Bye Bye Flat

In twelve hours time I will be setting off with Mum, the girls and Baby JoJo to Paris, and after one of the hardest days of my recent life (perhaps given birth excepted, though I am not convinced!) everything is pretty much packed up and all the furniture has gone to various homes. I am waiting for Bertie to take me to my parents with one last load of stuff (they are amazing, fitting it all in somewhere!), feeding Baby JoJo, and remembering the last 7 years in this flat.

We moved in when we got married and our first view of the flat was not promising! I am not living here, declared Bertie. However, the balcony won us over and a lick of pumpkin paint did wonders! Since then, this little one-bedroomed flat has seen the arrival of LissaLou, then further squashed by CassCass and just when we thought we couldn't fit anyone else in, along came Baby JoJo! We have loved the balcony in summer, hated the damp in winter. We have been blessed with Waterlow Park, Hampstead Heath, Highgate Woods on our doorstep (well, almost!). Not to mention the bonus of living opposite our hospital! Our neighbours have been great, and Bertie just had an emotional farewell with them, whilst they kindly took half our possessions off our hands! And now we move on to a new home...

I certainly couldn't have done today or even recently without Mum's help - so a huge thank you to her! And Bertie has been greatly assisted by Lloyd, who is also driving with him to France (now we finally have the insurance sorted, phew!).

Freecycle has been great - we have had a steady stream of people coming to get things tonight. They get something for free, and we get someone to move not so easy to move furniture out the house! You should have seen the charming Italians struggling to get our huge fridge freezer down the stairs then into their little VW Golf! I didn't like to take photos... And the only way to get the sofa out in the end was the way it came in - over the balcony! Thanks to Maggie for the suggestion! Happily there was no one underneath...

I am looking forward to spending a bit more time with the kids now. The poor things have been very neglected these last few days, and received much of my wrath every time they tipped over piles or unpacked cases... They have also not had half as much sleep as they ought, so I am looking forward to re-establishing a routine asap! I am hoping we don't suffer too much on the train over tomorrow with three little exhausted ones. Bertie still has to remove the laminate floor tonight then drive to Dover for midday. What a guy!

Thanks to all you who have been praying for us - you know who you are! God has answered and has kept me sane!

Next update should be from la Belle France!