A moving experience

Moving house, they say, is one of the most stressful things you can do in life. Apparently it's right up there with death and divorce.

I think that this is nearly true in that getting ready to move house is the stressful bit, once you're moving, you're busy and have less time to be stressed. At least that's what we found. After weeks (seemingly) of struggling to get mortgages in place, funds ready for release, chains ready to move on the same day, 28th of March got settled upon and then it rushed to arrive.

Even at this point, things still weren't straightforward. Our chosen removal firm (NEVER move home without one!) were not fully available due to our late confirmation, and we were faced with having to do part of the move ourselves. In the event, the other party cancelled, and we had the undivided attention of Lessers Removals for two days. And they did a fantastic job!

Having a relatively short chain, at least everyone was in contact with everyone else, and keys were exchanged the day before. One less thing to worry about on moving day.

I would like to say that 'moving day' dawned bright and clear. But it didn't. The day before, we started to load the lorry amid snowflakes.

This was not in the plan! The late Spring had still not arrived, though we had thought all the snow was over. But this was Tamworth, and over our years in Tamworth we had always wondered why everyone else "got more snow than us".

 

The morning after, lorry number 2 arrived, and was left under the eye of Linda whilst I drove the rest of the family over to Sunnyside with the first lorry in lukewarm pursuit. It takes some doing to get 15 tons of lorry and belongings going. On arrival at Sunnyside it quickly became apparent that "everyone else gets more snow than Tamworth", this being our garden on arrival.

 

In truth, the rest of the day passed in a blur. We carried virtually nothing (have I already mentioned that Lessers were fantastic?) and everything arrived neatly and undamaged in the rooms intended. Removal men (and we) destroyed many bacon sandwiches in an effort to ward off the cold, and keep the furniture moving. Linda left our old house without a rearward glance....not what I expected at all.

 

By quarter past four, the movers had done their job, and were on their way. 30 minutes later the solicitor phoned to say that "funds had cleared and we could move". I think our way was far more sensible and civilised.

 

We had arrived, and somewhere out there, in the cold and beneath the snow, was a garden.......