Don't pass 'Go"
Β©Sven the Elder - 2023
Don't ask me how I got suckered into it - guess I felt sorry, or maybe it was just the desire to help out an old friend...
So what had I let myself in for? Well, cleaning out the old barn, that's what.
If I say it was untidy and filthy, you'll have to understand that understated it like describing Krakatoa as just a small volcanic explosion.
I had started after a breakfast coffee, and it was now getting towards winter dusk and getting dark. Time - haven't a clue - wasn't wearing a watch, in fact, anything other than a cheap, throwaway, jumpsuit. Overall I deliberately wasn't wearing a lot.
Most of the barn was now passably clean. The twenty-odd bags of detritus I'd collected were neatly stacked to be collected by a disposal company in the morning.Β So, having come to a stop I was now standing outside the house backdoor with my old friend, head on one side, looking at me.
"Right!"
I knew then that there was a finality that meant coming inside 'as I was' was not going to happen.
"I suggest you strip off, there's an outside shower just inside the barn entrance, if you let it run for a short while it'll run warmer."
Not hot, you'll notice.
"Here's some industrial soap - once you've got the first stages of shit off you, you can come inside and use the bathroom shower to get to a more acceptable state! Until then you can't pass 'go' or collect any sort of payment..."
There were no 'ifs or buts', and I certainly didn't want to contaminate the inside of my almost-new Miata by driving home. Hey ho - the things we do for old friends and a love that goes back a lifetime.