Life Flashes By In A Split Second....(Week 1)

Woah. Okay. That Happened. My life has literally flashed before my very eyes.

Last time I checked, it was a beautiful morning on the 20th of August and now, blammo, here I am on the 31st August, wondering where the hell the last week went.

We'll start on Friday 20th August, about 11 days ago, where I had a McDonald's in the Peacocks centre after a clothes (and boot) shop for Scotland and gave some bags of change to my bank.

It'd also be exactly a month when I was due to move out both to Uni and my parents to the Isle Of Wight

Saturday 21st August, 2021

The weekend, along with a whole host of different events, arrived shortly after.

Real Life

British Truck Racing (Convoy In The Park) - Donington Park

F3 Cup (UWR Racing) - Brands Hatch

Le Mans 24 Hours - Circuit De La Sarthe

iRacing

VRS Global Endurance Series - (24 Hours) - Silverstone

VRS GT Endurance Series - (3 Hours)- Charlotte Motor speedway

After the VRS Global Endurance Series failed with just four drivers showing interest, 3 being able to make it, and two of the three practicing in one car, and the last in another, it all came down to the 3hr VRS GT Endurance Series.

VRS GT Endurance

Charlotte, by itself, is one of my least favourite circuits on iRacing - with an incredibly low success rate in the 5 races I've done there - never starting in the top 10.

With Dominik (my team-mate) turning up at midday (it being the 10am slot), I was alone for qualifying and the first couple of stints.

After qualifying 27th, a few would die off the line after 4th and 5th made contact in the second part of the final chicane - both spinning, three others getting involved - a rare Ford GT getting involved too - this being one of the only GT's present.

I'd gain a further four positions after a BMW ahead had a half-spin on the exit of the first turn. The first lap's drama's slotted us into 21st.

20th was gifted to us on the very next lap as another car got caught out by Charlotte's difficult nature.

After a good start, our streak ended after first being overtaken by a recovering Ford GT before getting wiped out by by a BMW - partially being too optimistic early on, partially down to netcode, and partially me turning a little too early (due to being off-line in the previous corner.

6 positions were lost as a direct result of this unfortunate incident, with another being lost as a result of a car getting my slip-stream. We were 28th by the start of the next lap

Despite this, I wasn't giving up...not yet at least!

A major pile-up on the following lap gave us hope, and lots of it!

With one Porsche parking up by the side of the road, me passing the Merc (using his slip-stream) and a driver much further up the grid coming into the pits, I was promoted to 25th. Nice!

Lap 5 was pretty uneventful other than a driver making a charge from 28th to now 25th, dropping us to 26th.

Lap 7 would be very good for us as a Mercedes ahead would spin out of turn one, gifting us P25 before another of our competitors would spin as he went onto the oval section (road circuit joining the oval) - 24th now being ours.

As the laps went on, we were promoted up and up the order - eventually ending up at 19th, one of these being down to a BMW crashing near the pit-exit and other spinning onto the roval section.

Despite losing a position after hitting the wall on lap 12, I'd fortunately re-gain it as someone ahead pitted.

I should have got 18th on the following lap, but a faster BMW snuck by before I reached the line.

I'd eventually get this however, after an accident at the final chicane pushed me up into 18th.

Further "unseen" drama pushed me up into 17th, but the main goal was to be a part of the Longest Train In iRacing....

Other than defending a position I eventually lost, it was pretty calm - and looking back, a pretty boring race to report on - no major accidents to report on, just single positions being gained by others' mistakes on the other side of the track.

We'd make it up to lap 34 before TBOTE (The Beginning Of The End) came.

P4 (lap ahead) had just been involved in an accident at the chicane and was right in front of myself and P10, P10 just being ahead of me

Unbeknownst to me, P10 was going to pit on that lap, so didn't take the banking.

With P4's slipstream, I went to P4's outside.

With no idea where P10 was, but still wanting to beat him into the final chicane, I pushed my braking as late as I was comfortable with...which was too late. I ploughed into the side of P4. Ouch.

Fortunately, the next group of cars behind us were all a lap down, so neither of us lost any positions - but it was awkward, and certainly something I shouldn't have gone for.

Come the same corner the next lap, it was a lapped car, myself, followed by another lapped car.

I ran deep, but kept it on the circuit, yet the driver behind took it at full racing speed - oblivious to my strange line, ripping my steering - and indeed car - to shreds. -49 iRating lighter, it certainly wasn't the way I wanted to finish before my life went crazy.

We'd try the later slot, but my internet was - in my words "shitting itself", so we called that one quits before it began - neither of us losing iRating. The highest we got to on the weekend was 14th. Oh well. Always next time.

Now at 1290 iRating, I've certainly got to have one hell of a comeback after Uni.

I'd also play BeamNG.Drive

22/08/2021

Other than packing, it was a rather lazy day - my room only becoming clearer and clearer and other than the last little bits without a home - and, of course, cupboards, wardrobes and the rig herself - it was empty.

The only thing of note was my dad's (racing/commentary) friend coming over and us having fish and chips - me seeing a Ford Capri whilst out.

On saying that, I also tried to get the AI to run the Kabort Liveries...but had little success.

23/08/2021

On the 23rd, I was back in Harlow.

After chilling at the house for a bit, we'd head out in the Land Rover to a few graves of friends and relatives before having dinner.

Had I remembered more, I would have mentioned it, but a (Stressed) Dyspraxic Brain isn't too functional.

I'd end the night at almost 1am with a 2017 Ford Focus RS to my name and those at the Forza Horizon Festival calling out my name!

Parked next to a random Mini Cooper, Truswell readies himself for yet another illegal street race

24/08/2021

On the 24th, we'd head back out to Great Yarmouth, this time with the Land Rover and without the dog.

After a late-ish start, we were eager to get down to G.Y

During the drive, I’ll admit - following no breakfast, I was (a little) hungry. Since those in the car were either sleeping or satisfied, I decided to further continue on our journey and not stop just for my own satisfaction.

Upon arriving, I asked if we could make food/McDonalds a priority, which in the beginning was agreed to….then I had the most convenient spillage ever.

ok, at the time, spilling oasis all over my jumper/hoodie pocket wasn’t the greatest moment of my life - a pain in the arse to be honest, given how cool the temperature was and the fact I had no (spare) jumper, but after stealing a friends jumper and passing a few other shops beforehand, we eventually got myself a new jumper/jacket…which happened to be an incredibly comfy cotton one, I thanked them massively.

after ambling around town (and eventually getting me food), we eventually made it to the pier - which we boarded for the first time - another pier ticked off the list.

after walking up it, just like Brighton’s, there were some rides at the top.

As it was getting late, most of the rides had shut/stopped running for the night, but a few carried on - these we rode on.

We'd start off by riding the carousell, myself, my friend and Amelia in the carriage, my other two friends on horses/horseback (ahead of us)

After this, we'd have a quick go on the dodge-ems, where I was an easy target being only three of us - two being girls/women - targeting the one male "Uber Driver" try as I may, I was not able to escape a single attack.

Amelia then went on the carousel a second time as I ran around the outside...once.

We'd all eventually (slowly) head back to the car, jump in and head back to Harlow.

Usually, I'm not too good with driving long distances in the dark (I can get tired), but there was something different with the Land Rover - whether it was because I was sitting on Leather compared to my Kia's soft cusioned seats, or whether I'd be killed and killed again if anything happened on the way home or fate was just on my side, we all got home safely at almost 2am. 25/08/2021

The 25th wasn't actually that bad a day - sorting COVID Jabs (2nd one for my friend/s), enquiring about a Land Rover related issue (standard for a 15 YO car!)

That evening, we'd be on the road once again - this time hitting Guildford for a nice evening out.

We'd start by meeting up at my local park, before going to two different playgrounds (for Amelia) - the second one being totally new to me.

Upon parking up and getting out, (at the second playground), I found out that my girlfriend had dumped me.

Ah. In short, it was due to the fact that my family and I were moving to the Isle Of Wight and the fact seeing her would be incredibly difficult - although most of my time would be spent at uni in Wolverhampton - this probably making matters even worse.

Shit happens, that's life and if she cannot deal with a long-distance relationship, or my parents moving onto the Isle Of Wight, then fair enough, I wish her the best.

I'll admit, we had a good run - a year is pretty darn long, especially in my books, but I guess with us both not being the best of girlfriends/boyfriends, there was eventually going to be a straw that broke the camel's back.

Was I heartbroken? Not entirely, After this summer of being in Harlow and darting all over the place, I could see that we were two very different people, and I enjoyed the relationship and it was fun, I guess the break-up just gave me a chance to be myself - and almost be free in a way?

I did love her, but it was a rollercoaster - there were serious highs, and serious lows - and in the beginning, I thought I'd spend my life with her, but things happened, life took its couse (for both of us) and I guess we are both free to do as we please not bound to being scared of hurting one another.

She did offer to meet up one last time, but I refused as I didn't want to open any healing wound/s from the break-up - so I haven't messaged her in a while.

Enough on that. It takes two to tango, it wasn't just the Isle Of Wight, I was also quite the arse at times and at the same time I didn't try and "fight" the decision she made. End of.

We got back in the car and headed to Guildford Wetherspoons.

After being informed that we couldn't have children in Spoons after 8pm (Amelia only being a couple years off 18!) I offered to babysit as two friends of mine had a meal in Spoons.

Prior to this, I nipped into McDonalds to ensure I didn't starve, and watched/ate outside as they had a nice little time together.

As midnight drew closer, I was aware that the parking I had paid for only lasted until 23:59.

By that time we were all but done, however my friends wanted to take the "scenic" route back to the car, whilst I took the direct route.

After getting Amelia in her car-seat and leaving the car park - I parked up by the side of the road...but Amelia kicked off (she only likes being in moving cars).

And so, the Guildford Grand Prix was born.

The 0.4 Mile Circuit was approved by 4....

After crossing the start/finish line at Park Street, it's a flat-out dash to the end of Millmead Car Park, where it's a hairpin turn that takes you back, past Bonhams.

At the end of Millmead (Road?) it's another U Turn at High Street to take you back into the Riverside Market car park.

Obviously I took this slow - but it kept the baby asleep, me entertained and sped up the time that the other two were taking to walk to the car.

Following this, we'd head to another mate's house - someone who I had never met before - and, admittedly, given the fact it was late at night and said person lived in quite a rural place, I had mixed thoughts.

After lighting a fire and having a good chat, we got on like a house on fire (no pun intended) - we'd shortly move back inside, and after ensuring Amelia was asleep, I'd have a chat with my new friend, before hitting the hay at 3am or so.

My original thinking was that I'd drive my friend/s back home, but come this time, I knew that I wasn't going anywhere and crashed out on the sofa.

26/08/2021

I awoke the following morning at just after 6:30am, before hitting the road at 9am or 10am or so. Admittedly, I was a little surprised to be waking up on my new friend's sofa, but soon I fully woke up and was ok with it.

After a McDonald's Breakfast (rare) and another stop-over, I'd drop my friend off before going to a family BBQ at 1pm or so.

Despite being late due to Essex being larger than I realised, they saved food for me and I saw relatives I hadn't seen for years due to COVID.

With 6 cars in the driveway, we really were the talk of the town!

After eating the delicious BBQ and dessert, playing football with a relative and then a family-wide cricket game, I'd hit the road again, this being at 6:40pm.

After eventually finding my way out of the back-roads, I was back in Harlow within a couple hours, here I'd pick up a mate before driving back home and accommodating them.

27/08/2021

After sorting a few more things, we said hello to a mate of ours ( a friend of me and my mate that stayed over) before going onward to drop Amelia off, to have a nice, dog and child-free night - something my friend really doesn't get to experience all to often.

We'd go to Woking Wetherspoons with a couple of mates, including the one we saw earlier in the day and the one I recently made friends with.

As with all nights...it all started out so well and innocently.

I won't go into the details of the night because I, nor anyone involved, wants to remember the utter shit-show the night was, but it ended with each person having to find a way home - me Ubering two home, the third staying at mine - especially given how late it got and the last being walked home.

I was supposed to have Evie over, but events transpired, and after it turning 3am, I let Evie get some well-earnt rest and eventually told her I'd see her the following night.