And then it all changed

The last two weeks have gone in a bit of a blur, and of course there were some tears.

First of all, the clocks went back. Mid morning I turned on my phone and saw the time was 8.15am. Clearly my phone wasn’t working properly. I was a bit confused, what with the time change and all, so I googled ‘what time is it in the UK?’ Honestly, I’m an idiot. I’d put my clock forward not back! I had suddenly gained 2 hours!

Week commencing 21 Oct, Monday to Friday mornings, I was on an accessibility in Indesign course. I don’t have Indesign but I need to understand what is entailed in making designed work accessible. Learned lots; for a start, Dyslexia is the biggest disability group.

The week was busy with the last bit of packing and also cleaning. In amongst all this, I found time to put together a photo book of the cruise! I love doing these. I used Photobox. I did one for D&T too, and they love it.

Thursday the toilet blocked. Marvellous! 1 day left in the house. But I obviously couldn’t leave it like that. I rang a company who said they’d charge £127, but they didn’t turn up. I started panicking and then rang a plumber I’d used in the past who put me in touch with someone he knew. That brilliant man turned up within the hour, sorted the issue, and charged just £60! A few hours later, the previous company called to say they were on their way. I had a bit of a go explaining they should have let me know before 130pm (the time they were due) that they were going to be late! Anyway, all sorted, and I’ve got the number of the guy for unblocking any toilets I may have in the future!

Then Friday came. Move day.

3 guys, 2 vans, and all cleared by lunchtime. O (son) was brilliant – just got on and did what needed to be done – including lots of hoovering! I cleaned each room as it was emptied which apparently not everyone does. I remember moving into my first flat hundreds of years ago and the previous owners hadn’t cleaned. My Mum kept saying ‘dirty bloody cow’. She was right though! And I certainly didn’t want anyone calling me that! I’d be so embarrassed. Just before we left, when I was looking around the empty rooms, a neighbour popped in to say goodbye; she brought a bottle of prosecco, and that was it. I was crying! I suppose in a way, I hadn’t really thought things would work out like this. I’d loved that house and I liked the road we lived on. But now everything was changing.

2 hours of waiting for the key of the new place – spent at the ex’s having tea and sandwiches – and then half an hour at the estate agents having a lovely chat with the staff there. Finally I got the key – along with a present from the estate agents. A lovely box (which I’m now using for my drawing supplies), containing chocolate, tea, coffee, biscuits and their own gin! Excellantay! OK, I probably paid for that, amongst the fees, but it was still a nice touch.

Zoomed to my new house. O and removal guys waiting for me and within 2.5-3 hours the vans were emptied. They then spent a while putting a bed together – they’d collected it from Mum in laws on the way. She’d bought it a year ago, slept on it once, and decided it was too high. It’s one of those where each end can move up and down. It took them a while to sort it but sort it they did. Gave them £20 each tip and said goodbye. Then found out they hadn’t put the other bed together! Luckily O managed, with a little bit of help from me. We did some unpacking and put curtains up, then it was time to make the beds. But where was the bedding? No idea. It was in a huge box but there were so many boxes everywhere, who knows where it was! I ended up in a sleeping bag. O found an old quilt that was fine for the night. We were both looking forward to a good night’s sleep, but had to eat first and ordered on Just Eats. Chicken fillet burger, salad and chips for me – delicious. O liked the wedges and spicy chicken wings! We decided to watch some tv – our broadband wasn’t yet working, and it turns out you can’t watch a smart TV without wifi! Wish we’d known that before rearranging our chairs and tv! Never mind, we ate and chatted. And that was nice.

I didn’t sleep much. Ached so much and my mind was a-buzzing. Awake from 3am and sorting my room by 6am. But I was in my element! Loved it. And that carried on the rest of the weekend really, finding homes for everything. Including the booze! We’d brought our fridge with us which is now in the kitchen, but there’s also a built-in fridge freezer. That fridge is now drink only! Not all alcoholic; a few soft drinks too! It looks so cool. Labels facing the right way. All ordered. Perfect. I got a bit emotional again this morning. It dawned on me that this was all mine. Not just the fridge(!) but this new home. I can do what I like when I like! I can buy whatever I want! And oh boy, have I done that: yes I’ve done a lot of (online) shopping in the last few days. And I mean a lot. Ordered the two sofas that we’d found a few weeks ago. We hadn’t ordered them then because we thought we should see how we feel in the house, but I wanted to wait no longer; they were so comfy and they’ve even got in-built speakers. Unfortunately we’ll be with just 2 single chairs in the lounge until the end of January! O needed a wardrobe and drawers (a bit of a surprise; I thought all the wardrobes were being left). I wanted to get the same that are in my room – Ikea – amazing – really wide and deep, and there’s even a shoe drawer - but Ikea couldn’t deliver – at all it seems. Never mind, Next came to the rescue although not for 7 weeks. Also ordered a couple of units for the dining area, cd storage, understairs storage, and lots and lots of other stuff. Each day a delivery or two arrives and it’s such fun (in a Miranda voice) opening the parcels up. Beautiful fluffy pink towels for the ensuite. Shower mat with daisies for the boy. No not really, for me! Navy velvet bedspread (to match the headboard which is due in a couple of months). A new gaming chair for me (O’s is so comfy and although I don’t game, I’m at my desk for hours and hours each day). A sauna - I actually only just found out about this today. O ordered it for his man cave! Talking of O, he’s had to put quite a few things together, which he did so calmly. No swearing or moaning which was lovely. Such a revelation.

I could get used to not working. I had two days off, and continued finding homes for things and putting pictures up. I also had to get my nails redone – out of the 10 I’d had done before the cruise, just 4 were left!! They kept pinging off all over the place. Quite funny really, although, they looked awful. But it was back to work on Wednesday in my lovely new office.

I’d been thinking how smoothly the move had gone when on Thursday things started to go wrong. Firstly, I couldn’t use my thumbprint to pay someone on my phone. I’ve got an issue with the skin on my hands and my thumbprint had gone! Then my work’s laptop was dead – I’d used it for a video tour for the team the day before, and hadn’t plugged it back in ! It was completely flat and wouldn’t start for at least half an hour. Then, when I went downstairs to empty the washing machine, I found water all over the floor! The removal guy had clearly not plumbed it in properly! I went straight on to the Facebook group for the development - people have been so helpful in the last week answering my questions - and this time was no different. Within 30 minutes, a plumber was with me sorting the issue, he cleared up the water too, and wouldn’t take any money! How amazing is that!

This weekend we’ve sorted the garage, I had a lovely walk around the development, and I tidied the side garden and cut the grass. A lot of the ‘big’ work is now done. A visit or two to the tip in the next few days, but we can now start enjoying our new home….and planning what to do with the blank canvas that is my garden….