Life and relocation to Spain

Today was traumatic - not for me but for Emily who had to say goodbye to the hamster that Father Christmas bought last year. Harry had become a loved member of the family - at least as far as Emily was concerned - and sadly it was just not possible to move him to Spain. Fortunately a kind work mate of Sally offered to look after him and so Emily spent the morning typing out care instructions to ensure her hamster is properly cared for. She managed to deliver the hamster herself and explain how to care for him which I thought showed tremendous strength for a six year old handing over her christmas present. (The agreement is that she can replace Harry with another delightful rodent once we are settled in Spain and I have a horrible feeling she is going to hold us to that promise.)

The last few days have been manic with a complete misunderstanding of how much we still had to do both in the detail of phoning various companies/utilities about our move, trying to find a tennant and packing for the move. Sadly we still don't have a tennant for the house which is causing us some concern. The good news however is that Sally has an agreed compensation payment come through literally today for an accident that we were involved in over 18 months ago. This will really help if it takes a few more weeks to find a tennant. I'm currently taking time off from painting the conservatory (the final room to decorate) before finally disconnecting the computer in a few minutes. And so, for at least a few days we will be offline and will disappear into the murky fog of the real world but hope to return to our virtual lives in the next week or so.

The last few days have also been a little traumatic for other members of the family with goodbyes being said almost constantly whenever we meet friends or family. We had discussed whether or not we could visit over Christmas. Initially we decided that to do so would be to run the risk of falling into a pattern of visiting and never having the inner strength to be away from famiy and friends at crucial points. Potentially such a trip may add to homesickness. Sally however, as she still lives so close to her family, was struggling more than I with the notion of leaving and not having a date to visit folks. Consequently we are considering coming back after Christmas and trying to catch up with friends and family over the New Year break. This seems to have helped Sally who now she has a possible time for returning and visiting family feels more comfortable about the move. Certainly it was a little upsetting when we had a leaving party and Sally's nan, who is 92 years old, admitted her own mortality by saying how sad she was that she would never see Sally again. To be able to reassure her that we had an intention of visiting over New Year certainly put a small smile back on her face again today. Getting the balance right between maintaining those family relationships and still really moving is going to be so tricky.

I had a mild panic moment today. The company who are moving us to Spain I realised didn't have an address to deliver to, which seemed slightly odd as they are collecting on Wednesday at 9AM. It turns out they are so used to people handing over furniture and wordly posessions before having a destination address that they weren't at all surprised not to have been given the destination address. Whether I'm 100% sure of their operation or not I don't know...it could just be an elaborate scam to fleece people of everything they own and even help them load the burglar's van! Time will tell

Anyway, the conservatory needs a second coat of paint and there is still too much to do to spend too much time drifting around my virtual life - back to reality and fingers crossed for our move on Wednesday and Thursday this week - I will be sure to blog the end result.

After tentative discussions at the start of the year, applications on February, interviews and a job in March,and a preliminary visit in May it seems incredible that coe are now only two weeks away from moving. The biggest went in our lives is so very close.

The last couple of weeks have seen the pace increasing as the packing and preparations become increasingly desperate. Fortunately I managed to sell my car this weekend, admittedly for a fair bit less than I thought it was worth, but at least that provides me with the money to purchase a cheap car when we arrive.

We've also managed to dismantle and tip some of the larger furniture that we're not taking as well as make the packing look like an achievable task. The main things left to pack are the kitchen items and the clothes, most of which will need doing in the final week. We will be flying out with two suitcases. One will contain swimming clothes, towels, toiletries, air beds, a pump and a lilo. The other will contain the essential clothes to see us through the first few days until our removals van arrives.

On the paperwork side we have also been fairly busy. Both our English and Spanish banks needed Internet banking to be set up. We need to complete a "Non resident landlord" form for the tax office. Also a form to claim back overpaid tax as a result of not working the full financial year in the United Kingdom. In addition I had to arrange a bulky items refuse collection for a couple of days before we leave in order to ensure that the fridge freezer and washing machine are collected before our tenant moves in... which brings me to the only major incomplete task, renting our house. I'm hoping that as it was listed with more agents last week we now have a better chance of finding the right person.

With only 29 days until we move we had a really relaxing weekend with no jobs towards moving getting done at all. On Saturday evening we had tickets for a Westlife concert. I guess attending a boyband concert is one of those ''once in a lifetime... is more than enough" experiences. Certainly the showmanship of Westlife themselves made for an entertaining evening. As somebody who could never be considered a fan though I felt like an agnostic in a cathedral- people around me were responding as though this was some sort of religious ceremony and I was failing to feel the mysterious power that was driving them to this fervour.At one point as the opening bars of a song began a woman a little way to my left collapsed sobbing into her friend's arms as she swayed to the music. I'm sure the song must have carried some emotional significance to her but it only served to strengthen the sensation that this was a private members club that required absolute emotional devotion from its followers.
More amazing than the fanatical devotion was the fight that broke out. It came from nowhere. One moment everybody around me was swaying to a ballad. The next, a punch went flying and within seconds half a dozen guys had joined in. By the time the security had pushed their way through there was a scrum of punches and kicks. All this at a Westlife concert! The cause of the fight remains a complete mystery.

From the Westlife concert we ambled into the city centre and spent an enjoyable couple of hours in the casino - actually managing to leave whilst still up enough to have paid for the night out.

Leaving the casino we deliberated on whether or not to go for one last drink before going home. As we were thinking this over we watched the police breaking up another fight and using four vans to take away the various miscreants. We decided against another drink - who knows, maybe one more would have been all we needed to join the crowds that thought a Saturday night rumble was part of the fun of going out. Finally, in the queue for the taxi, following a string of abuse between groups of children who looked about fourteen years old, another fight started - fortunately it gave us time to grab the taxi of the main protagonists as they slugged it out and make our way safely home. I don't know if it will turn out to be a universal problem but in the taxi ride home we agreed that it seemed extremely unlikely that the village we are moving to in Spain has Saturday night rumbles as a feature of the three local bars.

With 29 days to go the time pressure is beginning to feel slightly more accute. Amongst jobs still to do we need to:
Sell two cars; find a tenant for our house; inform the water, gas and electric companies of our move; inform the city council of the move for poll tax purposes; cancel the phone and television; cancel the TV license payment; continue to pack the remaining half of the house; dismantle some furniture for the tip; receive money being drawn down from our mortgage; transfer funds both to our Spanish account and to the landlord's account to cover August. All this with still a further three weeks of work to go.

Today is however my last chance to experience the NHS as I have a wisdom tooth extracted - and I'm sure when I choose to count back as the anaesthetic is administered it will be counting back from 29 - it's just a shame I can't wake up 29 days later with all of the moving taken care of.