Travels with Spaniels: Three weeks to go!

There's a drum kit under there somewhere

We arrived back from our long planned trip to Australia feeling a combination of jet lag, panic about all there is to do, and eagerness to just get going now. It was wonderful to see Max and Elsa again, and, as usual, they are keeping us on track.

We were able to celebrate some good news this week, we have found tenants for at least the first six months of our trip. A very charming neurosurgeon and his fiancée - an ob-gyn doctor we’ve yet to meet - will be moving in. He says he considers them less tenants than custodians of our house. Well, that suits us, let’s hope they end up staying longer than the minimum term.

What's going on Mum? Don't like it

Our first few days back were a bit full on. I had blood tests, hospital treatment and a tooth extraction lined up. Nick also had a dentist appointment, and I had a sight test. All these things need to be fitted in before leaving the country for a year. Then I suddenly realised that yesterday was three weeks before our departure date, now inked in as the 4th July. Three weeks sounds like plenty of time, but next week will be taken up with sorting out Florence’s MOT, cam belt, tyres and habitation check, and the following week we are taking a few days out to meet up with my Mum and her husband in their van for a goodbye trip. So this week we needed to get cracking with packing up the house.

We are lucky enough to have a large attic room, in which we’ll be storing all our belongings, and we have spent the last few days packing boxes and carrying them up the stairs. Thank goodness it isn’t a ladder! We’re left with a rather empty looking house this evening, but we have moved house often enough to know that there are always lots of last minute things to pack, and we haven’t even started on the kitchen. We have, however, had to take numerous breaks to cuddle spaniels who are very concerned by this activity.

The attic is now looking quite full, and the house quite empty. It's Saturday tomorrow. When we both stopped work we agreed to try to keep weekends different from weekdays, so no packing over the weekend, a little relaxation, some longer dog walks, and lots of spaniel cuddles.