Angelo doesn't live here anymore

We have thought long and hard about whether Angelo should make the move to France with us. He is a much loved cat and originally I had thought of course he should come with us.

On the other hand cats are more attached to places than people so I then hoped that maybe he would be able to stay with the new owners or next door neighbours but that was not possible.

Eventually we decided that an 800mile journey over two days would be a huge ordeal for him and we will be moving more than once over the next few months making it very difficult for him to settle so we have found friends keen to adopt him and act as his new "staff".

This morning we took him to his new home. He certainly did not like the travelling ( and it was less than 8 miles not 800). He seemed to like his new "chief of staff" and when we left had selected a chair to curl up on so hopefully he will settle and enjoy discovering a new patch of territory.

I am sure we will miss him more than he misses us! I do hope he's OK.

On other matters our garage is now half full again - our buyers have spent the day moving vanloads of stuff in as they are hoping to move out of their house this week- this really does start to look very promising.

It wasn't even Christmas!

My very favourite days are when we have the whole family together for food, wine, chat and music. Last weekend was a great example of just such an occasion and it wasn't even Christmas! These days it doesn't happen very often as they both live away from Stoke but both kids came to visit and unseasonably sunny weather meant we were able to barbecue and eat outside all weekend. Both of them left with cars loaded with plants and other spoils from the house and garden.



Its very likely the next time we are all together we will be in France - hopefully I won't have to wait too long for their first visit. We will be seeing everyone again before we go though - Adam is coming to collect more stuff and we will be going via Anna and Martins house when we leave for France as she is buying my car and we have decided we can use her place as a temporary address.

Its the 28th tomorrow, significance being that was supposed to be THE day for one of the buyers in the chain. So far we have no completion date but neither have we had any bad news so we are continuing to prepare for an imminent move while we keep reminding ourselves that it could still go horribly wrong.

Our buyer turned up at the house this week asking if we would be able to store some of his furniture if he has to move out before our completion date - this left us feeling a little more relaxed knowing that he has a plan B and seems very certain that everything is OK.

Itis just possible that the roller coaster ride will be replaced by a spin on the waltzers as there is so much left to do before we leave! I'm not going to complain though we just need a date to work to.

I never did like roller coasters!

I have never been a great fan of theme park type fun especially of the roller coaster kind but recently I have felt that I am fastened tightly in the seat of the biggest of dippers.







UP, up, up we crawl - another buyer, talk, wait, talk - getting near the bend and looking over the abyss and then whoops we turn and there is the SOLD sign -












arrgg....whats this? its getting faster, faster hurtling down towards .?.?.?..... or will this be the time the truck comes off the rails? - but no this time its the water splash - yes the sale is on but have to be out by the 28th May- no sooner through the water when up we crawl again slightly soggy but preparing for the next twist, turn or plummet.

So the ride goes on - 28th May is distinctly optimistic especially as our buyer's surveyor has not yet appeared to do his/her stuff but we have agreed to go if need be. The removal firm are on standby to move our furniture into storage and we are back to working through the list of things which have got to be done before we go, all the time reminding ourselves that in fact we could be back to square one at any time and still here all through the summer and beyond.

This week we are driving over to France with another car load of stuff to make some preparations for spending a few months at Pavillon - highest priority being getting a phone connected. Our original plan was to go for a few weeks but we will be cutting the trip short as we will need to be back here to complete the sale -WE HOPE. We won't be doing any househunting though - neither of us can face the prospect now until we have a contract signed and exchanged.

I really do need to get off this ride soon - feeling a bit iffy!