June 16 to August 18, 2011 - Joan here - This moving lark is for the young. I have never been so exhausted in my life. After months of purging and packing I just want to be in Mexico with all this behind me. People ask me am I not sad to leave behind the house I've lived in for 34 years - at the moment I'm just glad to see the last of it and to be here in London, temporarily, til Shelley and Trevor sell this house. We are living in their spare room while they go through the same motions we have just been through. It's difficult parting with your 'stuff' - not knowing what you may need in the future or knowing what will or will not fit in the back of the van, because if it doesn't fit, it doesn't make the move.
Colin and Angel (the cat) flew down to Mexico on August 1 to take over the rental house. He has no car down there so has to walk everywhere, whether it be for fun or when stocking up on groceries and necessities (like rum and coke LOL). Fortunately people there are very friendly and helpful and he gets lots of rides home from WalMart with his load of goodies.
The London house is emptying out fast after a contents sale and a yard sale - what is mainly spoken for by friends. We have an area taped off in the middle of the dining room which represents the carrying capacity of the back of the van, minus my seat. Flash (Shelley and Trevor's 12 year old smelly basset hound will ride beside me on top of a very large amp, a sucky bag full of bedding and his cushion. Everything else is in boxes, small suitcases or cardboard boxes and there won't be an inch to spare. We constantly pack and repack trying to save more space. Some items survive the change, some don't.
I'm now reduced to sleeping on a single-size inflatable mattress on the living room floor (my larger inflatable queen size bed got a hole in it and died. There are no chairs left so seating is on the floor, on the hearth or my walker. Trev says he feels sorry for me when he comes through to let Flash out during the night and I'm on the floor, almost 65 years old and living like a college kid. My old bones don't like it though and right now spending almost a week in the back of the van actually sounds comfortable. I must have lost my mind to make this change. Why didn't I just keep my house - and my very comfortable bed - and just continue to put up with the Canadian economy and its winters. Oh yes, the beautiful weather year-round, the cheaper economy and the excitement of starting again even at my age. Colin is loving it in Mexico and calls every night to tell us of his days and who he is meeting.
Shelley here - August 19th 2011....day 1. Well we were hoping for an early close on the sale of our house so that we could get on the road today. There was a major glitch when Primus cut the telephone off 24 hours early, but after a quick angry cell phone call, service was resumed PDQ (pretty darn quick). But we did not get out of our house till after 6:00 p.m. so progress........London to Byron (which is a suburb of London) . We couldn't get everything in the van and with the buyer actually sitting in the yard drinking wine with her buddies, which was a bit distracting. It was hard to take our time and get it done right (don't even get me started on this!!) Anyway, we called on our AMAZING friends and neighbours who took our extra stuff and our garbage away so we could try again the next day at our friends house. Day one over.....tomorrow will be better. At least we get to sleep in a real bed and sit on real chairs for one last night - thanks Jodi and Dan.
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