7 DAYS TO GO

7 days to go and were off. Last day working to day apart from a minor 'hand over' at one spot I've been looking after the house and garden for the last few years.

Most of my stuff is packed - workshop and outdoor gear. My gosh It's true what they say that equipment increases to fit the space allocated. Most of our stuff is going into storeage. It won't fit into our new temporary home.

We've got parking issues when we get to Whitby - there's no off road parking at 41 Mayfield Rd - our destination - and we only arrive the day before the removal men after a 17 hour night drive. I hope there is enough time to make sure no one is parked in the way of the lorry.

I've sold my car so we're down to one car. The removal men say they can get a canoe in the lorry. But I have two. A kayak and an open canoe. Will they fit both in? Or do I drive all the way to Whitby with one of them on the roof rack?
We've got rid of loads of stuff but we have got so much more than when we had the total load estimated by a local removal company two years ago.

We've still not heard any more about our completion date. We only have a window of a few hours before we have to be on the ferry. Worry, Worry!!

I wrote a letter to The Irish Times clarifying the issue of public access to the countryside in Europe. This is a controversial issue here and we've had regular 'Hillwalkers & Farmers', correspondence in this paper. The evening it was published Richard called. "Dave have you been writing to the papers?". He's the area farmers representative and he's had numerous farmers raise the letter and complaining about my views. "Sorry Richard". That evening I get an angry phone call from the Beara. He's the co-ordinator of 'Greenways Ireland and is trying to convince farmers to open up more walking routes and feels that my letter has made his job harder. He soon calms down and I agree to write a clarification to my letter.

The shower has broken down and I can't fix it. Luckily the plumber, based in Cork City some 60 miles away was nearbye and called by within an hour of my phone call and fixed it. Now I've only got to get our local electritian to fix another minor fault I can't trace.

Our friends and neighbours Richard Connell, Violet and their 3 children came round to see us the other evening. They gave us a wonderful 'Good Bye' card which they had all written personal messages on. They also bought us a Tom Tom sat. nav. & a smashing Camcorder!. These neighbours will be well and truly missed. They have turned out to be our best friends and Richard has taught me loads. Everything from castrating bullocks to building houses!.