Curtains

Well... 2 weeks in and I haven't been able to draw breath!
Work has got so much in the way ;-D

Although, to be honest, the huge upside of working from home, having conference calls and having a wireless dect headset is of course that you can paint a wall while chattering along nicely :-D

It is ridiculous really how smooth everything has gone.. today my bad ass TV has received the sound it deserves and my Media Center is installed.. have you heard about that? That is fantastic.. basically a PC (with Vista) and a harddrive and 2 tv tuners all work together with Microsoft software allowing you to organise the way you watch tv.. it can record live tv, you can record entire series (and it will forever remember you want that) and you can record one while watching another. Very sexy...

And.. the house now looks like a proper house because the curtains have arrived, all in style of course(BLUE!)

The living room, and note the very cool light with diodes, very intense blue, lovely....


And the bedroom, of course in real life they are so much better!


Today was one of those days that clearly showed me why I wanted to go back. First my son called me that he is quitting his job in a supermarket to go and do an education in social work, so exciting.. he always hated anything school really and was happy to go to work but he seems to now have suddenly decided that he wants to do more with his life. And it fits him so well, I think he will excel in this, so great.. so of course, instead of saying nice things to him over the phone I asked him to come round and within 5 minutes we were sharing a drink and looked up his school on the internet... fantastic..

Then my mum called and wanted to come by to have a cup of tea with the 2 of us after which we went to her knack of the woods (10 minute walk) where we participated in a world record in Jump Style, my 71 year old mum was jumping like her life depended on it, we both reached a nice shade of purple but it was magnificent to see her and Kevin so happy and recognise myself in all the people around me.

And I knew.. this is good.. I belong here...

An impression....

Little bit of Wemyss Bay in my house.. had a gorgeous (if I say so myself) picture printed out on canvas 90cm x 120 cm and it looks so nice, still feels like I am looking out of the Wemyss Bay window but now it will always be nice weather! Table is the Forsby from Ikea, real honest wood, gorgeous!

My 'office' - Of course in the living room since I spent most of my days (and nights as it turns out!) at my desk, love the little cupboard in the back (expedit, Ikea) , it is made in such a way that you can choose how you fill it, either with the plastic boxes like shown in the picture but also with inset doors or drawers that you just pop inside the squares, brilliant..




Mural room is now bedroom since I am waiting for the curtains to arrive, very cosy though, it has something nice to sleep on the floor under a tree ;-)


The kitchen made me a bit claustrofobic since I am used to such a big one (yeah yeah I am spoiled I know) but now with the extra space on the table and the microwave on another table things are looking up.


Of course I am totally in denial about John being on a boat back to Scotland, we said all brave to eachother 'speak to you online dear' :-)

But.. today already proved why I love it so much here... just when I was all ready to wallow in selfpity my brother called to check up on me and suggest to go out for a Kebab together, we turned that around in me cooking pasta for him which was great, we talked for hours and I feel so blessed that I am closer to him and his kiddies....

You know how they say you can't have it all? I think I want to look at it like this.. you *can* have it all, just not always all at the same time!

Welterusten!

The Eagle has landed

Well.. amazing really.. but it has actually happened and I succeeded!

I have proven all of my family and friends wrong by proving it WAS actually possible to buy the basic furniture and white goods all in one day after inspection of the house and the transfer with the notary.

It was knackering though and since that day we haven't stopped.. John was supposed to paint a few walls here but I have been able to distract him with a million other jobs that were more important, like mending the suncanope outside since it was in danger of falling on someones head.

But.. it is starting to look like a house already, I have a couch and a 81 cm widescreen telly (well... you're done then aren't you really?) Also a coffee table and a fantastic desk and chair, a bed and mattress (unfortunately they are still in separate rooms since only 1 room has curtains sofar so we threw the mattress on the floor) and the most gorgeous secretaire.

I have also already attended my first community meeting, apparently there are constant problems with how to divide the use of the heating systems and for years they are debating how to solve it, I don't think they understand the concept of 'just get it done'. There was loads of talk and talk but no decisions made so I felt very at home (since most of the BACs meetings are like that!) Upside though that they had free drinks afterwards so I got 2 red wine for my sufferings!

Tomorrow we are going to go to Ikea again and buy a table for in the lounge and another one for in the kitchen (oh how I miss the Scottish kitchen!), a lamp, a desk organizer and then that is it.. John will hopefully finally manage to do what he set out to do and paint the purple wall in the room but then that is it..

Goodbye..

We can already feel how painful that will be but we are ever so grown up about it, no tantrums just pushing it nicely into the future basically ignoring the fact totally so to not ruin the lovely week we have together....

Thank God for small blessings, my 20mb download internet connection works perfectly so I will make sure that I find enough to watch to keep myself from disintegrating when he is gone....

This feels like home though, it still feels like the only thing to do which makes it easier, it is in the cards.. all I have to do now is watch it unfold...

It is here!

Amazing...

All packed.. apart from some little 'last minute' stacks.

This afternoon I had saying goodbye lunch in the Inverkip hotel with Johns mum which was lovely, but I hasten to say, not as lovely as having lunch in de Brasserij in Capelle :-) which I will do next week.

Tomorrow we will drive to the boat and I will embark on my new life which I feel from the first minute will be manic since we want to adhere to our original schedule of:

0800 arrive Europoort Rotterdam Harbour
1000 Inspection of the house
10:45 Go to Post Office to pick up VOIP modem (because Internet is ready!!!)
11:00 Go to Notary to sign for the mortgage and the house
11:45 Meet my mum, brother and son at the house to unload Golfie and measure up to see if furniture/white goods fit. (Oh and brother has bought us a sackbarrow so we are ready to roll)
14:00 Lunch (Fries with Mayonnaise from Bram Ladage)
14:15 Look for and buy Fridge and bring home to rest
16:00 Go to Ikea to buy a desk, bed and nighttables, mattress and slats

Then it all sort of wavers, no idea when we will actually be finished and crack open the champagne ;)

All my family and friends with which I shared this schedule think it is absolutely hilarious and can't wait to see it all go tits up (in the nicest way possible of course) because they think I have lived so long in a village that I don't know that everything in the city takes about 10 times longer because of the amount of other people milling around.

Well... time will tell.. I will give a full account of our actual timeschedule after the event, just for fun :-)

Apart from that I am trying to ignore all the really painful things of leaving the UK behind and concentrate on how much I am going to miss ITV!! I absolutely LOVE Britain's got talent, hilarious! Luckily it seems to be available for download, which will be very quick with my 20mb internet connection, yay!

It will take some getting used to Dutch telly again, it is from another planet almost.. the same shows as here but drawn out enormously, I am not sure if my patience will be able to take that. Like x-Factor.. one night the performances then the next the results, what are they thinking!
Now.. I *am* taking my Dutch satellite so maybe my brother and I can teach that to look for UK telly for if I get UKsick.

And then, just so you know where I will be, this is the map:

Once I get my brain back (it seems to be a bit checked out at the moment) I will report further :)

5 nights....

... and then we are off!

And.. I am happy to report, it all fits in Golfie!

Amazing really, if you would have seen the amount of stuff that has been building behind the couch in our lounge you would be mindboggled on how it all got in.

Over the years John has developed such a deep love for Golfie and knows where all his nooks and crannies are, so there are for instance things like playing cards, cloths, tampons, cutlery, sweeteners and tissues snugly packed around the spare wheel and when he managed to get all small things in under the chairs and collapsed the backseats there were only big things left and it didn't feel like there was anything in the car at all.. like a big magic trick... or.. as it has been called before.. the Tardis!

This was halfway through the process:


and after adding a satellite dish, a big BBQ in a box and loads of glass pyrex bowls (one can never have too many of those) we feel we are ready to roll.

Only my clothes and some last minute things have to be added and we're off.. what a relief that we did this now so we can relax in the knowledge that it actually fits!

The notary has confirmed that all the papers are in order and has created the mortgage and house transfer documents so there should be nothing in our way.

Also the Dutch BT has advised that they will install the internet broadband line on the 11th ready for me to use on the day that we arrive.

Is it me? Or has this process gone REALLY smoothly? (YAY!)

Now I feel it is really happening.. I have already had my cheerio lunch as they call it here, with a few lovely colleagues from the BAC who gave me an ENORMOUS bunch of flowers, absolutely gorgeous:


We are now Guinness sitting, tomorrow Johns dodo comes back to flop a little bit longer in and around our house to leave Tuesday morning... that really means.. that there is only 1 full day here on my own, wow...

Think it has arrived after all.......

Last times

Well... it has properly started now.. the rounding up of ones former life :-D

Went to my last hairdressers appointment last Saturday and even got a hug, ahhh.. I didn't even have to say 'what???' that often this time which of course makes me think that I left JUST as I was making progress!

Having said that.. I called the Dutch electricity company last week to get myself organised and the conversation went so smooth.. and I wondered why.. was it just the language? The fact that I never had to repeat what I said? Not even had to spell my name? Nor my street address?

First I thought that was why it felt so nice.. but then I realised it isn't that.. the reason I feel it felt so... cosy.... was that I am one of them. And a special one of them at that because I did something exciting in moving to Scotland so everytime I mention I currently live in Scotland I just hear all doors open, everything is suddenly possible and flexible.

Even though my time here has been brilliant and I wouldn't for the world want to have missed it, it has given me so much, if nothing else another language I am fluent in but I never felt 'one of them'. My mother in law tries to convince me it is because this is Scotland and that in England it would be different but I am not to sure of that...

Why not?

Because I am exactly the same!

I have worked with people from all countries when I was working at the job centre.. and no matter how good their Dutch was and how well I could understand them I would never feel that they are true Dutch people. Not even after living in the country for 20 years.

So.. now I know first hand how that feels and it is not nice!

And of course I have made the choice to return home but in retrospect I feel really sorry for all those people who had to get out of their countries because their life was in danger and who can never go back...

Nothing to report

really....

Apart from the fact that I called the notary office this morning asking if all our papers arrived and of course, they haven't! So I called my mortgage advising person and he put me at ease, all they had done was sent all my stuff to the only other notary in the town I am going to live in but that they had now faxed all the documents to the correct one. Yay..

So .. we are still on schedule, still no red lights. I am getting a bit frustrated with the BAC, even though I still feel very grateful they go through all this trouble to transfer my contract to Holland, sometimes I can't help thinking if it would have been easier to just find another job either with them or some other company. But eh.. this *is* easier (when they finally get it organised) and I love the working from home and that is not normal in most companies, I know. So waiting with baited breath.. it is just such a pity because the less tax I pay in Holland the less I can ask back on the charges I had to pay for my mortgage!

13 days and counting....