What a year indeed…
In January Nick and Sam announced their engagement, in April we finally bought and moved into Crown Cottage.
In May the Problem of the Wall – about which more another day – reared its unwelcome head, so one way and another, we have spent many months unravelling, decluttering, downsizing…
But we have also had a lot of fun, and are loving our new not-quite-as-yet-fully-downsized existence (in Winster and only 10 minutes from Parwich). And all year we have had the joy of Nick’s and Sam’s happiness, welcoming Sam into our lives and looking forward to their wedding which suddenly is no longer ‘just before Christmas’ but tomorrow!
Sara, our Australian daughter has been with us for a couple of weeks. She has come for the wedding, and she and Ruthie were with us for John’s birthday last week (thank you, the Websters, for a lovely lunch party!) but has also managed to sort through trunkloads of her childhood possessions – teddies, precious books, letters and even old exam papers. She has also helped tirelessly shifting furniture because life goes on and the pressure was on: our joiner was scheduled to build some much needed cupboards where piles of unpacked boxes and furniture still lurked.
And yesterday the joiner arrived to work undisturbed while we are away. We abandoned all domestic concerns and are now happily ensconced in our very pleasant Airbnb house in Notting Hill. Very pleasant indeed, but as we discovered last night when all six of us sat down to supper, rather scampily equipped cutlery-wise. Lucky people had a knife and fork and we felt very nostalgic for our beautifully equipped Tom’s and Douglas’s Barns – after one or two recent experiences I can feel a useful blog post for holiday cottage and Airbnb hosts coming on. Premier Cottages owners will not need to read it.
But back to weddings and wedding excitement. Drinks with Sam and her family this evening, wedding tomorrow, our lunch in a pub on Sunday for immediate family and Nick’s godparents.
As for mother-of-the-bridegroom, I have come down with two possible outfits and a wonderful selection of hats and handbags lent by friends. So the final outfit is still a pleasant mystery, and so too is the actual wedding. Sam and Nick have organised everything themselves so this (controlling?) mother who is used to being involved if not actually in charge of biggish events hasn’t even seen the guest list!
So no doubt still more pleasant surprises lie in store. We’ll all have to wait for the latest blog instalment.
Until then!
Ah, the unpacked boxes. I remember them well. But we’re, like you, going to do it again! And this time we’re downsizing big time to a flat – phew. We’re quite stressed but know it’s absolutely the right thing to do. House is on the market and stress levels are up. Interesting times.
Thank you for sharing your move and the changes in your life – it’s good to know there are others doing the same.
Penny, good luck! It’s not easy, on so many counts, but we’re hoping the end result will be very satisfying if ever we get there! Even one’s shopping and catering habits have to downsize, my instinct is still to cater for at least five, with more to spare, just in case!
A really wise tip (but hard to follow) is to make a list of what you have got rid of. Otherwise, as we have done, you spend days searching for something that you no longer have.
Good luck. I do look forward to hearing how you get on.
Lovely to read this Marion, many congratulations to Nick and Sam. Have a wonderful wedding weekend all of you! lots of love Bev x
Thank you Bev. I wish we could have invited all our friends, but as Nick reminded us, even we were lucky to get an invitation! We’ll tell you all about it, and hopefully we’ll have lots of photos.