I’ve missed Hex. He’s back in Hampstead these days so I only see him a couple of times a week. With another lockdown approaching I think I might have to go get him tomorrow and bring him back to Chelsea. He gets more cuddles if he’s with me here, but my downstairs neighbour will die of apoplexy and there’s no way I can move his vivarium on my own so he’d have to live in his travel box and he’s noticeably less happy there. I’m not sure how I’m going to deal with it. I’ll work it out when and if somebody gives me a hard time for crossing London in my own vehicle to look after a snake.
Although I might not have my own vehicle for a while. The Nissan – it should go tomorrow if possible. I’ve got a quote for scrap but the guy seems quite flaky. He wasn’t happy when I told him the window had been smashed by thieves. Such an unnecessary and stupid thing to do, to break a car window like that. Thank the lord it’s the worst I’ve had in terms of incursions into my space.
Can’t make much difference to the overall value, one small window, particularly if you’re just stripping it for parts. But he dropped his quote by £20 and started being cagey. He’ll get even more cagey when I tell him the thing isn’t in my name yet.
I might just drive it into a scrap merchant and see if I can get them to take it. I’ve never really liked selling to people who insist on picking the car up themselves when it runs perfectly well. It just feels like they’re exchanging time for less money, and if I’ve got time I want to be exchanging it for more.
I’m sad to lose the car. If our hastily assembled “Build your own Prime Minister” kit makes good on his lockdown announcement today it might be quite hard suddenly to get across town without wheels in order to put a mouse in the snake. I’m sure other people have considerably more pressing concerns, but that’s mine. Snake gotta eat.
I kid myself into thinking he was happy to see me today. He was certainly happy to see the mouse. But we had a good long play together and it made me realise the amount of time that has passed since we were working together in The Tempest, me and Hex. The world was warming up. Now the streets are full of leaves, and the light is fading.
Winter is coming. Cars are usually a summer thing for me, but this year I might have to go and get another one swiftly so I can properly minister to the snake, and get to Brighton etc. Anybody shifting one? I’ll likely start surfing Gumtree, my usual hunting ground.
AlBarclay 