Meanwhile... we are slowly settling in. There's been some ups and downs with sometimes one of us having a bad day of it and then the other. Thankfully never both at the same time.
I spent hours searching for the electric blanket for our bed until I stumbled upon a note I'd left to myself before we left, with a list of what we'd need to buy when we got back. That list included an electric blanket. I've driven to the wrong house..... before realizing that the car in our carport belongs to Tracey, the lady who bought the house. The grocery shopping has taken much longer than usual. We're become accustomed to the English supermarkets, the price of food items has gone up, and we have been agonizing about what to buy now. This week we have begun to get back into our old routine with cooking from our favourite recipe books
Mick's found it difficult with me having a job to go straight back to while he has been at home and trying to sort out some work. The first day he was waiting at the door for me to arrive home. I don't think that's happened for about 20 years! He has something to keep him busy for the next week or two with a friend who is in Antarctica for a year wanting to sell his property while he is away. So Mick is going out there to do some maintenance work and tidy up the property ready to go on the market in a couple of weeks time. He also has a project to do for the lady who bought our previous house. She wants to insulate and line Micks enormous workshop to to turn it into a studio. That's a job that's nice and close to home.
We both encounter constant reminders of the lifestyle we've left behind. As I threw out the remains of a candle Mick said "Barry wouldn't be throwing that out". I brought home a couple of items we used in our kitchen on the boat. Every time I pick them up to use them it's like a flashback to that little galley. And, we now have a constant reminder on top of our TV cabinet! The other things that remind us of our home for the last couple of years is the luxury of a full size shower, the novelty of being able to get out of my side of the bed, and the feeling that this house is just enormous when in fact it is only a modest size by Australian standards. We are definitely enjoying having time to ourselves away from each other.
It does feel a bit strange to read about the summer weather on boaters blogs. Our own weather has been chilly. We haven't had freezing nights yet but daytime temperatures are hovering around 10-13 degrees. The other day at work it only reached 6 degrees which is pretty extreme for us. We have the heating on whenever we are home and miss the wood fire from the old house and the coal fire from the boat. Our electricity bill will be well above what it was before we left two years ago. If we stay in this house we will definitely get a wood fire in time for next Winter!
We have regular visitors to our back fence.
We have regular visitors to our back fence.
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