Shell shock.

As my husband came in from work on Friday, he held a bunch of flowers in one hand and a bottle in the other. 'We have something to celebrate' he said, presenting me with the flowers. My stomach lurched as I realised that after threatening to move to France for the last four or five years, it was actually happening.

The kids were jumping around obviously delighted at the news, Marcus was grinning from ear to ear, and me, I was just too shocked to speak.
I honestly don't know how I can be shocked after such a long time spent talking about it, but, I wasn't ready to break the news to my family yet.....so I did the most logical and sensible thing and posted the news onto facebook!?

At that point the phone rang, it was my neighbour and good friend Alison from France who spent the next hour discussing the plans and projects with me that until now, were no more than pie in the sky. Sometimes it takes something as simple as a telephone call from a friend to remind you of all the reasons you wanted to do this in the first place....and to stop you from worrying about the logistics that you can do nothing about until there's a fixed date.

So, as with all major life events, it's another good excuse to go shopping. We bought an Esse Ironheart range cooker for the kitchen and a woodburning stove for the lounge. That sorts out all of our heating and hot water needs. If I make it sound like an impulse buy, then I have to say that we decided on this arrangement after three years of considering all options, fuels etc.

The plans at last seem to be coming together, the house is sold and the rolling ball is gathering momentum. Our buyer wants the house vacant by mid December, I hope that's enough time to gather our lives and pack them into a seven tonne lorry.
Posting it all as it happens seems to be a good way for me to get everything straight in my head, so I'll be keeping you posted as the saying goes.