And so life without our personal effects began.

Once all the stuff going to Australia had gone, the house was a touch clearer and the cleaning could begin.  But we still had to live in the house for the next 2 weeks and we still had to work out what was going with us (sorry, already done, but not quite) and what we needed to get rid of, but some of it like the washing machine, fridge, freezer, microwave, kettle and so on was needed until the last minute.

And then there was the question of suitcases.  We didn’t own any. Pure and simple, we had to go on a shopping trip to buy some.  We didn’t buy enough as it was to turn out.  It wasn’t a question of could I get it all into the suitcases, but a question of me being able to keep the suitcases under the required weight limits as it was to turn out.  Oh well another large and another cabin sized had to be purchased the day before we flew.

Helen, our cleaning lady was to put in extra hours helping to get the house clean and I was exceptionally grateful for her help, but even with her help we knew we needed to get the place cleaner.  Luckily she was also our landlady’s cleaner so we knew that our landlady would be happy with her cleaning!

Then the was a lot of furniture, the car, the white goods and other bits that needed a new home.  Sadly the car could not come to Australia with us because it failed on 3 of the 4 criteria, not least of all we had not owned it for more than 12 months. The rest of the stuff was either sold to people or given away on freecycle with the proviso that it had to be collected on a certain date or couple of days, so that we could maximise how long we kept it for.

Slowly the house got emptier and emptier until finally there was the stuff our cleaning lady was having, the stuff going with us and the stuff that was homeless (one box) plus a few plants which we forgot to pass on to the correct people and they got left at Stuart’s parents’ home.

The leaving day just got nearer and nearer. Moving out was easier than expected in some ways, but harder in others.  Dusty, the Irish Wolf Hound we had known for the entire 4 years, knew something was amiss.  We had one final goodbye and it was time to leave.

It took a lot of cleaning, and lot of chaos and a lot more cleaning, plus shed loads of revisions on paperwork and more paperwork, but finally it was the BIG Day, Wednesday 4th May. The removal team had arrived. And arrive they did at 8:30am in the morning.

I know they said that they would arrive between 8 and 10 am in the morning, but I had honestly thought I might just have a few more minutes grace than 8:30am. We hadn’t actually finished eating breakfast. So the suggestion of the kettle was made and gratefully received and they had a whirl wind tour of the house (an ex-stable block, 2 stables and a tack room) and a labelling system as to what was being packed and what hasn’t being packed and taken by them. Virtually all the furniture was either not going, or was our landlady’s anyway, so that had a red ticket on it. But then life also had a complication because chest of drawers were not going, but the contents usually (but not always were). So there was a green ticket for packing and red ticket for not being packed and drawers had additional tickets to say if the contents were/were not going as well.

It had seemed easy at the time.  And on the whole it worked, but there were to be one or two slip ups…

Once drinks were out of the way, all of the bikes, the trike, and their numerous parts were rounded up and taken outside where luckily (and rather unlike British weather) it was a lovely sunny day outside. Dusty (our landlady’s Irish Wolf Hound) came out to say hello and then settle down to watch proceedings with the bikes and trikes plus all the parts, rounded up to be together (so trike parts with the trike box) and everything wrapped carefully and boxed and labelled. That actually took most of the packing and most of the morning. Slowly the house emptied and it was time to have a stop for elevenses and an assessment.

They would be done before lunch.

There wasn’t actually much left to pack after the 6 bikes and the trike, plus the towbar mounted bike rack. My big camera was to also go in its own box and then be crated by itself for protection and insurance reasons, but otherwise very little needed to be worried about because the rest of the house was pretty much either, cycling clothing, bedding or kitchen stuff.

And that was how it was to work out. All done and dusted in under 4 hours. Our lives packed and on their way to Australia in a shipping container.  Well actually they left the place in a luton van bound for a warehouse where they were the bikes, trike, and camera were to be crated up and then the lot transported to a shipping container to disappear for the next x many weeks.

So was that the house empty?  Well, no.

• There was still all the crap that wasn’t going,
• the stuff that we needed for the next 2 weeks,
• the stuff that we would need when we got out there,
• the white goods,
• the furniture that we needed to get rid of, and….

You get the idea but the house was a lot emptier and cleaning for leaving the property could at least now start, once I had had a rest!  Nope, think again girl.  No rest for the…

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