We've really gone and done it now!!!

I’ve been quiet recently as everything has been happening soooo fast that  I didn’t have time to spend “playing” with the computer (as Mr A Right says) – and it’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

Our tenants were staying in a hotel and were keen to get in as soon as possible.  The complication was that we had already planned a week’s visiting and had the van booked in for a service in Cheltenham on 21^st.  There was no point in asking our tenants to wait another two weeks to move in when we were going to be away for a week anyway, so we decided to bite the bullet and get out by Wednesday, which was only one week after the lease was signed. The problem was that I had said all along that I needed (and was ready to get out) two weeks after the lease was signed.

On Monday, “L” (I’m not going to publish names here) our new tenant came to call.  She hadn’t actually seen the house before so it wasn’t surprising that she couldn’t wait until Wednesday.  I opened the back door to her (everyone comes to the back door) and said “Welcome to your new home” and at that point I almost burst into tears (and I’m feeling very teary again just writing this).

I did manage to hold it together (just) and after the two and sixpenny tour, we sat chatting for a while. 

I was glad and relieved to see that she liked the house and that “D” had chosen well for her – just as well as he’d already signed up.

The house still looked like a bomb had hit it.  I was trying to migrate everything to the kitchen so we were “gathering”.  At least there wasn’t much left in any cupboards now but with only two days to go I was getting a bit stressed – eek.

Always being the stubborn one and insisting that “I can manage” I finally realised that it was time to call on some help.  So Tuesday afternoon, Caroline came over and started dusting and cleaning windows.  Then Marie and Ruby arrived and started on the hoovering. By 6pm we had done all of upstairs (except bathrooms) and just the dining room and kitchen left to do.   Thank you to Marie and Ruby for your help.

Then we were off to Danny and Caroline (a different Caroline) for some dinner , for which we were very grateful at not having to cook.  Thank you so much Danny and Caroline – something that we didn’t have to worry about.

Iain in the meantime had become ruthless – everything was being thrown away!!!!! Oh no – that’s enough to get me into panic mode.  The worst thing was that I actually went to the bin to throw some stuff away and was shocked to see something that was already in there.  I really had to work hard to resist the temptation to recover it from the bin and instead just resolve to throw it away anyway.  He’d emptied so many jars that the recycling was already nearly full.

In Iain’s clearing he had filled up the food recycling bin and being helpful I went out to empty it.  As I poured the contents of the bag into the bin (you can’t actually put the plastic into it), I disappeared into a cloud of dust consisting of curry and chilli powder.  We must have the most mouth-watering food recycling bin in the world.

So Wednesday morning came – early for me – I got out of bed at 3 am and started to clean the kitchen.  I opened one of the cupboards and horror of horrors – it hadn’t been cleared – so I had to do that – no!!!! More throwing away.

After a couple of hours I had to go back to bed and get a bit more sleep so that I would be able to get through the day.

By 8.30 I had started again.  Caroline, bless her turned up around 9.30 and cleaned the bathrooms for me and then started on the rest of downstairs.  We still had a pile of “stuff” in the kitchen and this was getting down to the nitty gritty now.

L arrived at about 11.00 for the handover and we still had loads to do. Luckily L was going to do some shopping anyway so she headed off to Tesco and the Ricoh and that bought me another couple of hours ---------------------------------------  no still not enough – I was trying to convince myself  that “We’re getting there” but there still didn’t seem much change in the kitchen and now it was 1.30.

Caroline kept on cleaning around my panicking and Iain returned from work to chivvy me up.

I took L around the house (in the vague hope that when I got back to the kitchen it would be all cleaned up) and then found that it was now 2.15 and we really needed to be away by 3.00 at the very latest as I didn’t want to drive the van in the dark.

L, bless her after putting her shopping in the fridge, firmly ensconced herself in the lounge and kept out of our way.

With a last push, we basically dumped everything left in the studio (for sorting later) and a load of stuff in my handbag and departed in a great hurry, leaving L to get unpacked and enjoy her new home. Another thank you here, to L for her great patience for the delay. Our apologies also to D and L for filling up all your bins before you have even moved in.

Did I cry - absolutely not - I was totally knackered and didn't have time to think about being emotional at leaving my lovely house and going of into the sunset - well the rain clouds - in a home that was actually smaller than my bedroom in the house.

THEN THE FUN BEGAN - well it should have  – along with our new life.