreciate the humor there), it's more like a Shoprite. But they do have blue badge (disabled) parking spots. The rules allowed me to park there since I had a disabled passenger.
We came back out to find a little bit of a crowd giving 'evil' looks. The lady parked next to us smiled and said "Someone knows how to make the most of their mobility allowance!". I took a moment to explain it and she got a huge grin on her face (and then asked me if I was single!). The nosy parker crowd wandered away as we put the shopping into the front trunk (boot). Then my friend asked "Did you umm, *chin quiver*, get it insured for me too?". That's when he drooled a little bit (he might have twitched too!).
"Why, yes I did!", I replied, handing him the remote, "Go for it!".
With him navigating, it had taken maybe 10-15 minutes to get there from his place. With me navigating, it took two hours to find our way back!
We went through the same short tunnel at least a half dozen times, I'm pretty sure he was totally lost (despite having grown up there!).
I did manage to capture his smile as he *finally* remembered his way home...
[youtube]nm7V92Y_ggM[/youtube]
Same week, his Mom's Birthday. She was driven to her b'day dinner in that.
(if you've read this far and seen some of the other tube links from watching those, you'll know something about me that I don't necessarily 'advertise'. Hopefully it doesn't 'freak you out'. Any commentary on that subject can be taken immediately to private mail.)
I'm English, born and raised. Moved to the U.S. some 37 years back.
I have a friend up in Yorkshire (Huddersfield), he's a huge car nut (and like me, a huge Top Gear U.K. Fan) but has spent months and months in hospital in the last few years. He hasn't been able to work for at least the last fifteen. In 2013 he spent three or four months in hospital undergoing some rather nasty 'stuff'. I was planning on visiting around Christmas but all the flights got cancelled. So I rescheduled for July 2014 (I'd been there before, rented a generic VW diesel SUV. This is part of the storyline!).
I'd told him that with all those narrow roads, twisty bits, poor signage, stray sheep and so on that maybe it might be better if he did the driving when I was there (since he knew the area etc) on my next visit. Got him to send me a scan of his drivers license so I could add him to my next rental. Had him thinking I'd be in a generic rental...
He's my best friend, the kind that you can spend an entire evening playing online poker with while jabbering on Skype video taking the piss out of each other, calling each other names, the kind of friend where the banter is respected for the really good lines and at the end of the evening, both are smiling.
I'd apologized several times because they'd shut down all the flights out of Newark Liberty over Christmas, therefore not only had I missed spending that with him, I'd also missed his birthday.
So come July, emailed him to say I was on my way. Asked him to have him or his GF listen for my arrival because I wanted some video of the entire vacation thingy (they live on a cul-de-sac, easy to hear a car approaching)...
This is how I arrived at his place...
[youtube]XXLty69hp1k[/youtube]
After he'd picked his jaw up from the floor and I'd topped up my nicotine content, and had a proper cup of tea (can't get those in the U.S.!), we did a little drive out to a Tesco (picking up some supplies). He brought his blue badge (disabled parking permit) with us.
*insert huge grin*
Tesco isn't a Walmart (The U.S. folks would appreciate the humor there), it's more like a Shoprite. But they do have blue badge (disabled) parking spots. The rules allowed me to park there since I had a disabled passenger.
We came back out to find a little bit of a crowd giving 'evil' looks. The lady parked next to us smiled and said "Someone knows how to make the most of their mobility allowance!". I took a moment to explain it and she got a huge grin on her face (and then asked me if I was single!). The nosy parker crowd wandered away as we put the shopping into the front trunk (boot). Then my friend asked "Did you umm, *chin quiver*, get it insured for me too?". That's when he drooled a little bit (he might have twitched too!).
"Why, yes I did!", I replied, handing him the remote, "Go for it!".
With him navigating, it had taken maybe 10-15 minutes to get there from his place. With me navigating, it took two hours to find our way back!
We went through the same short tunnel at least a half dozen times, I'm pretty sure he was totally lost (despite having grown up there!).
I did manage to capture his smile as he *finally* remembered his way home...
[youtube]nm7V92Y_ggM[/youtube]
Same week, his Mom's Birthday. She was driven to her b'day dinner in that.
(if you've read this far and seen some of the other tube links from watching those, you'll know something about me that I don't necessarily 'advertise'. Hopefully it doesn't 'freak you out'. Any commentary on that subject can be taken immediately to private mail.)
By the seaside...
North Yorkshire
.
