Action stations! From exchange to completion.

After all that waiting and will it/ won't it dilemma.... my lists and planning could finally come into effect en masse! All systems were go, everything that I'd been holding off on 'just in case' could be put into action. By the way, I am not after sympathy, this madness was all created entirely of my own volition. I could try and suggest that Simon didn't pull his weight and take on enough of the organisation, but the truth is that I probably wouldn't have trusted him with half of it anyway! I like to be busy and to be in control of what's happening so the chaos I found myself in was entirely self generated.

First things first, we booked our flights getting very reasonable rates for the date we wanted, 9th October, out of Heathrow Airport arriving in Boston at a reasonable time to rock up at a friend's house. This was happening. What we would do when we got to the US? We didn't actually have much time to consider this, too much going on in the UK.

We continued to gradually rid our house of furniture to not leave it all to the last minute. Family assisted and got some goods for their trouble. The house began to empty and feel transitional instead of the settled home it had been.  The cars went on the market (Audi is still for sale as I write!). I made appointments for every possible check-up you can think of - opticians, dentist, doctors, hairdressers.... I had a full MOT and even went ahead and paid for the advisory items!

I would just like to have a temporary rant about Apple if that's okay? Somewhat ironically, as I am typing this on an iPad, but this is part of my point. I am now tied in to being an Apple product owner. Between Simon and I we have 2 iPhones and the iPad. We have our entire music library on iTunes and our valuable memories backed up to the iCloud. To change all of this is a monstrous administration nightmare. We are suckered in to this thing.  But I put it to you that Apple products are not user-friendly and simple for the likes of me who are stuck somewhere between not being techno-savvy but also not a complete technophobe. I'd put myself in the category of 'a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing'. Hence it fell to me to back up everything from our PC so that it could be reset for my sister to use.  By everything I really only mean our iTunes library and all of our photos with some documents that it may seem a good idea to hang onto. I purchased a stand alone hard drive with plenty of data storage in order to do this and started making sure that all of the pictures from our phones, cameras, discs etc were all in one place for the back up.  The other part was that we would want to take our entire iTunes library with us on the road to be the soundtrack to the whole thing. We're not going on a road trip of the US without copious amounts of Pearl Jam to listen to, c'mon now. But Apple is greedy and selfish so doesn't want to make it easy for you to have copies of your own music that you've paid for and be able to access it on different systems. We drafted in James, Indie-go lead guitarist with superior technological skills, to the rescue! Eventually we ended up with everything backed up and ready for our travels before I nervously deleted everything ready for the new owners.

If it sounds like the summer of 2016 was consumed solely with preparing for our big adventure then I have made a misrepresentation. Let me be clear, if anything we excelled ourselves in the number of events, activities and socials we managed to squeeze in! And each time we saw different friends it was another opportunity to bang on about our plans and seek advice or suggestions of places to add to our ever-expanding itinerary. We had a great summer. Gigs galore including Glastonbury & Southsea festivals, a trip to Portugal (planned pre life-change idea), Silverstone Grand Prix, the list goes on.  

But as our U.K. Tour had to be ditched due to time constraints we also decided to arrange a leaving/ late engagement/ Simon's belated 40th Birthday (still?! He was forty in February!!) party to enable us to invite all our friends, family and colleagues in an attempt to see as many people as possible before our trip. As per usual we were extravagant in what we wanted and it made a dent in our funds but it was well worth it as we both had a great night and even banged out a couple of tracks with the next reincarnation of 'Indie-go!'  The party went back to our house and carried on into the early hours, me still sporting the boot!

The whole process had seemed to drag what with the issues around the sale of the house. But then we had a lovely weekend in Oslo visiting my brother and his wife towards the end of September (which Simon had arranged as a Birthday surprise for me earlier in the year) and suddenly our final week at work and in the house all came at once.  

 

The 27th September was both of our final working days and also my Birthday. I was not sure how I would feel that day, concerned that I may become emotional in front of colleagues. Everyone was lovely as expected but thanks to an incredibly tedious office meeting I was reminded why I would not be missing many of the aspects of my working life! Yes, I may miss the majority of the people but we can all live without boring meetings! As soon as possible it was off to the pub for post work Birthday/leaving drinks whilst not forgetting that the next day was Moving Day number one!

Moving day 28th September appeared and we were still in the position of having some of our largest and most expensive furniture items, the darn dining table, chairs, sideboard and bench, without a buyer and needing to be moved! Last knockings - Simon's boss and his lovely wife came over and we agreed a deal - phew, that was close! And they were happy with their purchase, at one point even nearly getting my beloved Audi TT thrown in for good measure, but sadly it wasn't to be! I keep banging on about my car but as you'll see below it really was a beauty....

Tuesday 29th September came, moving day number two. More clearing, we worked so hard as you have to on moving day, but with additional help from Simon's Dad who was not only great with lugging stuff about but also acted as my chauffeur due to 'the boot' still being around! We had to be out of the house by 130pm as I'd arranged for cleaners to come in and make the house nice for the buyers whilst we turned our attention to finishing emptying the garage and garden. But not satisfied with the list of things to accomplish we also had a meeting that afternoon with the Chief Constable! This was due to Simon's heroics a few weeks previously when he had dragged three people out of a burning car during one of his last shifts at work. We were late of course, for the Chief.... Well, if he's going to demand our company on such a busy day then what should he expect?! We had tea in the Chief's office along with Simon's proud parents and the afternoon became extremely interesting when our esteemed leader took a different view to that of his Human Resources department about our impending departure from his Police Force.... a phone call was made and we were invited to withdraw our resignations in order to re-apply for those career breaks we had been refused .... the saga continues! As long as we withdrew our resignations prior to our last day "which is when?" He asked. Erm.... tomorrow!! As long as we sorted it all out the next day, along with completing on our house sale before 4pm, all would be fine.  Just like any other day really!

That night was our first sleeping at Simon's parents and away from home until..... well, until we had another place to call 'home' I guess. I didn't sleep well, too much worrying about the magnitude of what was to be achieved the next day.

Friday 30th September - completion day.  Not much to say other than it was as hectic as expected. Slogged our way through the morning to have cleared out of the house entirely by 1pm having done the obligatory meter readings as well as two tip runs.  We got desperate... having donated a lot to charity shops I was trying to distract myself from some of the nice things that we just dumped at the tip to get it all gone.  After the second tip run, covered in dust, dirt and probably not smelling too sweet we stopped into the nearest Police station to make the 4pm deadline to withdraw our resignations and seek the 12 month career break that the Chief had offered us.  All in time to get on with the serious matter of... celebrating! 
Here we are leaving our lovely house for the last time. I think we look suitably tired!

The cash was in the bank, the house was sold and we set off to London village to meet my sister and her husband to celebrate the fact that we were finally there.  No jobs, no house and no reason not to go for the trip of a lifetime, everything had changed and all within the last 4 months.

House selling progress

In an ideal world, I had wanted to hand my notice in and clear my desk by the end of August 2016.  I was itching to do it, a couple of times I nearly did and had to be restrained by Simon and told not to be too hasty - for those of you who know Si this will come as a shock. I am always the sensible one, he's always the risk taker.  By the time the end of August was approaching and I'd done my foot in, I guess it did make sense to make another months' wage for doing minimal hours but I was getting increasingly frustrated with the buyers and their Solicitors. We were being told, no, promised that everything was being chased and would be through by a certain date.  That day would come and go and I would be ringing our Solicitors or the Estate agents to chase them up only to be told, again, the damn searches weren't back. We'd told all parties that we needed 30 clear days between exchange and completion to work our notice and we would not be pressured into handing our notice in early, pre-exchange.  Imagine quitting your job only to have the house sale fall through and not have any wage coming in to cover your mortgage. It wasn't worth the risk.  And so the situation continued and I became more arsey with kindly people asking me about when I was actually going to leave! And worried that our buyers were not actually serious about the house after all.  On reflection, just the normal house-selling dramas really.

We'd re-thought our plans, now with a desired 'flying to America' date of Sunday 9th October.  This was cutting it fine with my appointment at the hospital on the 7th but I was going to be very careful with my foot and not risk setting my recovery back at all to hamper our plans any further. We also had to get to Boston on or soon after that date due to plans that my friend, Tasha, and her partner, David, have for October. Tash is a good mate of mine who also attended the best University in the UK, Exeter, and also did the best course you can do at that University, Biological Sciences.  Though I may be biased?! She actually used the skills she acquired at said educational establishment and went and got a job doing science stuff with oncology medicines.  This later led to her moving to the States where she now lives with David and their children.  They kindly offered to put us up in their house in Massachusetts and assist us with the search for our mobile home when we arrive. However, Tash has to go to California for work on Sunday 16th and I feel I do not want us to be a burden on David who I do not know particularly well and who will have his hands full with two young daughters to look after. I hoped that 7 days would be about right for us to find our new 'home' and hit the road.

I know it wouldn't have been the end of the world but we had our hearts set on this date and the longer the house delays went on the more agitated I was becoming. I was stressed.  The sleeping pills were still a necessity for me to get a decent night's sleep but the situation was out of my control so there was no point in being so het up.  I know that now, but at the time it didn't help.

Simon and I both wrote out our resignation forms. I had even drafted the email to attach it to so that when the exchange happened I could quit within a few clicks of a mouse. Finally, last knockings on a Friday afternoon, the 2nd September it happened. We exchanged on the house. There was no going back and the resignations went it that very afternoon meaning that our last effective days with the job would be 30th September giving just over a week between finishing work and leaving the country. It was going to be hectic.