The last post

The last post from Dunbar at any rate.


Thanks to all the well wishers and the almost Jour Fixe this evening. But no booze?


Don't forget to keep jour fixe going. The Milne's will move in at the end of May - so make the June one a date for the diary.


Bettyhill here we come! Yaaaaaarghhhhhhhh!

The final day in Dunbar

And gloriously sunny it is too - keep dunny sunny - say no to the incinerator.

Packing got very serious yesterday - though there still seems to be an extreme amount to do.  Last night I had my first seriously troubled nights sleep since I left work - worrying about packing the van and - all sorts of nonsense around actually getting to Bettyhill.  Poor nights sleep were a feature of my life at Changeworks - so in a way last night was a nice reminder of the good things I'm doing in this move.  Even though, right now, it's clearly worrying me a lot!

Yesterdays packing raked up all kinds of unseen-for-years bits and bobs - jerking all kinds of memories in ways that only 'things' can.   It's a rollercoaster ride all right!

I must go finish off the things that need doing today.  Hopefully we'll be connected in Bettyhill quickly so there'll be no interruption in these fascinating posts, and I'll be able to describe to you (my invisible probably non-existent readers)  the adventures of the actual move.  Even more hopefully there'll be no adventures to report.

AAAAAAArghgh

Next Tuesday! *@*!!&

So that'll be April Fools day huh? Sheeeeeeeeet

White van man goes to B&Q

What could be more white-van-manly than a trip to B&Q? What a joyous manly experience. And being so right on I also picked up a copy of the Beano for Ailsa along the way. Such a caring daddy of a white van man. And here's a tip for cardboard box hunters - Borders books - hunerds of boxes that they are all too glad to unload - and they're a good size too. Borders books also accepted a book token that was decades old, found during our packing - so Jussi now has material for her bedtime reading fix.

I left Jussi with green van man - aka the chimney sweep. Turns out getting our chimney swept aint gonna be simple - so that's another complication to throw into the mix of selling our house.

It's been an expensive week - car and van tax, Royal Mail redirection fees, tools (oooh but they feel gooood), and an impromptu meal at the Rocks. Why is that place always disappointing?

We'll need to talk to our solicitor about the chimney problem - we're not getting packed as fast as we'd hoped. B-day (Bettyhill day to us, but doesn't it sound like someting else?) looks like Tuesday. At the latest - no more delays. Give us a chance to finish eating the freezer too (well you know what I mean, don't you?).

A white van man is born

But I've still to get a copy of the Sun.

Van successfully got to Auchtermuchty and returned to Dunbar with a full load of stuff we'd cleared from the house to sell it.  It feels wrong to be filling the house up again - but the garage in Auchtermuchty was damp - so it was a bit of a mercy mission. 

But we've got so much crap!  What are we to do with it all?

"Where is iPod?"

Do tell me if this is too dull!

So today Jussi has been packing, I have been trying to buy a van.  Dodgy geezers van dealers.  So I've put down a £300 deposit on an old merc sprinter and said geezer has promised he'll have the paperwork showing it has a years MOT tomorrow.  We'll see.

Anyway.  Waiting at traffic lights in Edinburgh car pulls up on the right (a clear lane cos it was a right turn for busses only) - young woman winds down window with map and asks in a strong Spanish accent:

"Excuse me, where is iPod?"

"Where is what?"

"IPod."  She looks very serious - I glance around for hidden cameras, but she has the map of southern scotland at the ready and is waiting for me to point

"Nah sorry - you're having me on"

"I'm sorry I don't understand"

"There's no such place as iPod."

"Yes please, iPod, where is it?"  The lights go green.

"Sorry love can't help you."  And I depart.  They drive behind me for some time - quite aggressively.  Still, I hope they find what they were looking for.

Egg painting

The last one in Dunbar.

It's not a competition but I think Mike won...

And we quickly ran out of eggs to decorate and had to paint the children

Dawning

Thank you Changeworkers for a great send off.  It was the more measured goodbyes that were best - thanks Janette!  When I got home I found the portacabin pen.  oh how I laughed.

For years very nearly every quiet moment has had Changeworks bouncing into my head on some pretext or other.  It's still happening now - I guess it'll take a while to recede  - but it feels oh so strange to know that any of the worries that pop up are not my responsibility anymore. 

What should I do now?   I could do, well, anything.  But instead I'll get ready for egg painting and make some hotcross buns.  The serious job of moving starts next week.

Thank you Changeworks - I think we did good.