Bouncing around and Boundaries
Pumpkins in bound!
Hello October! Whoa, I nearly missed the beginning of a brand new month and you know me, I always like to celebrate mother natures finest work! I absolutely adore it when the northern hemisphere turns all orange squash and pumpkin technicolour. 50 shades of clementine, rouge and gold, the season of spice and spooks! Love it!
Oh well, I mean, I have been busy. Three weeks in France, trying to get the Gite semi comfortable, which remains a work in progress, arrived back here on Friday evening feeling rather discombobulated, wondering if we'd bitten off more than we could chew! Oh and also the weekend before, I bounced around in the lorry all the way to Spain and back!
I was a reluctant passive passenger and yes, despite being passive, I did moan a lot! I am not a trucker and personally I can't see why anyone would be, but each to their own! 1760 miles covered in 4 days, many books read and a lot of angst about where to stay when we stopped. He is rather partial to a flea pit and I am not! Spain is a very different beast to France isn't it? Also we can't speak Spanish and realised with glee, we know rather more French than we realised. However, speaking French wasn't massively helpful in Spain!
We got his parents stuff on the lorry in 32 degree heat and it was all supposed to come back with us on this trip and into storage in the UK. That hasn't happened and after filling in all the paperwork online for them, HMRC said 'we will get back to you within 3 weeks'.....erm! So we had to off load it all again! Arghhhhhhhh!
Talking about British customs and boarder control, interestingly, I was quizzed pretty heavily as I arrived in the UK. At first I thought the passport control lady was being chatty, but they ignored my passenger completely and really went to town on me? I was driving a French registered car and must clearly flag up as a French CDS holder, but I do have a British passport, so I'm unsure as to why I was so heavily questioned! I really should have asked!
I really wish the EU and Britain would stop bickering and start sorting out the gremlins that remain and which affect our rights, freedom to vote and move around. It's so ridiculous. They all seem so bloody frightened of being friends and finding a new and improved way to do business! We EXPATS (I know that word isn't popular, sorry) appear to be the pawn in the political game that was Brexit. Anyway, I won't go on, but I personally did not expect to be treated like a pesky immigrant, no one wants on both sides of the pond.
Clare Hill, my first friend in France bar one, from 2017, travelled with me as she lives near me in France and the UK and it was lovely to have her company on the journey, which was pretty awful in parts. My decision to take the day time St Malo ferry (8 hours) to Portmouth, wasn't a brilliant move in the end. It's not really a rest and instead we went to the on board cinema to watch Maverick. My third time, Clare's first! It's a great movie and just like TOP GUN, one can watch it over and over again.
Once we were firmly on UK terra ferma the trouble began. The GPS said 3 hours 10 minutes. Excellent! However, the weather dial was turned to biblical rain and the journey was hampered by road works, road closures and accidents! Everything was thrown at us! It was bloody foul! 6 and 1/2 hours later we arrived home! Never again! We'd been up since 4.30 am. It was the longest day EVER!
During our journey Clare and I talked about how I was finally employing boundaries. Clare was with me not long into the UNFRENCH blog and she has very much been part of the adventure, witnessing the nonsense that it became as we built. The thing is, she's right, I am finally employing boundaries in every aspect of my life now and it feels both right and good. The new me also feels less stressed and more 'me' then I have in years! I still have to keep practicing setting these boundaries and putting myself first, there's a way to go yet.
Back at home, we need to go and get my youngest daughters possessions from her shared Uni house. The less said about this the better, for now anyway. The police are involved and so we need to let it play out before talking about it all. Also, the big kids are starting to move out slowly now, as their new house is starting to come together.
Him and I now need to sort our youngest out with a French residency and get her busy for the year, until she can figure out what she wants to do. 20 is still young and I have no issue with her stepping back from something that is causing her so much stress. There's so much pressure to decide what it is one wants to do for the rest of ones life! I still don't know! Kids these days are in education for way too long without the gift of real life experience. Sometimes, the best thing to do is take a positive step back.
It feels very strange being back in the UK, especially as we are still scratching our mosquito bites! The house was a bit cold and damp and I actually though the boiler was on the blink, but the thermostat batteries were dead and the system needed a pressure top up, that's all. I will be quite sad to leave here, its been an adventure, but we are a step nearer living the French Dream.
It's not over till we decide it is. Let the packing begin again.
Gumption
D x