The Longest Day...

...so today I went to Birmingham with my boss to go to the warehouse and take inventory. Birmingham is about a 2 hour drive from London so Gav told me to be at his house at 9am. I got there at 9am and he went to get the "van" and bring it around. (I put quotes around van because it does not look like any van I've ever seen) He called me a minute later and said the battery wouldn't start and he was going to take it to the mechanic around the corner and would be back in 5 minutes. When he came back we were on our way. I thought the ride was going to be awkward but we actually had a lot to talk about. He actually asked me if I smoked weed and then proceed to tell me stories of his drug usage. (What a bonding experience.) What else would you expect from someone who owns an apparel company called The Hemp Trading Company.

When we got to the warehouse we were given these ugly neon yellow vests to wear so that we looked like everyone else that worked in the factory. There was SOOO much merchandise to inventory we did not even know where to start. I'm going to skip the next few hours because all we did was count and organize the stock. We had started around 12:30 and didn't leave till 7pm. Anyway, when it was time to leave, the car wouldn't start. Gav tried to get a jump from another lady who worked at the factory but the car wasn't turning over. We had 2 choices; we could wait for a service to come out and fix the problem or we could take a train back to London. The only thing is that we had boxes of merchandise that we needed to take home. I told Gav that I was fine with whatever was more convenient for him. We decided to call the car emergency service (similar to our AAA) and while we were waiting he told me we could find a nearby pub and he would buy me food and a drink. (He also mentioned that we both deserved a spliff for all we had been through. LOL.) It was funny because the car service promises to be there within 2hours and I'm so used to having AAA promise 30 minutes back at home. So, we asked the woman in the front office of the warehouse if there was a pub nearby and she said there was one about a mile away.

When we were walking to the pub he actually offered me some of his blunt but I felt weird accepting; him being my boss and all. We walked a while and when we turned the corner the first thing we saw was McDonald's. It was so funny because Gav is so anti-McDonald's. "Should we go in there and ask them if they know of any places to eat around here?" he said. It was so funny but I thought that would be a little shady. We ended up asking a worker at the petrol station (gas station) where the nearest pub was. It was a little further down the street. We walked into the pub and there were only a few people inside. It looked like one of those places that the same 5 people go to every night and hangout. Gav had warned me earlier that Birmingham was not the best part of England and referred to it as the "armpit" of the country. To which Jessica responded "what would be the vagina?...or the penis?...or the asshole?"...LOL. Back to the story, so we sat down at the pub and Gav ordered ciders for him and I. He told me that they didn't have food but we would stop at another place on the way back. He said that the car service was supposed to call 20 minutes before they came but to our surprise they called about a minute after we poured our drinks and said they were 10 minutes away. "Well, we could finish what's in our glasses and drink the rest on the way back" Gav said. "Are we allowed to do that?" was my response. Gav said that was fine around here, so we finished our drinks and he put our bottles in his backpack to drink of the way back. When we were half way back and had walked about a quarter of a mile I realized that I had left my purse at the pub. Gav said he would run back and get it for me if I continued on and met up with the guy from the car place. He gave me the keys and his backpack and sprinted back to the pub. So there I was walking down the dark dingy streets of Birmingham, a huge backpack on my back, drinking my cider out of the bottle. I must have looked like a bum. I got back to the warehouse and met the guy from the car service which was called Royal Automobile Club (RAC). He was a very nice old man named Steve. He immediately noticed my accent and asked where I was from and when I said California he asked if I knew any celebrities. To make a long story short, Gav came back with my purse (thank goodness all my money was still in there) and they got the car started again. The only thing was we couldn't shut it off because we wouldn't be able to start it again. So we loaded the boxes into the van and drove back home. I finally got home at midnight! It was such an eventful day. In all honesty Gav hadn't promised it would be a funfilled day, he say it was going to be an adventure, which it was. Till next time, much love.