Images by John 'K'

As I write this, it’s less than 3 days before I head back to the UK, and 10 days beforewe all fly back to the US as a family. I know there will be a lot of stuff to deal with in the coming weeks – dealing with the arrival of our stuff that’s being shipped from the UK, buying new stuff for the house, working out how to get all the extra stuff my family has to the new house when we have a limited number of cases we can use, and other such stuff, but there’s an end in sight now.

 

It’s been a long 8 months. This last 4 months has been especially hard as I’ve not been able to see any of my family in person, and while it’s been nice being able to chat with them over MSN (with audio and video), it’s not the same as being with them.

 

Lets just hope that we find that it’s all worth it! 🙂

It seems only days ago that I was contemplating being back in the UK in 4 weeks, but it’s now a week and a day before I fly back to the UK, and a little over 2 weeks before we all come back here to live.

 

I think I’ve done everything I need to (or can) do here before the family arrive, but I’m sure something will come up at the last minute that I’ve forgotten – life’s good at throwing little curve-balls at me like that. The next challenge therefore is making sure that we do everything we need to in the week I’m in the UK so we can make a clean exit.

 

Once that is out of the way, then the fun really starts!

 

I guess part of the reason the time seems to have flow by is that I’ve been occupied chasing up on stupid things like a postal service that believed the house I’ve moved into was still unoccupied even after I’d been there for 2 weeks and had specifically told the local delivery depot that I was there.

 

They were still returning mail to the senders with a ‘house vacant’ message, so I’ve had a load of following up on that to deal with. Before I got the message across, I’ve made 2 calls to the local office, been in and spoken directly to them, registered a redirect from my old (temporary) address to the new one, left notes in the mailbox explaining that I am there, and I even resorted to sending myself a letter, with the return address also listed as the new address, with a big note on the back saying that THE HOUSE IS OCCUPIED BY ME!

 

I think they finally got the message properly though, as along with my letter to myself, I had my first piece of ‘proper’ mail arrive yesterday. I hope it continues, as the delivery guy on this week isn’t the normal one for the route (he’s on holiday this week), so I might need to repeat some of these activities again next week (I hope not though!).

 

Funny how it’s always the little things that cause the most work!

 

John

Well I’ve been in the new house for a little over a week now, and while it’s lacking a lot of things (furniture and a family to name a couple), it’s starting to feel like home.

 

It’s in a lovely area, the neighbors that I have met so far are great, it’s well placed for all sorts of shops and stuff, and while there are a couple of quibbles about the house, there’s nothing major to complain about.

 

I have a little furniture in the place – there are a few more little bits I need to get, but the rest is to wait until my family arrives (so they can help choose it), so I’m rattling around the place right now. I’ve even started cooking meals again (when people haven’t been inviting me out to eat!), but I need to work on getting the quantities right as I’m not used to cooking for one!

 

I’m sure the next 3 weeks will fly by…..

It’s been non-stop since Thursday evening, but I’m in and pretty much up and running in the new house….
 
I spent all of Thursday evening taking apart my furniture (thank heaven for Ikea flat pack stuff) and loading it into the back of my car at the old place, and then all of Friday unpacking it and putting it back together in the new house. By late Friday afternoon everything was assembled, unpacked, and pretty much set up where it wanted to be.
 
This was just in time for the cable guy to arrive. Comcast had arranged for him to be here sometime between 4 and 6, and he turned up at 5. After seeing where everything was to go, he did some stuff outside, then proceeded to install the relevant boxes in the relevant places. All went OK until he came to get the cable modem going. After much playing around and trying different modems, he came to the opinion the signal strength wasn’t good enough and suggested I go to the nearest Radio Shack and buy a booster.
 
Great idea, but being new to the area, I had no idea where the local Radio Shack was, and didn’t have a working internet connection to find out either, so I did something I haven’t done in about a year, and resorted to dial-up.
 
With the address programmed in my pocket PC’s navigation software, I duly headed out to get a booster, and on the way spotted the local Wal*Mart, where they had a good deal on a nice metal framed futon, and a 20" TV, so I ended up coming back with more than I intended, but it was stuff we’d need anyway, so didn’t really mind.
 
I fitted the booster, and the cable modem started working beautifully, however there was a problem with Comcast’s new user registration system, so after wasting about 30 minutes I gave up on this and went back to dealing with the other stuff I’d purchased. Got the TV stand put together and hooked the TV up to the cable box in the main bedroom, then started assembling the futon. 30 minutes later, I had the futon assembled and kitted out with bedding so I could sleep in the main bedroom and not take over the room that will become Paula’s when I’m joined by my family in 4 weeks time.
 
I was in no mood to cook, and at this stage had nothing to cook anyway, so popped out for a quick meal, then retired exhausted to bed.
 
Saturday started quietly. I was expecting the previous tenant mid morning to finish collecting some stuff, so I had a chat to the folks back in the UK until he arrived. While he was here, I was introduced to some of the neighbours – another English family, with 2 daughters, 12 and 14 – should be great company for the family!  
 
With that out of the way, the rest of the day was filled with shopping – proper grocery shopping (something I haven’t done in about 7 months now) and some extra bits that I need for the house. It’s funny but you don’t really think about all the bits and pieces you use on a daily basis until you find yourself in a place without any of them. So I headed out with a massive shopping list, and returned a few hours later with the rear of my car packed out again.
 
After unpacking the car and putting everything away, I cooked myself a meal (first time I’d done that properly in about 7 months also – cooking a few burgers on the grill in the previous house, while nice, didn’t really count. As I was only cooking for myself, I somewhat mis-judged the quantity, so ended up having enough left over to eat the following day also!
 
I wound down with a bit of TV and then went to bed, again tired out, but starting to feel a bit more at home.
 
Then today was another day of shopping – lots of stuff from Home Depot – all stuff that we need, but also spent more than I really should have on a 42" TV (being delivered next week), but it was such a good deal that I really couldn’t walk away from it. I’m sure Jan will forgive me eventually! 🙂
 
So 3 days later, I’m all in and functional. The fridge and freezer are stocked up with stuff to keep me going for the next few weeks. There’s some furniture in upstairs (in particular, Paula’s room is pretty much ready to roll), but downstairs is somewhat Spartan right now. 🙂
 
I’m going to have to get more things for people to sleep on – might just buy a few camp beds – we’ll want them anyway if we go camping. I also need to get some things for people to sit on – some beanbags or throw cushions (again we’ll want them anyway), but otherwise any more furniture now will wait until the folks get here.

 

It felt odd moving out of the house in Sunnyvale. I’d not really realised how much I had grown used to the company of the owner and his cat – both nice and friendly folks, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing them for a while yet – after all, they’re so close to the office, and it’ll take time before all my mail gets redirected to the new house. It’s been odd not being woken up  by an ‘I want my breakfast’ meow the last couple of mornings, and it seems awful lonely in the evenings, but I’ve lots of stuff to keep me occupied between now and the end of the month, and I can always talk to (and see) the folks back home thanks to MSN messenger….