I move to Britain one week, and the next week they vote to
close the borders, more or less! You might say I got here just in time. Or you
might say I just moved into a big financial and political hurricane. Or you
might say, like me, WTF.
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| chapel in Llanwydden |
So, here I am in Wales. It's very green because it's very
wet. I'm using wifi at the library because we still don't have
internet/phone/cable hooked up at our house - thanks, BT!
We had a smooth flight over except for the requisite
turbulence during meal service. After landing, we hit the ground running - we went
to the bank, got a mobile phone, and renewed our driving licences before you
could say, 'Please return your seats and tray tables to an upright position'. (UK
punctuation and spelling rules apply now.)
That was just the beginning of the fun!
After feeding us and giving us her bed for the night, my
stepdaughter, Emma, drove us to our new house out in the Welsh countryside,
where we dumped our three huge suitcases. Then we dashed into the nearest town
with a good variety of shopping (20+ miles), and we quickly loaded up several shopping
trolleys with pillows, duvets, towels, towel rails, broom, mop, dishes, mugs,
glasses, kettle, toaster, cleaning supplies, tools, and two patio chairs. We
made quite a spectacle, especially when one of the trolleys rolled into the
street as we were waiting for Emma to bring the car round!
Then back to the house just in time to receive our new car
so we wouldn't be stuck when Emma departed. An hour later we received our new
bed, which turned out to be very comfy. After that, a quick run in the new car
to the supermarket (18 miles away) and we were set for the night, eating beans
on toast and sitting in our patio chairs.
Then several more days making the rounds of the local towns
to get more supplies, pick out furniture, get keys made, join the library and
sign up with the health centre. Home again to unpack and find a place for
everything in our little house.
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| nearby tea shop |
And the house needed cleaning - it had been either rented or
empty for the last five years. (Oh, the dead spiders and flies in the window
frames - ugh!)
And then I got sick. Not surprising, really, but I haven't
been ill like this in decades - sore throat, fever and aches, lots of sleeping.
It's a bit of an extreme way to engineer a rest, but we have furniture and food
so I'm taking it easier now.
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| Lake Vyrnwy |
Until we get fully online, I've been getting used to my smartphone.
I'm on Instagram (@musefondue), but for everything else I really prefer a
proper keyboard!
Enough for now. I'll have more pictures when it stops
raining - someday.
Val
* Cockney rhyming slang for 'Would you believe it?'
