Packing up and paused by lack of progress

Currently, I am sitting indoors listening to the wind blowing, it has been a very blustery and stormy week here. Life has been very indoor because of this and whilst I have been out, I have got out and about as usually would. If all had gone as I hoped, then the time could have been put to use doing my final packing ready for the impending move. Unfortunately, things seem to have ground to a halt and I am waiting to hear about contracts being exchanged, I think we are pretty much ready for this to happen. Hoping that next week progress will be made here.

As for the packing and culling that I have done, good progress has been made. I have been fairly ruthless in the culling process, with lots of stuff given away or sent for recycling. I made the decision to get rid of nearly all of my books, just keeping a few, mostly the non-fiction books. I was wondering how to give them away, when I noticed a local second-hand bookseller posted on Facebook and contacted him. He took all the books, over 20 boxes, agreeing to make a donation to Macmillan Cancer Care. I am pleased that the book will have a chance to give someone else the joy of reading them and I am supporting a local business and a charity at the same time. A great result all around I feel.

At the moment, I am living in a partly packed house, most of my pictures are packed, shelves dismantled, plants given away, ornaments packed away, so my home seems somewhat sparse and not as homely. For a long time, I was feeling very mixed about moving but this is shifting towards being more eager to be moved than looking back. I will miss this house, my neighbours, the local area and many other things about being here, on the other hand, I am eager to be in my new home and find myself thinking about what I can do to make it as I would like it to be and I am keen to have a garden. I have lived here for 34 years with only a shared space and think having a more private space will be better and more in line with what I want now.

I am slightly anxious about moving away from all my friends, well moving away from many of them being within walking distance. However, a moments reflection helps me realise that since covid I don’t pop round to see them like I did and most socialising is outdoors for me, going for walks and I can still do that, we will just have to travel a bit further to meet up and for a few of them, I will actually be a bit closer once I move. I will miss being able to walk down to Brighton seafront, but I will have a different seafront to walk along so I have that to look forward to and I can drive to the Marina and walk from there along the seafront and once I get my pensioners bus pass use that. I will also be within cycling distance of Brighton and if I get an electric bike it will be very easy to do.

Life does seem to be a mix of being paused yet with a lot of turbulence as I creep towards moving. There is the concern that there will be a hitch and either the sale or purchase will fall through, friends who have moved tell me this is normal. The impatience for the move to happen, whilst a reluctance for it to happen is also part of the process some have told me. Moving is meant to be one of the biggest stressors we go through and I tend to agree that it is. And like any process of change, there are ups and downs to experience as you go through the journey. Putting my house on the market was a big step, accepting the offer another both a mix of happiness and trepidation. Finding the house I want to move to and getting the offer accepted was a moment of real happiness after a period of anxiety, around will they or won’t they accept my offer. Then there is the ups and downs as you go through the survey process on the home you are selling and the home you are looking to buy, a roller-coaster ride is a perfect description. At the moment, I feel like I have risen to one of the higher points of the ride and am trundling along slowly and waiting for the scary and thrilling drop-down of the next stage of the ride.

So for me, this is very much the central point of my life at the moment. I am still seeing a few friends and family members. Saw my sister for the first time since the pandemic began last weekend, which was lovely and have caught up with a close friend for the first time since the pandemic which was also lovely. Talking with my friend, we discussed how the pandemic has cut down our social circles and activity, theirs less so than mine as they are not CEV, but both of us were doing less socially. Part of my looking forward to the move, it that I will have a garden to socialise in rather than having to go for walks etc. CEV people are the forgotten group in the relaxation of covid rules, the government say carry on as normal whilst the NHS guidelines are restricted social contacts, don’t meet large groups, socialise outside if at all possible.

Other news, well I and the family have been worried about my uncle who has had very nasty pneumonia and relapse, requiring 2 stays in the hospital. He is now in a convalescent home and making steady progress. And related news is that his granddaughter is now walking and will no doubt be expecting grandad to chase after her soon. Maybe once the pandemic has morphed into an endemic covid I will be able to go visit my uncle and the South African branch of the family. I haven’t seen my cousin for over 20 years would guess and the last time I saw my uncle was at the beginning of 2011, in Sri Lanka. One of my half brothers and family are coming over to the UK next week for a short holiday, hopefully, we will be able to catch up. This weekend, one of the excitements is popping round to my neighbour to feed their cat. He has taken to popping around to see me now and again recently, a few days ago, whilst I was loading up the car to take stuff to the recycling centre, I noticed him go in the house. I had to search the whole house to find him, he was upstairs in the attic bedroom having a cat nap!!!

Well, that is all that is what is going on for me at the moment or maybe I would be more accurate if I said, this is what I remember is going on for me at the moment. I am sure if I wrote this another day, different things would have popped into mind and down through my fingers into WordPress for you to endure reading. Remember you will never get back the few minutes you spent reading this, hopefully, though you will find these minutes worthwhile. I find writing them helpful which is important and a good reason to keep writing this blog. The final thought is that 7 years ago, I was about to fly out to La Palma for my first trip away after my so far successful cancer treatment. Back then, I had just had my first post-treatment check-up and was due to go back for an MRI in early March before going back to find out how successful the treatment had been. Feeling very fortunate to have had another 7 years and be in a position to be able to look forward to a future in my new home.