Packing Up

Tuesday 14th July, where did that day go. Still sorting some projects out for work, ideally I’d have liked more time, but unfortunately I was not able to work from France, due to restrictions recently implemented, so both Brian and I are now finishing up on Friday. That has happened so quickly.

Friday 17th July, last day of work. It does seem very strange, I think that’s a mix of excitement, relief, and anxiety - but there is so much to look forward to, and so much we want to do, I think the transition from a corporate life will soon happen, and surely can’t be that hard!

Lots to do today, got up early - as packing still not at a good stage, we will do some first thing before i start a few hours of work calls. Then Martin arrives at 11am to collect my laptop and phone etc, thank you Martin for volunteering - then that’s it switched off... No big party or send off, just a final team call. That’s what happens when you leave during  a pandemic. My team bought me a wonderful gift from Fortnum & Mason, my favourite shop. A beautiful basket, filled with 6 gorgeous wines all sponsored by the Highgrove Estate. So not only a great gift, but in support of the Princes Trust. 

2pm, stopping for a quick cuppa, then back to boxes, bubble wrap, and brown tape....

6pm, Pam and Shazza have popped round to toast our retirement, now on a different type of bubbles, there’s always tomorrow. 

Cheers all 🍾🥂

We better get a move on!

A week to go before the removal lorry turns up. We better get a move on! Packing seems to have come to a halt some weeks ago, however we now need to kick it up a gear. How many books can one man have? It’s a good job he is going to build a library in our new home. But first things first, we need to fit the kitchen.

Just before lockdown we had ripped the kitchen out, to extend into a bathroom that was accessed via a very small door under the stairs. I used it more as a laundry room, however if the washing machine was to break we would not have got it out to replace it. So we decided on some changes to the room configuration. The team that did it were excellent, real artisans, they created a cloakroom off the soon to be library, and have left the kitchen with a large walk in pantry area as a shell, ready for Brian  to fit the eclectic style kitchen we have been planning for some time. We had hoped it would be done by now, but again lockdown had other ideas for us. So this will be the first of many little projects when we arrive in 9 days time. 

Right, let’s get packing…

Painting the kitchen, pre lockdown

Time flies

Time is flying by. We have concentrated on doing all the admin jobs that go with selling a house, such as change of addresses, cancelling direct debits and contracts with providers no longer required. None of it should take long, but due to lockdown a lot of companies help desks have limited staff, or may have just put everything online. So it’s been taking ages. But we are in a pretty good place now.

This week is our last week of work, for both of us. We had thought we could base our last few weeks of work from France, but again because of the pandemic , both our employers have advised this is not possible. So on Friday my phone and laptop is collected. And Brian sends back his Mac. It will seem very weird, not just the fact that we won’t be getting up to go to work on Monday morning, but no big send off, just good bye on a webex. That said we’ve both had some really lovely messages. And my team are looking to organise a Zoom call in a few weeks when we are settled in and I can give them a virtual tour of the house.

Recycle

I was really pleased we managed to donate some bags across a number of charities. The items were all too good to discard, but would not work for us in France. So great that they can be recycled. And as soon as we can we will be at the French charity shops buying someone else’s treasure, so exciting when you make that perfect find.

Saturday morning, the list is endless. Think we need coffee first, and do some french homework. We have been learning french for a while now, Clare our french tutor is very patient. We have a 45 minute lesson every Sunday via Zoom, which works really well. We look forward to the conversation, and cannot wait now to really immerse ourselves and practice what we have learnt on unsuspecting volunteers around our village. 

Exchange

We exchanged this week. It had been such a focus of our lives for a number of weeks now. The sense of relief, tinged with sadness, was enormous. We loved our little cottage, and it has so many beautiful memories for us, it is going to be sad to leave. But I know Maria, it’s new owner, will love and cherish it, just as we had. We were now about to start our new adventure. 

The previous weeks had been a tug of war between ‘will we?’ or ‘won’t we?’ Days passed into weeks, which seemed like months. Thoughts of just having to stay put, and re-starting the process went through our minds, but we were so close we didn’t want to give up. What we had done though is use the time to sort meticulously through our cupboards and loft. Sorting out what we needed to discard, what could go to charity and what we wanted to take with us.

Lockdown had given us the luxury of lots of time at home to focus on getting ourselves ready, but I’m not sure any amount of time can really prepare you for selling your home that you’ve lived in for over 20 years, giving up your jobs, and moving to a new country – all during a global pandemic. 

We have many lists, with many jobs to do, and boxes starting to pile up everywhere. 

First things first, let’s load up the car and take the charity bags. Challenge is, will they want it all? When I called, they were quite overwhelmed with all the donations post lockdown. Let’s see what they say.

Celebrating our exchange