The countdown clock is ticking ... T minus 6!

So, I am pleased to report that operation clear out is finally complete ... hallelujah ... and every cupboard, drawer and closet has been cleared to within an inch of it's life (how does one family collect so much crap?)  In addition to filling 12 bags for Marie Curie, Youngest also donated some of his games/toys to the Chailey Bonfire Society jumble sale, so hopefully two worthy charities will benefit - one from which we have enjoyed many fabulous firework displays over the last 9 years and the other, well, let's hope we never need the services of the other but hopefully our small contribution will go towards helping those who do ... "there but for the grace of God ..."

One of our closest friends, Adam, also arrived to help Mr B with the final stage of the clear out ... the garden shed and the garage (I don't do spiders  ... or mud ... yuk) and help with trips to the tip, although I think it was me who needed the  'help' by the time they had finished ... and letting him have the second cup of coffee was definitely a bad idea ... think Tigger on speed ...!

Not that much made it to the tip mind you.  The conversation seemed to go along the lines of
"What are you doing with that?"
"Taking it to the tip"
"I'll have it.  What about that? ..."
"Tip"
"I'll have it.  Can I have another coffee?"

At one point I looked out of the window and caught them loitering by the hedge looking shifty.  When I asked what they were doing, they immediately reverted to a couple of naughty schoolboys responding firstly with a " ... erm .... nothing ...", closely followed by "...it was his idea" and "he made me do it ..."!  Turns out they had emptied out the contents of Youngest's old sand pit (yes, it had been there that long) under one of the hedges and were now trying to conceal the contents hoping I wouldn't notice.  Not a chance.  Needless to say they were instructed to get it shifted again pronto, before it became the biggest cat toilet in Chailey!

Mr B has also had his last day in the UK office and officially started his shiny new US role (albeit virtually for now).  His team gave him a lovely send off, including lots of cards, generous gifts and even a poem - I think he was genuinely touched.

... poem written by one of the team

... a Brighton & Hove Albion shirt 

and my personal favourite ...

So ...  Operation Pack has now begun and a team of Packers from the Relocation company arrived yesterday to get started ..... OMG, it's really happening ... gulp!  I was feeling quite chilled when they arrived, having some notion that I would just leisurely direct them to specific areas of each room that were ready to be packed and it would all be quite civilised.  What was I thinking?!!!  They advised us to move everything that we didn't want to be packed to the 'safe room' or mark with a 'Do not Pack' sticker and then proceeded to move through the house like a plague of locusts packing everything that wasn't stickered or nailed down.  I was scared to stand still for too long in case I ended up wrapped in brown paper with a 'To be Crated' label stuck to my forehead!

They will be back on Monday to finish up and then it will all be loaded onto the container to start it's long journey across the pond.  Let's just hope it's not booked on the Titanic.