under another sun

I slept for several hours. Martin from Ark removals arrived promptly in the morning to collect boxes, aptly as the road was a river of torrential rain. Far from sorry to see all those boxes gone from my life. They took up loads of room in the dungeon too. Little to report other than a short but positive social media buzz resulting from last night's shenanigans. An aftermath of feeling pretty cheery about it all. Otherwise I cooked a casserole of sorts, which I put in the oven for ages but not hot enough till Beth intervened. Lorraine home late and we all had an uneventful night.

Yet another heavy day of house moving stuff. Off to The Big Box company with Lorraine at eight where we met the Ark removals guys. Lorraine drove me home, and then had to go to work leaving Betty and I to several hours of accepting and directing two and a half trucksful of stuff through the house. The Ark guys Steve and Martin are really likeable and get the job in a way that reduces stress. Spotted them a decent tip at the end, (referred to as 'a drink').   House now looks like a bomb hit it all over again. Betty and I tried to clear spaces of civilisation, and also rebuilt Beth's enormous bed. Beth surprisingly strong at lifting things. Personally I was in need of smelling salts by the evening, and aching. Cats locked up in the bathroom while the movers here. They have a new enemy: a pugnacious looking ginger and white tomcat who sits in the garden like a malevolent garden Buddha waiting to menaces them at the cat door. FaceTime with Mum today, feeling unwell after...

Now in Haywards Heath, in a particularly pleasant and leafy former council estate. A minute’s walk away across a little open ground is a fenced path that runs along the side of a field of neat allotments. Few people on the streets, and an edge of town feeling. Looking from my desk across the leafy estate to a tree-lined horizon. It is now Friday morning, the morning of Halloween, and for the first time in a week I have a moment to catch up. Last Sunday was our wedding anniversary, which we spent packing. And on Monday, we packed in earnest. We recaptured Brian who has been acting weirdly over the last few months, when he returned ungratefully for food before disappearing for the rest of the day. Surprisingly Brian quickly resigned himself to his fate and began to be more like himself again, and once the cat flap was replaced with the original glass sheet in the front door there was nothing for them to do other than stare out like prisoners. John helped us pack for half a day on M...