Lat Night Living in London (actually sleeping)

99% of me is dead. The remaining 1% has decided to type this blog tonight - as it IS the last night living in London, & this has to be recorded as a moment for me in history! My legs are gone, every muscle & bone in my body is aching. My arms don't move & my fingers feel so floppy that spelling mistakes are bound to happen. My brain is swimming, but my eyes are alert from all the Adrenalin - & this is even before the big day of moving which is tomorrow. Today we were told that 3 packers were coming to pack up the house contents - only 1 showed up at 9:30am. By 10:45am he was picked up & didn't return until over an hour. By 4pm he, single handily, was still packing the kitchen contents. 23 boxes later, he finally made it upstairs & packed 3 boxes of studio items until he was picked up around 6:30pm - none of these people drive!!!

All today I've been constantly busy & have come to the decision that I am NEVER EVER going to wrap ANY paintings up in bubble wrap EVER again - difficult coming from a painter - but my descion is final! I must have packed over 40 paintings today, amazing how the work on the wall clocks up. I'm shattered.

Tomorrow they come with the lorry at 9:30am - they still have the 1001 books to pack up in the study - but we're doing nothing - they can do it all! All we have to do is pack the car with our personal items & that's it. I will walk into the village for the last time to pick up some bits & bobs from various shops - things I know I won't be able to buy in Devon - things I've earmarked for this very occasion. They hope to be packed, loaded & finished mid afternoon - completion is hopefully happening just before 2pm as the phone line & broadband line will be cut then. We leave after the lorry & make our exhausted leisurely way to the cottage in Devon. The removal people are staying over night somewhere in Devon & then we'll meet them at a reasonable hour in the morning of Friday at the container.

Phew. That's sorted.

I've just had my last shower in the en-suite. I've just pulled down the blinds for an evening for the last time. I have just sat & had my dinner in front of the small tv in the kitchen for the last time. Tomorrow I'll smoke my cigarette for the last time on the garden bench in the garden. Tonight I will hear the last planes, trains, sirens while living in London. All these things have flown through my head these last few days/hours. After 10 years of discussion, 10 years of deciding what was best & where was best to live, we finally made the decision to move & not only to move, but to leave London & live in Devon. There you have it! It's done.

Do I feel sad? Well over the last few weeks I haven't had a chance to think about it. Exhausted every night or talking to my friends online - it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. Even now sitting here, typing all of this, I'm not emotional in any way. Of course I've loved living here in this house but I won't miss it. Of course I have loved living in London all my life, but whenever I'm in Devon I never miss it & I have plenty of friends to stay with to come back & visit. I'm actually hoping to come back & do my Xmas shopping sometime in early December!

So there!!!!!!! LOL

Lots of love to one & all who have sent me some lovely supportive wishes for the big move - I am very grateful & of course I'll call you all ASAP - well - as soon as I've slept for at least a week!

EmyJane xxxxxxx

Last Saturday in London

Yes, this is it, there's no turning back now.

The whole house is FULL of boxes & I've tripped over ALL of them in the past week. It's all a little hectic - my folks 2 beautiful wooden chests of drawers are leaving us (sniff) today as my cousin & her hubby are having them - coming today with hired van to collect them. The sofa, kitchen table, big table & my bed is being taken away on Tuesday - sofa worries me somewhat as it took 4 hefty removal men 3 times to get it up the stairs last time, so it's going to be amusing to say the least.

Oh I can't go on with all that - I'm excited as well as a little bit emotional.

So, yeah, that's all.

Emy xxx

Here I Am - Just About!

It's been so long yet again! Everything is pretty mad right now.

First of all the weather has been appalling - only now the sun is back & Summer is beginning to feel like Summer. I've never seen rain quite like it. During the 3 weeks in Devon all it did was rain - not helpful if you have a jungle of a garden & you really have to cut it all back & the grass on the lawn was knee high!

Secondly I have been busy with various wildlife forums, since Springwatch, I haven't been off my laptop, it has to put it in a nutshell, taken over my life! The first forum closed down after a horrific massive argument in which I witnessed & don't want to get into. I have made so many good friends & my MSN list has increased quite rapidly! So now we've all gone to a second forum entitled Friend's of Nature - all FON for short, where I have been made a moderator as I was one in the previous set up & haven't looked back since.

Thirdly the house. We exchanged contracts last week & will be moving on 23rd of this month. So there's no turning back. Plus we may have found a house in Devon but I won't go into detail just in case it doesn't happen. Typical as the weather has got so nice & I'm stuck sorting out & packing!

This morning I woke up to the news that Foot & Mouth has been discovered on a farm in Guildford, Surrey. Oh my God - here we go again. 60 animals have been tested positive for the disease & so will have to be destroyed. All movements have been restricted. I really hope that they catch it now & don't let it spread. Some hopes. Here's a real test for Gordon Brown who hasn't had a good time of it since becoming PM.

Tonight I'm off to an 'almost 10 year school reunion' it's because of Facebook, so many people came out of the woodwork from school that a friend of mine decided to organise a reunion, even though it will be 10 years next year. I'm kind of glad it's happening as I won't be around next year to go.

So that's the news so far. Apart from all of that I've been trying to spend a few days visiting places in the South before I move permanently to the West, but time is running out fast. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to come back as I have received many invites from various friends to come & stay with them & that's what I'll do.

Emy xxx - photos to come as there's been a distinct lack of them, which is a record for me!