And still we wait

We’re in a strange situation at the moment, on the brink of momentous change but unable

As much fun as watching pears ripen 

to launch into our new life until Other People have played their parts. After the frantic activity of the first few days of house selling, these weeks of limbo are becoming just a tad frustrating and the not knowing is definitely the hardest part. At least if we had a confirmed date we could be making plans (for Nigel). As it is, we seem to be in a perpetual twilight of neither one thing or another. Thank goodness I’m out at work five days a week. I don’t know how Dave is managing to calmly potter day after day.

We have proposed a completion date for the house sale, but don’t yet know whether this date is ok for our buyers too. We need to change dozens of address details, set up mail redirection, cancel utility contracts, and book a few days on a campsite in Hailsham for after completion. Hopefully we will be able to bring our departure forward by three weeks or so, but we ideally need to know before the balance of the boat payment is due mid-August or it might cost more to change the booking.

I’m still amazed by how much stuff we actually own – neither of us consider ourselves to be hoarders. There is yet more furniture to eBay and Freegle, and plenty of packing awaiting us. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably got sick of my recent repeated tweets advertising a small bookcase. It took four weeks to get a bite. If the folding beds, TV unit, computer desk and lampshades are going to take that long as well, I need to be listing them this weekend! But I can’t risk them getting bids in the first seven days and being carried off too soon. We don’t want to spend weeks ‘camping’ in a shell of a house – it’s just not the same!

Still, there are two distinct bright sides to the hiatus. (1) We get to eat our fruit harvest for one last year - This year’s strawberries have already been devoured and some of the Victoria plums are now yellowing nicely. Others are going mouldy on the tree, but I think I will make a good crumble or two together with the few Bramley apples. The pears are getting to a decent size – they have never yet ripened properly but always soften up and taste great when slowly poached in red wine.

And (2) the massive house clean is definitely still several weeks away!