“If your world doesn’t allow you to dream,
move to one where you can.”
-Billy Idol
12 weeks
Yes, really. Just 12 weeks left and then we leave this little corner of France forever.
You should never look back.
Always look forward.
But it has been the longest I have ever stayed in one place. I think before we came to “Le Cloup” (the shelter by the hill), the longest I’d lived in the same location was around 7 years. So to have stayed in that lovely house for nearly 17 years and the same locality for nearly 20 is huge. Although it will be to adventures new, and already the wonderful people here have made us feel so welcome, it is going to be a massive wrench to leave little niche where our children became independent thinkers, and are now starting on their own incredible journeys. But, our wandering itchy feet have finally kickstarted into action again and there are, and will be, no regrets.
Snail shells
After staying in one place for so long you realise how much useless (or useful) “stuff” you have accumulated. We arrived with just a few boxes, some pieces of furniture and a damned piano in tow, but now seem to be leaving with 3 extra houses’ worth of belongings that seem to be multiplying as we speak, everytime a new van load is taken over to the new house. How can this happen? Perhaps we should be snails where you are constantly restricted with space, carrying your life’s belongings on your back? Of course we can’t! But it does make you think.
The umpteenth time
Moving house again, I am suddenly struck with the thought that there must be a better way of doing this. For me personally, it would be nearing the 20th move of my life. It can be a period filled with excitement, anxiety and dreams but I also know moments when you kick yourself hard in the shins when you realise you forgot your favourite light fitting, the piano actually doesn’t fit through the front door despite how many times you push and shove, or all of your mail (heaven forbid if it is saucy) ends up with the new owners. That takes some explaining!
The everlasting dreamer
I probably would describe myself as a dreamer, a scatterbrain and incredibly forgetful. Not the best combination for any of life’s major tasks, as I have unfortunately discovered through experience. A house doesn’t move itself magically without the minutiae of organisation and planning.
“Measure twice, cut once,” my Dad always said.
And that includes every walk of life. Unfortunately I had to learn this rule through experience. Our first major house move as a starry-eyed couple over 20 years ago from a bungalow was the start of this massive learning curve. Rose-tinted glasses hid the fact that everything needed to be packed ready for the removal men at 9am the following morning. Surely the packing would “magically happen”? 8am arrived and the ‘stuff’ laying around the house was still unpacked! It was then that the realisation dawned at the mammoth task, and we were literally swiping things off tables and shelves into cardboard boxes minutes before the removal lorry arrived, hoping that belongings wouldn’t get damaged en-route and we would hopefully find them over the fullness of time. (We still have some of those boxes, unopened, even now!)
Checklists
I decided some time ago that I needed a book which incorporated all of those lists that I had accumulated over the years on scrap bits of dirty paper, crumpled and worn out of recognition in one place. Not something which could blow away in the slightest breeze or looking like a nice place for a cat to have a well-earned wee. It also had to be a checklist from which I could physically read and check off items, or be able to go back to in the following days. I also needed a resource that could be easily photocopied. (On my website you will soon find a neat “Moving House” PDF document ready for items to be checked off). At the top of each check list there are one or more key questions that you can come back to time and again, to remind yourself what you should be thinking about. For example:
Q: Do you really need all those items?
Hmm. Well it depends on the person. I am of the opinion that everything can go, using the 8R’s, but do my children hold the same opinion? That’s another question.
Dear Reader
I have to reinforce that the checklist is born through years of poor experiences and bad planning. Hopefully if anyone else uses them, their house move will be plain sailing. The PDF is intended to be comprehensive but also as a jumping-off point for anything missed out or forgotten.
Each move is unique. Every family structure will need different elements, items or reminders. If you are moving internationally, other elements such as transport, visas or even child and pet well-being would have to be considered in a different way.
The countdown has started
So the countdown has started. There will be checkpoints from now on to remind myself of things that need to be done, or to just be there to scream at me that everything is going catastrophically wrong. When that happens then I will obviously stick my head in the sand, or else hide in the laundry cupboard with a huge tub of salted caramel ice-cream and a huge tablespoon. The start of a new, perhaps more nomadic existence beckons. I think Paulo Cochio says it perfectly:
“If you’re brave enough to say goodbye,
life will reward you with a new hello.”
MidLife Crisis In France
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