We're Back!

Phew!  After a fabulous holiday in America it has taken me a few days to get back to this Blog, largely because we don't yet have internet access at the end of the garden where we're now living.  I'm writing this at night in the house emptied of nearly all furniture with just the computer left!

This is what we came back to see ...

Before                                          and                          After

In the past four days since landing back from New York we have crammed in the following (and battled jet-lag!): packed up nearly all remaining belongings in boxes; dismantled all beds, desks and wardrobes; transferred basic necessities and clothes up to the caravan; completed furnishing the garden room, including TV (except with no reception yet, just what's recorded); run armoured cable up the garden to provide power to the garden room and caravan; welcomed Penny for five days - staying at Sue & Dave's - to help look after the girls while we are busy; Adrian has returned to work; we've had two removals men take two van loads of our stuff to a Worthing storage facility (dodging the rain showers); I played with a music ensemble for a nun's 50th Anniversary Jubilee Mass at the Covent in Arundel (booked ages ago so wanted to honour); taken the Audi for its MOT (passed); waded through inches of muddy chalk, dodging slugs and snails, to traipse up and down the garden between the house and the caravan.  We're still using the house kitchen and bathroom, carrying trays of dinners up to the garden room each mealtime, in all weathers!  Might just be easier to make a clean break and start using the caravan facilities for everything?  Reluctant to leave our proper shower and loo!

Had a break today, taking the girls to the cinema (How to Train Your Dragon 2 - lovely film!), leaving the builders to correct the walls they'd built to the wrong measurements (grrrrr).  Tomorrow I'm working at the Rectory all day, leaving the builders to it. (They are way behind schedule - should have finished before we got back from the States - and must be done by the weekend before Alan starts next week on the next stage.) I've suggested Penny takes the girls out for the day to avoid all the mud and racket.  The garden room is a lovely cosy place to be, but a bit claustrophobic for all day.

Before I finish for today, I just want to mention the comical farce we have each evening of getting two reluctant cats back into the garden room for the night, who would much rather be out exploring in the dark, but we don't yet have their cat flap fitted into the garden room so they would end up staying out all night. (They're very mollycoddled and are kept in at night to avoid fights or getting run over.)  After initially agreeing to let the girls take the cats to the caravan at bedtime, before transferring them to the garden room (cats, not girls) we soon realised this was going to be impossible.  It usually takes two or three attempts to lure the cats into the garden room with food when it gets dark (or when the cement mixer's in action), woops, too slow - one's got out, spend five minutes chasing it round the garden, accidentally let the first one out putting the second one back in.  All subsequent access to the room that evening (eg to iron shirts, watch TV) has to avoid letting them out again.  Ridiculous! 

Will add more photos tomorrow.  I especially want to share pictures of the homely garden room.