Flaming Olympics

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Our trip back home was deliberately not meant to coincide with the Olympics, the flight prices were ridiculously high so we chose to go back when the prices had dropped (only slightly though) just before the paralympics toward the end of August, but we did not have an opportunity to go to the paralympics a small opportunity came our way to grab hold of a torch!

When I said we had a busy day ahead of us I did mean it.

Early this morning Andy was up doing his usual planning, we headed off to collect a hire van from Southampton. Today we are moving the entire contents of our storage unit, not very exciting I know, but this trip is not just about reconnecting with our family and friends, this trip is also about sorting out our house and all our worldly goods.

The reason for the move is simple, nearly everything we own has been in storage for four years, since we left the UK, and the only reason why it is all still there is because we have not settled anywhere yet, despite living in Canberra for nearly 3 years.

During those years the cost has increased significantly and we now find that we also need to let the house completely empty, so the furniture we left there has to be taken into storage, so we found another storage company, a bigger unit size and significantly better price, so we had no option but to shift it all.

As the house still has tenants we cannot shift a bulk of the furniture, but with agreement we were allowed access and removed some items that were not going to cause any inconvenience by doing so.

In hindsight, I wish that we had not left the house partially furnished, we thought that we were doing the right thing, but now I think otherwise and just want to let the house completely empty.

It was going to be a hard day and hot work, it is a beautiful day, the sun is shining and it is very warm. We both grabbed a trolley and made several journeys from the unit to the van.

It is amazing when you look at it what you keep. You wonder why, but remembering back and the pressure was on to get finished, we of course had a deadline to leave as our airline tickets were booked, so I guess at the beginning we were being very good about sorting and only packing away the important things, but toward the end we shoved it all into storage thinking we will sort it out another time.

Finally we did it, the storage unit was empty and the new one had plenty of space as it was waiting for the remainder of the contents of the house.

As we shut the door on the unit, I said to Andy “The next time I see this lot, I expect it to be opening a container at a port somewhere in Australia!” (Famous last words!) When that will be who knows? It just depends where and when we decide to put down firmer roots.

The next few days were spent trying to catch up with as many friends and our old neighbours as possible. We see our friends Ian and Maria who used to live in Spain but recently moved back to the UK. It was great to see them and we reminisced of their days in Spain and when we used to visit them.

We had also hoped to spend a day at Santa Pod to watch Darryl and Sarah (aka Wallaby Wanderers) do their drag racing, but alas the house took up too much of our time and it made it impossible to take the day out. Hopefully next time.

There was an important date in the diary, Friday was our traditional girls night of course there had to be one night in the diary so with the boys banished out of Keeley’s house for the evening, our friend Caroline (a different Caroline – not me) came over to do the cooking and gradually all the girls turned up, in no time at all the house was full of chatter, laughter and shrieking.

Ok as usual, some things are sacred and I won’t reveal the detail of the evening, but I did sit back at one stage to watch and listen to what was going on around me, I feel like I have never been away and it felt so good to be part of “the team” again.

I will say one thing though, we had a music competition, a few weeks before the event, Caroline had emailed all of us two ask for two of our favourite music tracks, she was going to compile them all and we had to guess who chose which track. That was great fun as some of us seemed to be predictable amongst a few complete surprises.

I came second, only getting two wrong, not bad for time and distance separating us, Babs came first and I believe she was the only one that got both of mine right.

Andy returned from his curry night out with the boys. He met up with all of his friends that he used to go dirt biking with (his happy days with the KTM), I think they all had a great evening, Andy stayed awake long enough for a brief chat with the girls and headed off to bed and left us partying.

All too soon the night was over, everyone gradually dispersed and Keeley, Babs and I headed off to our respective rooms to get some rest before another big day tomorrow.

Shopping! Excellent, as I have not done enough since I came over so the three of us headed to Gun Wharf for a day of shopping. I had mentioned Gun Wharf in a previous blog on this trip when we went to the spinnaker tower, but it was a very gloomy and rainy day, this time it was such a difference, the sun was up along with the temperatures.

Lunch was at Jamie’s Italian, we sat outside to enjoy the good weather, we had a great lunch and I would recommend it to anybody visiting Gun Wharf Quays.

We spent plenty of time lazing around drinking coffee and generally chatting but all too soon the day was over, so Babs went one way and Keeley and I headed back down the motorway in her lovely convertible to enjoy the wind in our hair.

Not quite the end of the day, once we were back at Keeley’s, reunited with Andy our possessions, now in a scaled down case, thanks to Keeley, we were once again on the road and this time heading to Fareham to see Tina and Paul. Incidentally I will mention for our regular readers that I used to work with Tina where I first met Susan and thus our connection with Woodstock.

Upon our arrival we were eagerly greeted, not just by Tina and Paul but by their lovely Bull Terrier, Sydney (thus named after a famous city during the year of the Olympics in Australia).

I have to mention here that Paul is a bit of a local celebrity, but Paul was one of the torch bearers for the London 2012 Olympics, unfortunately we did not get to see Paul on television but he proudly showed us the torch, which we both thought was pretty spectacular and how very special to be part of something so big. Tina had nominated Paul to be a torch bearer and she was very proud that he was chosen.

We had a terrific evening, downing a few glasses of champagne and wine, we all barely paused for breath, not to mention Sydney was constantly vying for attention by placing the ball in front of us to be thrown for her.

We stayed up until the wee hours just chatting and I really don’t think that we talked about everything that we could have, time was just too short and with very drowsy eyes we all headed to bed.

When daylight arrived, Andy was up early as usual, but of course he could not have closed the door properly and my introduction to the morning had four paws and very slobbery kiss for me, this was in fact followed closely by Andy and a cup of tea.

When we were all up and about, Tina produced a hearty breakfast of a bacon sandwich and more tea, delicious. Our pressing schedule meant that we had to move on, so we hit the road again.

Wallop.

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Photos

Holding the Flame
Paul, Tina and Sydney - with the Olympic Torch.

Comments

[Jo Trouble]

Not too many people get to hold one of those!!