30 days

That's all that's left until we disappear to Singapore. How crazy is that? We have our 'leaving' party on Saturday. Looks like there should be a few people turning up which is good news. We weren't sure many were going to make it at first! Even thought about cancelling it at one point!
The other good news is that our shipping came in lighter than expected so we're due a refund. Every little helps. Hey, that could be a catch phrase for a grocery company.

The came, they packed, they left.

Hurray, the relocation company turned up today! I must once they were here they were very efficient. D took exception to them packing his toys up, which is understandable but even he was chatting to them the whole way through. He did cry a bit when he finally had to say goodbye though which made me feel bad for him. Z on the other hand couldn't have cared less, she sat on her high chair watching the world go by, but mainly CBeebies!. Took them about two hours in the end, which wasn't bad (although we hadn't got that much to be shipped). The most surprising thing was watching them put our double mattress in an over sized brown paper bag (see below behind Z)! Quite a strange feeling seeing your belongings in the back of a 7.5 tonne lorry and knowing the next time you see them will be roughly 6,741 miles away in five weeks time (I have been doing a bit of research). Gawd knows what was gong through Dan's head! Not much else to say on the subject other than you can guarantee over the next few weeks we're bound to find something we wished we'd shipped.
Another good thing that arrived today was confirmation from our mortgage lenders of permission to let. Phew, that would have been tricky if they hadn't granted that one! Can't say it had even crossed my mind that they wouldn't but I suppose if you've got to ask there's always the possibility they'll say no!

No Relo.....

Grrrr! So the relo company didn't make it today. Poor. Supposed to be with me between 1pm and 3pm. Got a call at 230pm saying they were aiming to be with me by 430-5pm. I called them at 5 to find out it was going to be more like 6-30pm. No chance! Got to go out at 7. All the worse for the fact that we'd had the kids out of the way all day and I'd turned down a days work. Not a happy camper.
So tomorrow they are due between 830-10am. We're their first pick-up, which kind of begs the question, why is there a time slot of an hour-and-a-half? Just got to stop the kids crying when all their toys and books disappear out the door. Could be fun!
Anyway, nice evening out with friends and bedtime now. Worry about it all in the morning.

The day before.....

..... shipping day.
T has the day off and we're making the most of being able to pack and get ready for our belongings to be shipped to Singapore tomorrow (sans kids). Madness I tells ya! We seem to have done OK as me being able to Blog would testify to. It really doesn't seem that much when it comes down to it although there's still a shed load (or two) to get rid of before we disappear. I'm sure once the shipping has gone it will soon become apparent what stays and what goes.... let's hope so!
They're turning up between 1-3pm tomorrow so it still gives me the morning to worry about whether we've got everything we need. Listen to me, it sounds like we're going to live in Outer Mongolia or something (which is very nice apparently but not over-endowed with convenience stores I believe). We are in fact off to Singapore which, quite probably, has one of the highest proportion of shops per head in the world! I don't think we're likely to suffer from lack of choice somehow, just lack of money (but no lack of will to consume!).
Rather well timed is the fact that arriving between 8am-1pm is the Gas engineer to (hopefully), test our appliances and present us with our Landlords certificate. If he finds something wrong (and the boiler is pretty old, mind), then more money will be thrown at another problem and get resolved I'm sure.
So that means I'm stuck in the house between about 8am and 5pm.
Lummox!