The flights are booked, and a variety of trips. Now all that remains before we can set off is to get the house ready to be let while we are away. This means packing our lives for the last 10 years and putting it into storage. We have 4 weeks before we go in mid-October, and an amazing amount to do. The list seems endless - paint the woodwork, clean the walls, re-paint, have the carpets cleaned, have the wooden floor sanded, throw out the old sofa and replace it with a new one, have the curtains cleaned. And every now and then we realise there's something else we will need to do. And of course, it's hard to know what to pack away. You can't leave the packing until the last week, so I'm doing some of it now. But inevitably, we will suddenly need something which has been put at the bottom of a box and stacked somewhere.
The house is full of sharp-edged boxes which lurk quietly awaiting the unwary toe. And suddenly the house contains a malevolent pixie which hides things the minute you put them down. Somewhere in this house is a collection of screwdrivers, rubber bands, sock and keys - or perhaps some of them have slipped into some parallel universe.
Ah well, we could have more serious things to complain about!
