`27th March, 2016
We have two days to finish our personal pack, Spring Clean our hosts’ house before they return and then drive down to Sussex to start our new life on Tuesday. We know so little about our new area so we are excited to explore. Just down the road and within walking distance is this scene:
Angmering Beach
Beachcombing may well become my new occupation. Here, everything is ‘lasts’. Last trip to the Health Club tomorrow. Last trip to Tesco tomorrow. Last sleep in Surrey tomorrow. Not that we’re sentimental.
28th March, 2016
Happy 62nd birthday to my sister, Jane.
East Hill 28/3/16
Pauline & I blithely slept through what was purported to be a wild night. We slept well and woke early and refreshed although we did find the dustbin on its side when we got up. Today is our last in Surrey. We will sleep in our new bed in Sussex on Tuesday. It is 10.30am and, while the workers enjoy a morning in bed, Pauline is cleaning and I am packing the car. We have to be in Sussex by mid day tomorrow to receive a delivery. We’ve already decided that we can’t make the Health Club today so it is finished.
Did some final shopping and, because we were passing, couldn’t resist going to say goodbye to our former home in Maybury. As we drove away down East Hill, we found it blocked by a fallen tree caused by last night’s winds. Let’s hope our new house still has a roof!
29th March, 2016
Well, what a day. We were up at 6.00 am and cleaning the house. After a cup of tea, I packed the car while Pauline made our hosts’ house look respectable again. We drove down to Tesco to pick up a ‘last’ prescription (the useless chemist there didn’t disappoint having kept us waiting for three days, he still didn’t have a full order.), fill up with petrol for the last time and drive off into the sunset.
Al fresco indoors!
We arrived at around 11.00 am because there was a problem on the road and we were sitting in a jam for half an hour. Only at 4.00 pm did we realise we hadn’t eaten. We broke the rule of a lifetime – well the last three years – and drove down into the village to buy fish, chips and mushy peas. The sell mushy peas even down here! Our dining table and chairs don’t arrive until next week but our garden furniture has. That’s what we put in the kitchen to eat our meal. This is one of the amusements of moving house.
Our televisions haven’t arrived and Sky has not yet been installed so we were reduced to watching television on the internet using my laptop. We have to keep telling ourselves that things will get better and they will. I haven’t needed a lawnmower for five years. I need one now and I’ve ordered a cordless one from Gtech. It has a detachable power pack which provides 40 mins of mowing. Who could mow for that long?
I pick it up from Halfords in Rustington on Thursday and, with the weather set fair for the next week, I’ll soon be doing 35 mins of mowing. I’m just starting the final week of my 64th year and life is good.
30th March, 2016
My new bean-to-cup coffee maker
A long day today. It has been sunny and 12C/54F but there was a real chill in the wind. We continued to unpack boxes. A hall ‘console table was delivered this morning and then I went out to collect my new coffeemaker and a new monitor for my new computer. No body told me that new computers don’t use VGA monitor leads and sockets. It’s all HDMI now.
This is the problem with selling everything, you have to buy it new again later. Tomorrow, the new lawnmower will be delivered. We’ve got a man coming to measure up for additional wardrobes, drawpacks and dressing tables and an additional kitchen unit is being delivered.
31st March, 2016
Quality made in Oldham?
A long, tiring but enjoyable day. Got up at 7.00 am as usual and, while drinking tea, read the instructions in fifteen languages for setting up and using my new bean-to-cup coffee machine. Having had one before, it was easier than I thought. The first fantastic coffee for six months tasted wonderful. By 10.00 am, the bedroom furniture designer had arrived and was measuring up. We have wardrobes in the Master bedroom but want a run of draws and kneehole dressing table plus drawers either side of the bed. The other three bedrooms need wardrobes and bedside drawers plus dressing tables all built in.
The designer was from a company called Betta Living. We were astonished to find that they were from Oldham where we worked for 40 years. Pauline spoke to the company in Oldham this morning only to find that the woman who answered said her mother was taught by us. That doesn’t inspire confidence. I have a recurring nightmare in which I wake during brain surgery and the surgeon tells me to relax and not worry as I realise he is one of my ex-pupils!
While the bedroom designer was with us and drawing up his plans, the Blind Man came to measure up for the kitchen blinds. No sooner had he left but the lawn mower was delivered. and all day long, the sun beat into the kitchen through the conservatory doors. It felt so hot although it didn’t actually get above 14C/57F. Our back garden is South-facing and very sheltered.
All the time this was going on, I was trying to set my new, desktop computer up. Mainly, this involves installing Ms Office, Adobe Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash and Adobe Acrobat Professional plus the drivers for a mono laser, a colour laser, a label printer and a flatbed scanner. This takes quite a long time and I was doing it while the designer was discussing plans with Pauline but I was constantly being asked for my opinion. The designer quoted a price of £12,000/€15250. After negotiating a discount, we were so exhausted, we accepted and the furniture will be built over the next month and fitted within five weeks.
1st April, 2016
Pauline & I – Nest Building
Happy April to you all. I must apologise that the white rabbit came late. We are so wrapped up in establishing ourselves in our new house and our new area that All Fools’ Day completely passed me by. Silly old fool!
Gull Watch
A gloriously sunny day with blue, cloudless skies and no breeze. We went out early to the Post Office, to the fish shop on Littlehampton Pier Road and to Tesco nearby to buy in for the weekend. As you can see, Pauline’s shopping was monitored by the seagulls. The area is proving delightful although the traffic is still quite busy.
After driving home, we set out to look for light shades. We haven’t got any yet. We couldn’t decide in spite of the fact that there are hundreds to choose from. Moving house is proving very tiring.
2nd April, 2016
‘Sky’ Man Cometh!
For the second time in a week, the Sky Installation Man cometh. AND NOT BEFORE TIME!!!!!! I’ve been surviving on internet television for FIVE DAYS!!!!! He came a week ago and told me he couldn’t possibly go in the loft – it was against Elth & Safety. Today he returned and scrambled across the loft like a mountain goat. Sky boxes plus a satellite dish installed. The Sky Man left and left me happy. Unfortunately, all the new televisions don’t arrive until tomorrow morning. Currys will deliver and install in the morning – just in time for the Man. Utd. match in the afternoon. Can life get any better?