Nearly time to go

It has been an interesting couple of days. Yesterday I was interviewed by Granada TV news. Jenny, our radio technician and the voice of an angel on the charity record used her contacts in Granada TV to get them interested in the story, thanks Jen you are a star.
The filming was fun, and created a lot of interest. It will be on the news on Friday I hope. You will have to remember that I have a face for radio and be gentle with me.
After work a few of my colleagues came back to mine to finish off the booze from the party, Ken, my eldest brother came too, which was lovely. ….we tried to finish the beer but there is still some left. It’s a hard job but someone has to do it.
Today I went to do my final shopping for the trip. Thomas, my youngest son came with me and drove me all over the place, Tom you are a star. I went to look for some flags, one for each country I’m visiting. I want to put them on the back of my bike as I cycle along….childish I know but naw naw na na naw. I’ve got two. The Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes. Whites in the Warrington Market had some in stock and very kindly gave them to me for my charity ride. It is small gestures like that which make it all worthwhile. I keep going on about how nice people have been and I will never get fed up of telling you….it’s fantastic.
I was invited back to work at four fifteen today so that people could say goodbye. I was completely overwhelmed by the reception I received. The technician’s room has never been busier. They bought me a cake, with a picture of the charity ride on it and had ‘good luck’ massages all over the place…. thanks everyone it was very embarrassing but much appreciated.
Daniel my eldest son, who is in the army sent me a nice face book message to say that he was proud of what I was doing. He goes to Afghanistan in October, compared to that what I’m doing is easy peasy.
I received two shirts from Warrington Wolves Rugby Club. They are really nice and easy to wash and dry, just what I wanted, cheers lads and good luck in the semi-final.
It’s time to go. It is just about sinking in what is ahead and I’m really looking forward to it. The experience so far has been fantastic and hopefully it will get even better over the next couple of months… whatever happens I will tell you about it.