Moving day

Cleaning carpets at 8am

Looking back at the past 6 months, the best way I’ve found of jogging my memory is to scan back through the million and one photos and videos I’ve taken - that really is no exaggeration!

It’s so easy to look back on the adventure with rose-tinted specs, remembering the good things and sweeping the more stressful episodes under the carpet. Something I very nearly did until the photos of the last days of packing and the final move reminded me.

Our approach to packing had been less than ideal with much of it left to the last minute. Not only did we have that to muddle through, but we also had a mammoth amount of cleaning to do & of course the day jobs. I was still incapacitated with one foot in a boot after buggering my ankle and so, on the evening before we left, I was in charge of finishing up in the house & Erik packed up the van.

Until it was full.

Erik came in & told me it wouldn’t all fit, I thought to myself, nah, surely it’ll be fine. Just needs a bit of re-jigging.

No.

There was a load of our stuff still in the garage plus more in the house yet to be packed.

Bugger.

If we’d devised any kind of plan we’d have known what was in the van, what we needed and what could be left behind. But we didn’t. We quickly changed tack and our main objective was to get the bedding, cleaning tools & our work stuff squeezed in. The rest would have to live somewhere else until we could come back and get it. I say we, of course, I mean Erik.

At this point, my anxiety levels were through the roof. What the hell were we going to do? We had to leave the next day, we had accommodation & the ferry booked. Erik was due to drop off the van in Aberdeen in 3 days time, we couldn’t just delay by a day or two.

There was nothing doing except to contact our landlord and ask if he would be willing to let us store it in one of his outbuildings for a few weeks. He was so accommodating - he told us to leave it in the second garage & he’d speak to the new tenants & explain the situation. If they needed the space he would move the stuff to his property as the outbuildings at the rental were a bit leaky.

Legend. I cannot explain to you the relief we felt. It was sorted, at least for now. Time to relax?

Not quite, I was still in full panic mode, rushing round like a headless chicken. At 8am the following morning, I dragged the rugs outside and was cleaning them with a Vax carpet cleaner because that seemed the best use of my time.

It wasn’t.

We did however manage to hit the road at a reasonable time, making our way to Inverness. Me driving the car with Kiki and Erik in the van. At Inverness, I left the car in a random car park to join Erik as we travelled on together (Kiki in tow). Erik would drive the car up to Orkney after dropping the van in Aberdeen.

Day 2 was harder. Kiki does not travel well. It had been easier to ignore this fact in the car as she has a dog crate in the boot, out of sight, sort of out of mind. We’d been prescribed some meds from the Vet that helped take the edge off and whilst she did eventually settle on my lap in the van, the ferry was harder. We couldn’t risk taking her on the deck, being surrounded by dogs, she doesn’t do dogs, and so we popped her in ferry kennels.

I felt truly awful putting her in a wee kennel in a little side room off the car deck, engine humming and I couldn’t wait to get her back out. In fact, she was so delighted to be collected after nearly 2hrs that she completely ignored any other dogs and leapt into the van and essentially passed out knackered from a combo of the stress & meds!

We’d made it to Orkney Mainland, next stop - Hoy.

The weather was certainly on our side that day, with glorious sunshine pouring down on us as we crossed what would become the familiar Scapa Flow on the Hoy Head. Never underestimate a blue sky when you’re moving house, especially when you’re doing it yourself & it takes 2 days to get there!

I won’t bore you with the details of unpacking but suffice it to say it took 2hrs longer than expected and that was with chucking stuff any the hell where it would fit. I can’t even remember what we had for tea but I do know there was wine!

The next day we (Kiki & I) waved goodbye to Erik and made a start on the unpacking.

It always surprises me how quickly somewhere becomes home. I am a great believer in ‘wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home’ and this was instantaneous. I felt comfortable immediately. Possibly because I’ve had 16 different homes since heading to uni a little over 25 years ago (yikes). I also don’t get too nostalgic, to be honest, the only thing I miss about our old house in York is how warm it was. Although we have now become accustomed to a house temperature of 14 degrees.

The joy of old houses!

Clockwise from top left: last supper of fish & chips in the garden at Aysgarth; final photo outside Home Farm, Aysgarth; the stuff that wouldn’t fit; Hannah, Erik & wine in the new house.