The last week at work was hectic, trying to get everything in place for whoever to take over from me when I left. On the last day the house sale was confirmed and my reduced
pension/early retirement officially accepted! An exciting day!
I looked forward to having at least the summer holidays to clear out everything we did not need in our new life, and being able to pack in plenty of time. I would have time to say my goodbyes to EVERYONE in person. We would celebrate my retirement. We would have a goodbye party. I could have a relaxing birthday. I had no intention of repeating our previous house move experience, when at 7 months pregnant with 3 young children, I had left too much to do, relying on the children's very kind and patient aunty to keep them entertained. No this time I am organised ...
... that is until the next day when the Estate Agents informed us that our buyer wanted to be moved in 2 and a half weeks in order to benefit from a mortgage deal!
2 and a half weeks to sort, dispose of, or pack 20 years worth of bringing up 4 children! Still do-able but we wouldn't be able to sort out as much as I would have liked. Kieran spent many a day outside keeping the chimnea alight with burnable stuff, as we sorted through file after file of rubbish. As days past, the enormity of the task ahead started to sink in. Some things that we probably wouldn't need were boxed up. Bags and boxes of stuff were rushed to the charity shop or the tip. So much for my goodbyes, which needless to say, didn't happen ..."the best laid schemes of mice and men"??!!
NOT good timing! The builders needed to start working on the house over the next week or so. They estimated it would take about 3 to 4 months, and the extent of the work meant they couldn't get on with it while we lived in the house. We had very kind offers of accommodation from friends and family, but we felt after moving out of the house, we wanted to be in Wales near our new home. So Will spent day after day phoning holiday agents and places with short term lets to find somewhere to house us for that length of time at short notice. The minimum stay in short term lets was 6 months. Holiday lets although more expensive wouldn't include bills, etc, so probably worked out a similar price, but the maximum stay was for 28 days, meaning we would have to move on each month. Trying to find places that would take 3 cats proved difficult. Eventually we found a place in Snowdonia about an hour's drive from our new house where we could stay for 2 weeks. This would be followed by one about 15 minutes from our house for the following 4 weeks. We decided we would determine the stage the building work was at before committing ourselves to the next 'home'.
The removal men took our belongings to a storage facility, through 2 or 3 trips in a small lorry over a few days days.
... that is until the next day when the Estate Agents informed us that our buyer wanted to be moved in 2 and a half weeks in order to benefit from a mortgage deal!
2 and a half weeks to sort, dispose of, or pack 20 years worth of bringing up 4 children! Still do-able but we wouldn't be able to sort out as much as I would have liked. Kieran spent many a day outside keeping the chimnea alight with burnable stuff, as we sorted through file after file of rubbish. As days past, the enormity of the task ahead started to sink in. Some things that we probably wouldn't need were boxed up. Bags and boxes of stuff were rushed to the charity shop or the tip. So much for my goodbyes, which needless to say, didn't happen ..."the best laid schemes of mice and men"??!!
NOT good timing! The builders needed to start working on the house over the next week or so. They estimated it would take about 3 to 4 months, and the extent of the work meant they couldn't get on with it while we lived in the house. We had very kind offers of accommodation from friends and family, but we felt after moving out of the house, we wanted to be in Wales near our new home. So Will spent day after day phoning holiday agents and places with short term lets to find somewhere to house us for that length of time at short notice. The minimum stay in short term lets was 6 months. Holiday lets although more expensive wouldn't include bills, etc, so probably worked out a similar price, but the maximum stay was for 28 days, meaning we would have to move on each month. Trying to find places that would take 3 cats proved difficult. Eventually we found a place in Snowdonia about an hour's drive from our new house where we could stay for 2 weeks. This would be followed by one about 15 minutes from our house for the following 4 weeks. We decided we would determine the stage the building work was at before committing ourselves to the next 'home'.
The removal men took our belongings to a storage facility, through 2 or 3 trips in a small lorry over a few days days.
Final removal day arrived without warning! The removal men arrived at 7.30 am to cart away the last of our belongings and left an hour later, leaving us with 3 ½ hours to clear up remaining rubbish
and clean the house. It sounded like adequate time, but there was still
stuff to be taken to the tip, the charity shop and pack up to take
with us. With half an hour to go we realised we hadn't got time to
sift through remaining belongings, so we put it all into 2 piles –
essentials and non-essentials. Non-essentials were whisked away to a kind, unsuspecting neighbour's house & garden while they were on holiday for
3 weeks. The rest, thrown into bin liners & put out the front for further sorting so at least the house was clear for the new owners to arrive. The estate
agents had phoned us several times, putting pressure on us to hand in
the keys. We later discovered that it was some days before the new owners moved in! At last everything was in a vehicle, house or other, all
except the cats. But we were going nowhere. I had packed my car keys! Eventually I found them inside a box of tissues in the boot of the car! Where else would
they be?
Cats in car, loaded up, house keys dropped off, we were off.
Cats in car, loaded up, house keys dropped off, we were off.
I took all 3 cats in cat baskets in
my car along with a few belongings. Will took the rest in the beast. Traveling in convoy, Will enjoyed his getaway, while I was stressed up to the eyeballs with 3 hissing cats who, however hot, don't like car windows open because of the sound of big
lorries passing. They also dislike acceleration, but the very worst thing - roundabouts - they HATE them. So I took my time at roundabouts, with very little acceleration away from them, much to the annoyance of a building queue of traffic behind me. I wished I'd had a sign in my rear window "Dangerous animals on board". The cats and I calmed with a stop and a drink at the services half-way, and they slept for a
while on the 2nd half of the journey.
Fine until we hit Wales and the Welsh bendy roads when I could have sworn I had a large angry dog in my car. The cats hissed, howled, barked, snarled and growled over all the hills and around every bend until we reached our destination where my relief was immense.
Next blog - Our temporary new home
Fine until we hit Wales and the Welsh bendy roads when I could have sworn I had a large angry dog in my car. The cats hissed, howled, barked, snarled and growled over all the hills and around every bend until we reached our destination where my relief was immense.
Next blog - Our temporary new home
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