Thursday 24 January 2008

Compact Living? Still Trying

The last few days have been a blur of packing, transporting stuff to saintly relatives, charities, the tip and Ebay bunnies. For about three days I was telling Pete, 'I've just about finished packing up the kitchen.' At times it was an infinity of cutlery and crockery and an uneccessary plethora of blenders and gadgets. At other times I started to sense the Zen of bubble wrapping.

We finally vacated the flat yesterday and now have a trailer filled with our posessions, which need careful stowing. It seems that no matter how organised you think you are, there is always a last minute frenzy when moving home. We are both a bit spaced out today so things are happening at a  more gentle pace. As I write we are sitting in The Square Orange cafe in Keswick. They still make the best coffee in the north west, even though I no longer work here! It's lovely to see some familiar faces too. While we were getting ready to move we didn't see other people for days. Now, friends keep turning up at the cafe to catch up with us. Thursday night is live music night too, so Kalabash are setting up to perform some lively folk music (complete with a hurdy-gurdy!).

The weather news is less about rain today, now we are having some fairly strong winds and the trailer is being rocked slightly. There's rain too, obviously. By now dear reader there will be no need to mention it I'm sure. (We will though!) Of course the essential chores have to be carried out whatever the weather. I have lived in Cumbria for three years without a set of waterproof clothing. I'm a townie and have clearly been in some kind of sartorial denial all this time. Now I venture out to collect water etc. cocooned in waterproofs and wellies. Very attractive in an earthy and practical way, if you like that sort of thing.

So, back to the trailer to fold, stack, weigh and stow (or jettison) our stuff.

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