Monday 15 October 2018

ALL GO, GO, GO ... WESTCLIFF HERE WE COME!

It has been a totally crazy couple of months!  Steve and I went house-hunting in Westcliff on Sea for a whole weekend and the very last house we saw was the one that was right for us.  Having made the decision, there was a couple of weeks to get all the formalities in place and on 1st October we collected the keys.  We move in on 8th November.  We have been "down the house" a few times since to measure up and to freshen and spruce it up a bit (it had been standing empty for over a month) and on Saturday just gone we introduced our youngest daughter and her family to it.   The grandchildren loved it - especially the little one who was asking which room was his within minutes of walking through the front door! 

Despite the fact we began packing months ago, it took on a new urgency once the house was ours and most of it is done, so we are back to being surrounded by boxes!  And even though we moved into this sweet little place with its leaded lites and walk-in larder just over two years ago, it has still been a bit of a shock at how much we have a/ accumilated and b/ have to do; ie booking removals, informing companies of note that we will be moving, arranging to have the gas, electricity, water turned off, setting up and/or cancelling direct debits and standing orders ... the list just goes on and on.

I left my job at the Care Home on 5th October and will not be going back to work until mid - January.  It took the pressure off Steve a bit and doing everything together has brought us closer than ever - if that is even possible.  It has given us a proper chance to sort through all the stuff we had in storage and, I kid you not, at least  two dozen archive boxes of unwanted items have now gone to the BHF charity shop in Sutton, half a dozen went to a local scout group who were collecting for a jumble sale and last Friday morning, a clearance company came in and took away some old furniture and a pile of wood (where that evolved from is anyone's guess).  It feels great to off-load and declutter, especially knowing that most of it has gone to good causes. 

Our house here in Sutton is looking blanker and bearer each day but we can hardly wait to get in to the new place and get sorted.  Our aim is to have the majority of it done by the end of November so that we can enjoy Christmas.  We even know where the tree is going!

It has been a bumpy ride and my writing has suffered intolerably - but I know the muse will come back when we walk the local beaches - which are just fifteen minutes from our door!

I always wanted to live near the sea!!!!