Moves Afoot! Part 4 - Countdown to Devon

Our Moving Van

Having now exchanged contracts and received a completion date, we started to sort all the things that need to happen before we moved - the people and organisations that needed to be informed of our leaving the property in Seaford , with other services needing to know our imminent arrival in Devon.

We had only one week. Time was of the essence. Things really did crank up a few creaky gears to make sure we were going to be with power, water and communication facilities. Only to my horror, we found that we were going to be without a phone line, broadband and satellite facilities for nearly two weeks as they needed more notice than we were able to give them. Alan was thrilled, needless to say.

Days were taken up with me packing the rest of my stuff; most of the household stuff having been packed by Alan very quickly when we had found out.

Letting our friends know was difficult as being so busy during the day I was unable to think straight at night. But we told as many as we could, with my emotions starting to build up in realisation as to what a big thing we were doing.

As it was going to be just after Easter, I also had the services to attend at my church St Andrew's in Bishopstone, which also took up some time. And I arranged a little leaving 'do' on the Sunday before so that I could say goodbye to as many as I could. Time just seemed to slip away with all these things (please excuse the repetitive 'thing' - couldn't think of another word) that needed to be done.

Then when it seemed it would never end, we were all packed and ready to go except those every day items we would need up to the time we moved.

The Garage Boxes

At last the day came. The removal firm arrived promptly and started putting our possessions onto the van. It felt quite odd, as on previous moves we had done it ourselves or had hired from someone we knew. This was unknown people handling our things but they were very good and efficient, making light work of some of our heavy objects. I kept out of the way and cleaned each room as they finished.

Then, with only the garage left to go, we left them to it as we knew we had at least five hours to travel to our new home and needed to get the keys before 5.00pm (which didn't quite happen the way it should have done - but that's another story).

Half an hour into our journey, I looked at the clock. It was midday. I thought to myself, "In the past, that was the usual time for completion."

Three minutes later, my mobile rang. It was the solicitor.

"Mrs Kinnersley?"

"Yes?"

"I'm ringing to say that we have just completed on your behalf. You now have your property in Devon. All the best for the future."

After thanking him for his call, I turned to Alan and told him the news. We smiled at each other. This was going to be the start of a big adventure.