... and then the visit

Actually not too bad a visit from our purchasers. I was very wound up about them coming round: we laid the carpet out for them last time, and then look what happened! Anyway, they behaved themselves, they muttered something about a 'misunderstanding' and 'confusion' at the estate agency, and they promised that they 'will not let [us] down'. So there you go - it's all sorted then!

In theory at least, we're now working towards a completion date in the second week of October, and getting on a plane on October 12th. We're aiming to visit Fiona and Andy in Germany on the way. Michael also wants to stop off in Bangkok en route to Australia, but I'm not sure I can cope! I love Thailand, and I haven't been there for a long time, but I reckon that by that point I'll be desperate to 'arrive' and get the whole process of our physical removal over with.

The concept of the 'to do' list that looms in front of us is daunting me. I've given myself until the beginning of September before I can write any of it down... in the mean time I'm allowed to 'get on with stuff' but I'm definitely not allowed to do my usual 'list from hell' and then beat myself up about not managing to do it all in twenty minutes or less. For those of you in the know, this is (for me) a real achievement!

So I've just been gently getting on with things... such as trying to get £831.66 refunded to us from EDF Energy. This task alone may take me the remaining ten weeks until departure because, let's face it, when was the last time you managed to get any money out of a utilities company???

What I HAVE achieved is that I've finished all the DIY I'm prepared to do on the house! I've let the allotment grow (uncontrolledly - dunno if I could get it back under control now, even if I wanted to!), and I haven't done anything useful in the garden for ages. It's all been about eating the berries and drinking tea. In fact, Grace and I went up to the allotment on Monday and drank tea - in the pouring rain, of course - and reminisced about all the effort that went into it before I realised we would be leaving (and before I recognised that it doesn't HAVE to be such hard work!).