To begin packing for a TAFF trip some six weeks before departure might seem, to some, slightly odd. To include in the packing a bed, wardrobe, cooker, washing machine, golfball typewriter, 52, sorry 55, assorted cardboard boxes and, indeed, everything else in my flat, would seem, to most, downright bizarre. But that was what I did.

To be sure, not everything was going with me to America. Some things went to my parents’ home; the typewriter went to Dave Langford as emergency back-up for an ailing Remington; a fair few went to Diana’s. Most went to a warehouse, packed and conveyed there by B&S Transport for the trifling sum of £90 (+ insurance) (+ VAT) (+ storage). And a few came with me on the first leg of my TAFF trip, to Manchester…

Let me back track a bit.

When I left my employer of seven years, Ernst & Whinney, Chartered Accountants, and joined Shell UK, as already mentioned, it meant moving from London to Manchester. I sold my flat in Surbiton, pretty adjacent to the watering hole of the Surrey Limpwrists, but didn’t immediately buy a new place in Manchester. Moving jobs is quicker than moving house. Fortunately, Shell UK was paying my moving expenses, and put me up in The Britannia Hotel in Manchester city centre, round the corner from the office. This was a good hotel with fair sized rooms, but not enough space for additional bed and wardrobe, let alone cooker, washing machine and 55 – no 56 – assorted cardboard boxes. I did keep a few essentials – books, small typewriter, clothes, suitcase, passport, more books – such as any traveller would take, and as I had left my place of permanent residence, it was obvious that my TAFF trip must have started.