Gearing up.......
.....And just like that with a morsel of spring sun in the sky, it's time to get busy! It feels like Jan 2020 to October 2022 and the end of the last rubbish French rental, was done and dusted a very long time ago now. No point going over split milk is there?
However, It really is time to go back to France. We are finding ourselves increasingly frustrated, waiting for the RV to be ready to roll. ** JUST HEARD ITS NEXT WEDNESDAY, RESULT! That said, we have a new delay, due to his passport needing renewal and we are praying, it made the queue before the strikes. If not, we are back playing the waiting game which seems rather 'normal' these days!
He's just gone to B&Q (other DIY shops are available) to work out what he needs for bathroom floor tiling, then we will go online and order supplies from Brico online (the French version of B&Q). Easier when one has sat and done some translating, I hope? Of course ordering building materials will be much easier once we are there but for now as I always say 'it is what it is'.
We do feel like we've been on tenterhooks, just waiting to begin again, so much 'life' has got in the way, but as soon as his passport is back, we can finally get going again. First stop will obviously be The French Wreck. He needs to do the electrics, set the workers on with their jobs and make sure they have supplies, then and only then can we travel a bit further in. We want to explore some short term winter rentals as I think spending winter in the RV is a push too far for me!
Back in Jan 2020, we really thought returning from Canada was the return of the big French adventure, but we all know what happened and in someways, it's taken way too long to get going again. Way longer than we expected anyway! Although, I know that we weren't the only ones and that is comforting. Sometimes, the wreck felt more of a burden than an adventure. It really came between us for a while there.
With the delivery of the RV imminent, there's lots to do. We want new carpets, mattresses and obviously need to stock it up. I think I have plenty of everything needed in the house already, rather than buy new. Our Dutch Star or Dutch's Star (our surname is Holland, get it?), should be ready to trial soon enough. He really didn't like the name Big Bertha, honestly at 36 ft, she is quite a double wide load, but 'Dutch's Star' she will be christened (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). We also need to get to know her and all her nuances before heading across the channel, so it will be either to Cornwall or the Highlands? We will toss a coin and see where she blows!
I think I might video some of our adventures for you all and especially for my Dad back home.
I think the RV will help us heal from the pandemic years and the toil thereafter. There was a lot of moving around and disappointment. The RV is ours now, having something that is a home, bought and paid for, even if on wheels really will make a difference. I know we have the wreck and have led a very adventurous life but we are both totally sold on finding the FOREVER home now. We are ready to hang up our moving boots......although we never say never, I do say never to moving full time anywhere else but France.
With all the back and forth, France really didn't seem worth it sometimes and now, finishing and selling the wreck, so we can move on isn't going to be all plain sailing. The housing
market is rocking a bit. All we can do is make it the best house we can and hope that she sells.
We had been hoping to be ready to rock n roll RV style, for our anniversary next Friday and didn't think we'd be able to! So yesterday, we started to discuss how to mark the occasion? I mean 34 years is worth celebrating I feel and you know me, I'd celebrate the opening of a crisp packet if I could!
And so he says 'trust me?"
of course I don't, lol!
He left me sat with my drink and made some calls, the upshot being this:
We are booked into a Murder Mystery evening with dinner and dancing at Lumley Castle!
I have to admit to being rather intrigued! I'm in and anyway, this princess loves a castle!
The first thing I did when we got home last night, was order a sparkly, flappy number and a headband of sorts. Really the 1920's/Gatsby fashion isn't for T & A, but I can make it work! The rest I will leave to good make up and wine! I'm hoping I get murdered early on, clobbered with a candle stick in the library and thereafter can hide with a bottle of Champagne, watching all the drama unfold!
In other news, our eldest daughter leaves prison tomorrow, but is heading straight into full time secure care. We are both sad and hopeful. It will be nice to visit her and take her some nice bits n bobs. We do need to cling on to the hope that with the right treatment, she may, in time be able to revisit living in everyday society. Maybe we are deluded, but hope is a very human emotion, isn't it? Without hope, what are we?
We also all need time to heal from what has been over a decade of hell really. None of us have been ourselves, due to the sheer amount of stress we've been under. We survived, but only just. I think, it's only recently that him and I can really acknowledge, how much pain we've been in as a family. We must normalise the effect that challenging young adults can have on the family. Everyone needs care, not just the sufferer.
Our youngest daughter heads back to work next Wednesday, she currently visiting friends and letting her hair down. Good lass! He's in London and so it's just me and the dogs today. Peace!
We are attempting a different kind of Easter this year, not too much fuss and getting out and about to walk and eat, rather than stick at home, chained to the stove. I think it will be better for us.
I intend to eat all the bunnies of the chocolate kind, why not, watch lots of movies and just 'chill' best I can, whilst I can! I just think that, for the rest of the year, we will be meeting ourselves coming backwards! So this rest period, is going to be the last breather, before all the madness a French renovation project can throw at us! The calm before the storm.
We have weathered many storms together.
Gumption
D x