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.