What’s Missing?

T Minus 2

 

 

Here’s a clue

 

 

A Bereavement of Things

T Minus 3

Looking out through the water splashed glass at a towel I will use twice more; at a dressing gown I’ll not be able to take I stood in the shower composing the start of this blog.

Nearing the Summit

T Minus 27

If the sheer enormity of moving our family overseas, selling our house and disposing of years of accumulated items were a
mountain then we are nearing the summit. Nonetheless like any good mountain as you near the top you encounter false summits, approaching you observe a higher peak beyond until eventually you spy the true summit and a steep climb to the top.
We have a week to be out and although we have made a lot of progress these past few days – we still have an incredible amount to do to reach our summit. Juxtaposed to this we have long term plans to visit Lincoln this weekend and a trip to Alton Towers on Monday. These will form a respite – a camp stop before the final ascent to the top. We are nearing the summit of the mountain but there’s a steep climb ahead.

None of the photos below are mine – they are of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania a place we hope to visit whilst in country.
http://freedownloadwallpaperphotos.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/free-wallpapers-to-download-images.html?m=1

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/4/prweb10591400.htm

http://chronicclimberchick.com/its-official-kilimanjaro-for-the-ccc-in-june-2013/

http://www.nufc.co.uk/page/Foundation/Events/0,,10278~2987493,00.html

Living Like We’re Leaving

T Minus 46

With under 7 weeks to leave the UK and less than a month before we want to leave the house we need to start living like we’re leaving.

Taking a Punt

T minus 48

So the day has come for my “leaving do”. Here in Oxford with my ICT team. We’re here to punt along the Cherwell river. As I sit here it’s still raining but the forecast is good.

So today I get to cross one item of my well planned bucket list of things to do before I leave the UK 🙂

Four hours later a great time with some great colleagues. Punting was great fun a lot harder than you might think but still great. The weather turned out really nice, rain giving way to blue skies and sunshine (the best way). A pub lunch half way to boot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice

T Minus 51

One month today we hope to leave the house! So today we need to put in place those 30 day cancellation periods.

So this evening it will be phone calls to Satellite and Broadband providers, dishwasher and washing machine providers (we hire them!) and other insurance policies which form part and parcel of home ownership in the UK.

Another sign of leaving MK on our road to Mwanza.

Memories Wrapped Around Wood

T Minus 53

As with many of these blogs this started as a thought on the journey home from work. That thought germinated and grew into an idea which developed into this post 🙂

Endings

T Minus 59

Today is my son’s last day at school in the UK. This week is his birthday. The last of our family’s birthdays on UK soil.

Today was my last Heads of Faculty meeting. Today also was the last test I will set as Year 10 took their mocks. There are 4 weeks exactly from today until the end of term.

I realise I am watching my last UK Wimbledon – not sure how much coverage of the Tennis Championships there will be in Tanzania.

Endings are coming thick and fast now as we move into the final stretch. Looking forward to some beginnings though they must wait for The move abroad.

Games Gone

T Minus 69

So today we have made some inroads into our stuff. Firstly we have been sorting through the garage – removing junk. There’s still a little way to go but it’s a lot more empty.

Before

After

Secondly we’ve been boxing up the photo albums, ready for transporting to Lincoln along with my vinyl LP’s next weekend.

Thirdly we are sorting through the remaining stuff ahead of a second car boot tomorrow.

Finally we have taken a host of games to the charity shop – it’s a shame to lose them but we can’t take them all and nobody at the car boot wanted them last time.

A few we are giving to relatives, but the rest have gone 😦

Busy day!

Into Limbo?

T Minus 80

It’s strange to sit in a meeting where things are being discussed which will not be my concern. Such was the case at this evening’s staff meeting. Both agenda items concerned the future of the school, one from September the other for much further ahead in relation to buildings.
I have a view, obviously, but these will have nothing to do with me. It’s a bit surreal as until now these items have been of interest and or impact upon my life. Tonight I sat there only vaguely interested – this was weird. As yet the issues of my new school are still distant, I still have commitments here but I am moving into a limbo period – it’s happening gradually but it’s pace is increasing.
As stated in an earlier post – the same has happened with church.
The sun is setting on my time in the UK.

Home Comforts

T Minus 84

Moving to Africa with everything stuffed into 8 cases is a challenge but we do want to take some things from home.
We like watching Movies and have box sets of particularly favourite TV series (Star Trek, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Friends). There is no way we could take then as is and so earlier this week I purchased two DVD carriers from ASDA and we decanted our favourite DVD’s into them. The proper cases will go into storage and the new cases will go into our luggage.

Thankfully music is digitally stored onto my iPod ( what did we do before MP3 players?). It’s just a pity that there is no video equivalent of iTunes.
Beyond this we are taking a keyboard for my daughter and, my son wants his Play Station.
Why are we squeezing in these peripheries and (in the case of the keyboard) looking to pay for additional luggage?
A good friend who has lived abroad advised us “that we should ensure we bring things that make us feel at home eg: pictures that hang on the wall”. So along with the essentials these home comforts will be squeezed into our cases.
We will be living in a culturally different place and over time we will make the adjustment but these things are part of touching base with our past as we move into the future.

Hidden Costs

T Minus 86

Moving abroad isn’t cheap!

Nineteen

1. T minus 87

Today is our 19th Wedding Anniversary and a time to reflect on the past as well as look to the future – I share here  wedding pictures from that day almost two decades ago. These come from Anita’s Creative Memories scrapbooking album.

Last Minute Man

T Minus 90

I’m a bit of a last minute man. I need that little bit of pressure, that buzz from realising it has to be done by a certain time. Experience has taught me when I might be a little too late, so nowadays I always meet my deadlines but in truth I cut it fine. This does not mean I don’t plan – just that I plan to do things last minute.

The Sands of Time

T Minus 91

It’s difficult to believe that today is the end of my penultimate term. Like grains of sand rushing through the narrow neck of an hour glass, time is rushing by at an ever increasing rate.

Suddenly we find ourselves nearing the end of May. In three months time depending on how you measure it, we will will either be spending our last day in England (Friday) or our first day in Tanzania (23rd).
I think that part of the issue has been the business of work and also the plethora of Bank Holidays concentrated into April and May, another Bank Holiday weekend is upon us and will allow us to meet up with Family. The rest of the week will possibly involve a trip to Lincoln to drop off some stuff for storage and some further house clearance. We aim to of some trial packing to see how much it all weighs. We are also looking at some options for our equity and considering the possibility of investing in a smaller property.
It will be a busy week – probably our last week off before we move. We hope to make the most of it.

Too Many Shirts!

T Minus 97

I have an admission. I haven’t ironed a work shirt since the start of term!

So What Next?

T Minus 106

So we’ve sold. So what happens next?

Juxtaposition

T minus 108

In an earlier post I referred to the need for the need for patience in selling our house and linked it with the need to wait for our Ceanothus / Wisteria to bloom.

Well we have now sold (subject to contract) and the Ceanothus / Wisteria has come into bloom. A juxtaposition of events reflecting timing – for us God’s timing!

19th April 2014

5th May 2014

‘Nuff Said

T Minus 111

😀

Seemingly a Solar Solution!

T Minus 113

A week is a long time in politics or so they say.

Twenty four hours is an even longer time in house selling.