The main things occupying my time are sorting, tidying, throwing stuff out and, er, more sorting. In the past month Dave has finished the decorating and we have had new carpets fitted to a large part of the house to make it more attractive to potential buyers. It seems a bit mad to spend a load on something that we will benefit from for such a short period, but there is no doubt it will help to bring in the right buyers. We've had several estate agents come around and have chosen one. Our house will officially be on the market in the next few days! I am in a quandary of mixed emotions about that as I love this house so much, and a big part of me really does not want to leave it. Also, of course, as the time to leave gets closer, the reality of leaving our two daughters behind is starting to hit me.
We did fit in a family holiday to Italy last week. We spent 5 days near the beautiful lake Orta (the smallest one) and then 3 days in Bologna. At that point Dave and I came home leaving the girls so spend a couple of days without us in Milan. They are safely home again now and both had to go back to work immediately. We had a lovely time, and did manage to relax a bit, although we always end up driving around a lot on this type of holiday. Highlights included a dip in the lake, a visit to lake Como (no we didn't see George), some totally spectacular views, and the walk up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna de San Luca in Bologna. And, of course, the food! This may be our last family holiday of this type, but I hope not.
As I mentioned in my last blog, car prices in Portugal are very high, even for older cars. Dave has been doing a lot of research and sourced a 1 series BMW at a "reasonable" price through a friend who lives near Lisbon (and who has a car dealer for a father-in-law!) which he has now bought. This means that we will be collecting a second car on our way to the ferry next week and taking two cars across to Madeira. A great idea in principal but I am rather dreading it as I will have to drive the new car from Lisbon to the port and this will be my first experience of driving a left hand drive car and of driving in Portugal. I just hope that the roads are both wide and quiet!
Dave has also been on a bit of a spending spree buying things that are difficult or very expensive to get in Madeira. Purchases so far include numerous large items of kitchen equipment, a robot mower for the lawn that we do not yet have, a clothes airer, various pieces of hifi and probably lots of other stuff I have forgotten. We have had a couple of quotes for moving our possessions to Madeira and it appears that we will need most of a 40ft container, so Dave is determined to make full use of it!
I think that brings you up to date now. Our next trip is the car trip starting on 11 July so I will post again either before or after that.
In the meantime, I though you would like to see that the "Happy Retirement" balloon that my colleagues gave me is still hanging on in there, three months after they gave it to me. It is currently hovering at around 3 feet off the ground. Here is the evidence:
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