There were tears, and frustrations and mistakes aplenty

We finally left the house, 3 hours or so late, and with a few last minute things to throw away, but.. we got out... and now we are in a holding pattern at an Ibis hotel near Schipol waiting to fly out on Dec 23rd to finally arrive at our new home

It didn't all go to plan, of course not, that would be silly and the last few hours of van rental were a mad rush to get to the dump and clear the decks of stuff I've hoarded for 20-25 years... but its gone... its done..we are reduced to  2 large holdalls, 2 medium cases and 2 carry ones for our trip.. though 3m3 of stuff also went 10 days ago.. Did we dump some wrong things, for sure... but everything is ultimately replaceable so, we have to let it go....the cold never really bothered me anyway.

It was hectic, it was stressful and most importantly it was painfully heartbreakingly sad, as I said goodbye to some wonderful friends and collegues and students, most of whom I will never see again, despite the effect of social media. Their presence brightend my life and their absence will be felt so deeply.

But... it has to be done, we have to move forward, make a new home, make new friends, but leave the door very wide open to the old ones who want to come visit and be welcomed to  our new life.

The next few days are likely to be a bit boring, Jirawan has done an amazing job of repacking our 7 or 8 bags into  the required 6 (I helped buying huge canvas holdalls) and now we can take them to the airport in 3 days and head off reasonabley safe and secure.

Breda, was wonderful, I can't say enough what a wonderful place t was,  aside from relatonships causing  pain, my time in Breda was nothing short of amazing. And.... it has provided me with the means to make this new chapter possible. The house sale went through smoothly, and we got a little more than we budgeted for to make the new life possible. 

We arrive in Chiang Mai, on Christmas eve, and our new life together starts then... its exciting, its scary, and ts also truely wonderful to have the chance to see out my days no longer stressing about commitments to others in order to finance our lifestyle... we get to do what we want, when we want, how we want..

awesome.

Ahthankyew

and thats it.

Though technically I still have 2 work from home days before the holidays, today was my last official in office work day, and basically my last day working... I cleared off my desk, reset and formated my company provided laptop and ended my time at BUas.... There was a lovely little gathering of staff, a short but heartfelt speech from my friend and respected collegue Jacco and then a short soppy speech from me.. oh and whiskey..another botle to take to Thailand/ 

Followed by tears, hugs and handshakes...and warm feelings all round... it was a bit of a choaker...

Its all over now... apart from a very slight dangling thread of 2 days work from home which isn't really needed as students are winding down.. Im done.

I will hand in my company credit card, access card and laptop tomorrow, just before my final performance with Starrcase where I will attempt to play my best ever final gig...at the end of year party.

It was also my Birthday, and saying goodbye was sad, its not often my Birthdays are sad... but yeah... this was tough.

Oh and to top off the day I forgot to book parking for the rental van we are using to transport our crap to the local recycle depot.... expect an unpleasent parking fine in a few days...even though i won't be here. There goes my COA bonus....tempting as it is to not pay it, I better, to be safe.

We have a final inspection of the house by the agent on Friday morning followed by a trip to the Notaris in the afternoon, then.... we go to Amsterdam for 4 days to chill and get ready for our trip, we'll do a bit of christmas sightseeing, have a few nice meals and then head off on Tuesday.

I'm filled with a mix of emotions, sadness at leaving so many good friends behind, stress at the fact my website isn't fully updated yet to support my book, fear at the new start as well as excitement at that same new life.... and annoyance at the parking fine...grrr its a van, clearly being loaded and working...but that won't stop them....grrr

Never mind, soon, we will be home again, a new home, but home is where Jirawan and I make it, and we edge closer to that home. Christmas is going to be a bit warmer this year.

Ahthankyew

When will I see you again???

3 m3 might sound like a lot. but it kinda isn't. but here we are, 4 guitars, lots of kitchen stuff, books, DVD's musical gear, art and random stuff...on its way to Sunny Thailand... hope it all slips through ok/

Now we move to the throwing out phase of the week... no time for any sentiment, if it can'be sold or given away it goes to the tip.

Ahthankyew

Starting to Panic

When you make a decision a year and a half in the future, its all still very vague and needs research.

When it gets to a year, its a bit more researched.

6 months in you know what you need to do, but there's still plenty of time and everyone is clued up that you're going through with it.

At 3 months you start doing the main paperwork.

At 1 month, you  book and pay for things and start selling off things you now no longer need.

At 2 weeks.. you realise you still have a lot of shit to sell and that shit probably won't sell so you have to give it away or take it to the tipe

Its scary how fast things creep up despite all the notice you give yourself... the house currently is a shambles, scattered with things we want to sell/get rid of. Marktplaats has been good for getting rid of some of the high value items, not always at good prices but they're gone... the smaller more personal stuff is harder to sell, some wlll go to Thailand, (If it can be packed in 4 days) some will go to friends some goes to the tip.

But one thing is certain, in  a little over 2 weeks we're on a plane.... and all this panic will be left behind

Anyone wanna buy a bed?

Ahthankyew

Arrghhh the pain

Tennis elbow, still playing up something horrible, but worse is the heartache of letting my collection of model aircraft go, 20+ years I started collecting with the intention of building them in my retirement.......and now Im retiring I can't really take them with me... sad.

But I put them on line as a job lot, over 240 kits, and some other bits and bobs for 1500euros, and 2 dealers almost bit my hand off chasing it. Both were ok with the price (well they would be, they are getting close to 8K work of retail return) but only 1 was willing to come and collect so I sold it..even though the other offered me a few hundred more and would easily have offered still more I think, I made a deal and stuck with it. 1500 in the bank now, compared to maybe 6 -8 spread over 2 years.. not an option Im afraid.

True to his word the dealer popped over today in a rented van (so yes...he's aware of the value) and they are all gone, 20 big shipping boxes worth. sigh

Sad.... but Í think I am ok with this, its not like the guitars, I still play guitar so losing them was a gut punch, but my model building ended many years ago, and while I am sure I will pick it up again in Thailand as a way to fill my time.. Its not killing me as much as letting the guitars go did.... so maybe heartache isn't quite the right word, sadness for sure though, more endings.

Ahthankyew