Less than 6 weeks to go....

We heard today of the sad death of one of our Los Llanos neighbours after a long fight against cancer. The place will not be the same without him and he will be fondly remembered as one of our 'new friends in Spain'. The shortness of our acquaintance does not detract from our fondness. God Bless you Bill.

We have been beavering away all week getting things organised for the move. Boxes have been packed and filing cabinets sorted. Old papers have been discarded and many memories have been rekindled whilst the process has been undertaken. Some days it doesn't feel as if we are getting anywhere and then we open cupboards which now stand empty and we realise that we are getting there. I only have a few more days before I return to work for a few weeks and it is 4 weeks today that I retire and Alex goes off to Portsmouth to start the next stage of his life.

All seems surprising calm at the moment. I'm sure we will start to panic sooner or later (correction:- I will - Michael will probably just pick up the pieces) as we discover something we have forgotten to arrange but for now all seems to be in order. There are many things which cannot be done until nearer the time.

Well that week went well....

The results came and went with no disasters. Alex had in excess of the points needed to go to his first choice of Portsmouth so its now all hands to the pumps making sure he has all he needs before we take him off to his halls at the beginning of his first semester.

Have spent a delightful day with Cathy and met up with fellow Sheenies at Thetford and a beautiful dinner out this evening. Tomorrow we start working in earnest at packing and sorting the rest of our worldly goods for their onward transit to Spain.

Starting to feel more and more excited and the time is definitely beginning to speed by and we don't want any last minute panics (who am I trying to kid!!!)

Another 10 days or so and it will be back to work for 3 weeks or so before the final working day and retirement.

It's going to be a long night tonight.

Tonight is a long night. Alex awaits his results which will set the trend for the next 7 weeks. There will be plenty to do, many places to visit, still lots of sorting to do and I must admit to starting to get nervous. Will we get it all done in time. Can't believe it is almost a week since we left Spain on this final part of the journey.

Bought several bits and pieces for Alex which he'll need at University. He said that a sandwich toaster was a real must have and I bought an iron just in case he knows what to use it for. Can't believe our baby is all grown up and ready to fledge!

The birth of a blog.....

Well it's not exactly where the story started but it is the beginning of the blog.

It is 2 years and 10 months since we first set foot onto a 600 sq.m. plot in a small Spanish village and realised we had found the place where we wanted to build our retirement home. Two days later we signed the papers - the rest is history. With just under 8 weeks until our flight from England and taking up permanent residence in Los Llanos del Peral there is much to do and much to be sorted out still. I hope that this blog will enable those interested to follow our journey into retirement and our adventures in our new lives.