Bleh

We made it. Just. It has been a series of highs and lows. The highs revolving around our family and the best bits of the move. The lows centred on illness, exhaustion and the weather. I don’t think either of us have ever felt this tired. And it is quite clear to me that my days of manual work are well and truly gone, although every day seems to consist of lugging and tugging about boxes and things, with my back screaming for relief. If we don’t do this again for another 10 years, that will be too soon.

But we made it – although I pen this in our spacious kitchen, sitting on a sofa (don’t you know) surrounded by boxes and paper. We’re not there yet. But we are getting there.

We look less I’ll than we felt

Christmas was as fab as it might have been. We arrived ar the Birmingham AirBnB about the same time as Rebecca, Steven and Henry. Smack in the middle of the city and just a 15 minute walk from the Bull Ring, it was spacious, warm and modern. However … Steven was unwell with a poorly tummy, and Henry had been up and down all week. What we know is that when he’s not well, he’s not happy, and we do all seem to get a bit. Anyhow, we walked into the Christmas market, which was lovely, and then woke up on Christmas Eve with a view that we would all do our last minute shopping. But. Steven was still poorly (he did make it into town) and I started having awful stomach cramps … although as a brave boy, I did take Henry off on my own so everyone else had some space. He was fab. But I was not happy.

Birmingham was fab

The rest of the day was a blur to me. Steven had now developed a head cold as well as a poorly tummy. And I was never more than a dash from the loo, feeling wretched. Christmas Day was slightly better and C cooked an amazing lunch. But by the end of the day none of us were feeling great. C spent the night with her head over a bucket and neither Steve nor I were right. Henry reminded us that he wasn’t feeling his best (although his reaction to presents was something I’ll never forget), which was understandable but a bit miserable. Boxing Day was a right off for C. I was unwell again, and then Bex started feeling poorly. Ugh. 

We all parted our separate ways on the 27th. Bex, Steven and Henry on their family tour by train. C and I heading home where we still had a long list of things to get done in the old place before we were due to move on the 30th. To complicate things I developed a cough which then became a chest infection. C now had a cold and her tummy wasn’t right … and then, all of a sudden, my tummy came back to haunt me. How does that work? It was all pretty wretched, especially as we had so much to do. 

Enough of the illnesses. So many of our friends have been unwell. A lot of them much more poorly and for a more prolonged time than we suffered for. And none of it was that bad that it prevented us from moving up here to Uley on the 30th – and immediately falling in love with the place. We had come from a four room, small, two-floor, end of terrace, to an eight room bungalow, where the main rooms are twice as big as our originals. The place is heated by groundsource and airsource heat pumps and solar thermal on the roof. It is warm and, because it’s an eco house of sorts, we’re not uncomfortably trying to conserve every ounce of heat. As such it’s toasty, which is lovely considering the Godawful weather. And the views are to die for. We’re v lucky. And it’s going to be fab. 

Views are great

Then we had a houseful. On purpose … but not without trepidation. Alasdair and Annie came round for NYE, and we popped over to Peter and Karen (aka The Landlords) for supper. C cooked a delightful meal for all of us, and we just about made it to midnight. By which time I have never felt so tired. 

But, early doors on the 1st I drove to Penkridge to collect Bex, Steven and Henry, with the ambition of a family gathering on the 2nd. Henry, now right as rain, was a delight and loved having all the room. And goodness, what a difference ‘having room’ makes. Our four years in Bradley Stoke was an opportunity which turned into a bit of a marathon. I loved it there but, in the end, it just wasn’t big enough. On the 2nd we were joined by Jen and James (+ Cassie) … and C’s sister, Annie. And the house – all on one level which is just brilliant – soaked it all up. It was easily our best family day for as long as anyone can remember. Brilliant, just brilliant. And worth all the effort.

a houseful

I took Bex, Steven and Henry to Gatwick on the 3rd and since then C and I have been heads down getting this place sorted. Except … heading out in the car with the five of us on New Year’s Day the old Focus had a fit. In her defence she had been sat in a v exposed place to some quite horrendous weather and to proclaim her frustration, all of her engine management lights went on and I feared the worse. But she started and the lights went out after a short while. And she made it to Gatwick. But the fault persisted. I had two v early – and v nervous – starts on the 5th and 6th, working down in Bradley Stoke. First was to meet the two Poles and a van (who brought our furniture up here and were fab); and second was a meeting with our electrician. I couldn’t miss either appointment. And, in any case, we were due to drive to Chatel later in the month. What to do?

two Poles and a van

Well, the fault persisted but, other than mildly reducing acceleration, the old girl was fine. How fine though? Would she, at any time, not start? We couldn’t cope with the jeopardy of having a broken car and we started talking about finding a replacement. And then I had an idea. There is a persistent fault on the black and green LED trip computer screen which, significantly, is always worse in the wet. Perhaps a new instrument cluster might solve the problem?  I removed the panel (to make sure I could) looked on eBay (about £50 with no guarantee) and eventually spoke to a local scrapyard. We went there today and for £15 extracted a replica from a broken Focus. And here’s the funny thing. Since I’d taken the panel out and put it back in again, the fault’s gone. And I have a spare cluster. Hopefully that’s it? Who knows.

this might do the trick

That’s us for now. We still have a good load of boxes to unpack. We’re seeing Mary on Monday and I’m starting my work on ghostwriting a book for a pal of mine, more of which later, on Tuesday. Hopefully, weather permitting (there’s v little snow), we’re off skiing at the end of next week for a month. That’s the plan, anyway. 

Stay safe everyone. And if you get the bug, maybe keep away from vulnerable people until you’re feeling better? It is knocking some people sideways for a v long time.