Katy, Bean and I went walkabout in town, before meeting up with my “cousin” who lives in Lausanne. The weather was shite, as in wet and miserable, but it turned out to be a nice, productive and enjoyable day. Katy and I bought some monthly bus/metro passes and wrangled a tired, whiny, over excited bean through a marketplace, a toy shop, a crêperie, Starbucks, a phone shop, a tea shop, and a gelateria. We got some good tips from my cousin and started to get to know each other a bit. We left with promises of dinner when everyone is sorted in new living arrangements. Katy couldn’t believe how much like my mom he looks, and his son Raphael is a cutie, and also, quiet!!
Tag: shit we’re moving to Switzerland
First night of the first day of the rest of our lives
We made it to Vevey in one piece. The flight was delayed by about 45 minutes but went smoothly for the rest of it. Bean was his usual self and charmed everyone in sight. We had an hour long cab ride to get to the hotel from Geneva. The good news is that we managed to cram 6 suitcases, 5 carryon, 3 adults and a bean in a single cab. Putting an overtired bean to bed took two and a half hours, and several bouts of angry-mummy-voice. In the end, it was listening to BBC radio 2 streaming on iplayer that did it. There is something inherently surreal about listening to live country and western music from a UK radio station in a darkened room somewhere in Switzerland. Right now, I can hear his snoring and it’s oddly comforting.
We keep telling ourselves that we’re doing the right thing and that it will be hard at times but we can get through it together and that the rewards will be worth it. My sister said it best this morning when she told me to remember to have fun.
P. S. The Swiss are not tea drinkers. There’s no kettle in the room and when we asked for tea, hey didn’t give us any milk. Silly people.
I want to be a cat
While the whirling dervish that is my too-tired son was causing mayhem and chaos downstairs, the cats were chilling their shit upstairs, quite contently.
I so need/want to be a cat right now.
What we’ve been up to in our holidays :)
We’ve been living at Katy’s parents since early June, when we moved out of the house. It’s been “sold” for almost a month, but the buyer’s solicitors have been singularly incompetent, or rather untimely. Apparently, all the paperwork is ready but their solicitor is on holiday, and the replacement person has only been there for 2 days out of 7 and apparently there’s nobody in their secretarial pool to type up the report that the buyers need to get. Oy. If we’re lucky, we can exchange contracts tomorrow and then complete next week. If we’re lucky.
In the meantime, I’ve bought myself a new camera and I’ve been playing with it quite enthusiastically :D
Things we’ve done so far:
1. held a birthday party for Ben’s rabbit
2. Visited the Abbey pumping station
3. Spent the day at Skegness (finally, after 8 years of hearing about it!)
4. Generally tried to keep the Bean and the dog happy
All in all, we’re knackered :)
All pictures and more here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/leicester_jun_2013
Saffron Walden is a great little town
It’s our last night in town and, as we promised to come back before we left, we went to have dinner at the Cross Keys in town. Really nice food! We shared some seared scallops and asparagus in hollandaise for starters, then dead cow for main and a cookie dough cheesecake for pud. We found out that the boyfriend of our hostess is the one who drew a beautiful Buddha ink sketch we saw at the little gallery at EFS. We were planning on taking a cab back home cause we were stuffed. Turns out our neighbour was the one to pick us up and dropped us off for free, because he’s nice like that. Just another reason I’m going to miss this place.
Well, that’s that.
I’ve sorted through 8 years of desk clutter, sifted through a mountain of files and said goodbye to everyone. We picked up Bean’s last things from nursery and… that’s it. No more campus. The movers have emptied the house. The pets and the child are in Leicester. The walls are bare, and if you’ve ever seen our home, that’s saying a lot! It’s no longer our home. It’s just a nice house with lots of good memories. I’ve had my last driving lesson and my last guitar lesson. We had to cancel Liz because Katy was under the weather, so we weren’t able to say a proper goodbye to the evil PT woman. It’s getting more and more real – we’re moving on to the next adventure. I’m a bit shell shocked right now. I’m going to miss my friends and colleagues, and very much so the comfort of the familiar. The little things, like chatting to Dave the butcher, getting a sausage from Sausage Lady and Sunday lunch at Scottsdales. I’m hoping we’ll find new friends, favourite shops and little gems to visit. It’s going to be part of the process. It’s something I’m looking forward to, but I’ll admit to being a bit scared about it as well…
Last chance to feed the fishies
We went to Scottsdales yesterday, for what will probably be the last time in a very long time. We had a nice lunch. I had a moment with the parrots, and then Bean fed the koi. They have some new really big ones and now there’s one that Bean named “Red Charlie” to replace the original Charlie, who now lives somewhere in a pub garden pond.
Good times, indeed.
Duxford rocks!
In preparation for our departure from the UK, we’re trying to finally go to all the places we’ve been putting off, for various reasons. One of those is the Duxford air museum. Katy, Bean, the oldies and I went there last weekend and it ROCKS.
I mean. I walked underneath and inside the prototype of the Concorde. We all flew in a 1930s De Havilland Dragon Rapide and I touched a SR71 Blackbird! What’s not to love. That’s not even mentioning all of the spitfires and hurricanes flying around in preparation for the airshow next weekend.
All pictures here: http://www.flubu.com/various_pics/duxford_may_2013/
Christ, we sold the house (*)!!!
Redonculous!!!
The house has been officially on the market for less than 2 days and it’s already been sold(*). A couple that came for a visit yesterday made an offer today, and we accepted. Now granted, this is the UK and everything can go wrong up until contracts are exchanged, but still… wow.
OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!
(*) subject to contract
Things are moving waaaay too fast
Jaysus, my head is spinning! We have approved quotes for removals, and we’ve contacted estate agents and solicitors for the house sale. The property isn’t even officially on the market yet and the agents have contacted us about a lady wanting to view the property this weekend!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!