Phew, well, it has been some time - the last blog was November 2009! So,.... let me think.... anything new? Well, as Fereday has already posted (blogs passim), we're now down within spitting distance - LJN Blog Posts

Phew, well, it has been some time - the last blog was November 2009!So,.... let me think.... anything new? Well, as Fereday has already posted (blogs passim), we're now down within spitting distance of London at Coulsdon.... or, more accurately, in the part of Coulsdon known as 'Stoat's Nest Village' - charming, yah! - no sign of any stoats, however.....The drive down from West Yorkshire was unmitigated hell. The movers came the evening before - Pat, from Helpful Hogan, if anyone is looking for a good chap in the North of England to help with a move - he comes complete with an excellent comedy duo, his son and his nephew - and I mean 'comedy duo' in a nice way, lovely young lads who work very hard while engaging in wacky banter. I think Fereday and I were good clients as we'd boxed up everything ourselves and Fereday 'helped' (hindered?) with loading the truck. As a result of all the packing, we're both heartily sick of bubble wrap.... neverending rolls of it.... where does it come from.... who blows up all the little bubbles.... can you craft a sofa out of it??? So, we waved 'bye, bye' to all our belongings on Wednesday night and retired to an uncomfortable night on the floor of our lounge - completely empty except for us and the three rabbits.... I slept not a jot.... Fereday, obviously immune to discomfort thanks to experience of camping out, snored on.... the rabbits snored.... I lay there, freezing, and listened to great Parliamentary speeches 1978 - 1994 (yes, years when politicians - save the Beast of Bolsover - had sonerous voices... no Harpy Harman).... all four sides.... twice..... and still didn't so much as doze....Up and out for 4:30am - after moving old rabbit hutch into the front garden to be picked up by colleague from office so her bunny can upgrade from bungalow to two storey dwelling - believe me, moving hefty bunny hutch round corners and downstairs is not a good bonding exercise for a couple at 4:00am on a January morning....The back of the old Volvo was loaded nearly roof high, with rabbits perched on top so they could have a good view of us for reassurance - youngest bunny is still emotionally scarred from being very unreassured by the vision of me with my eyes on stalks as we drove down barely lit motorways with defective / non-existent cats-eyes in Yorkshire... noticeable difference that as you get closer to London [read: further away from the North] the motorways are lit... is there seriously some perception that we're so much closer to the North Pole up in Yorkshire that we have owl-like night vision????We stopped twice at services. Each time Fereday had one of those mini, concentrated Red Bull drinks and some chocolate.... so, of course, I was worried about when I'd be needing to pull him down off the ceiling later in the day.... fair dues to him that his driving didn't become aggressive... my passengering became aggressive, but not his driving.... I'm probably just naturally aggressive.... it's probably a genetic thing....Arrived at the new pied-a-terre circa 10am..... movers arrived about 15 minutes later..... comedy duo commenced, and we'd unloaded by about half 11..... rabbits were re-hutched.... some unpacking was done.... some supermarketing was done (WAITROSE IS OUR LOCAL!!!! RESULT!!!!).... some wine was drunk.... Cat was drunk.... and bed at 6:30pm.... Fereday stayed up playing invade Poland or some such on the computer.... Red Bull to blame for that, I think....Since the night of terror (that's what I'm calling the drive from Yorkshire), we're fairly settled in. Everything is unpacked and stuff that needed to be 'stored' is in a sensible place somewhere in the flat.... the washing machine is in the kitchen as opposed to being in the basement, so I had some great fun the first week we were here loading it up with dirty clothes, putting some magic powder in a little drawer and watching the little show through the porthole, waiting for the beep, taking stuff out and hanging it up to dry..... well, I was off work, we've given up television, and there was no internet until last week and truthfully, it was a real novelty - I hadn't done a load of laundry in about five years.... Anyway, I'm back at work now, so Fereday has his toy back.I'm a proper working grunt now.... up at 5:45 each morning, train from Reedham at 6:53am.... London Bridge by half 7, walk over London Bridge borne along by the tide of fellow grunts heading in the same direction..... But, I've retained my tourist perspective - each morning on the way in and each evening on the way back over the bridge, I 'spin' off from the flow and take a good eyeful of HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge... sunrise is getting earlier, but I've caught Tower Bridge against orange sky a few times.... I've also seen it in snow, rain, sleet, etc. I'll just never get tired of that view - and if I ever do, it'll be time to spin off and jump off!

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Comments

Pip Howard February 26, 2010 at 7:15pm

Great to see you back, can't you get a blackberry and blog en route?.
vhowe February 26, 2010 at 10:16pm

Good to hear from you again Cat and nice one Kerrie ;)
The Perfumed Garden February 27, 2010 at 9:55am

Welcome back Cat, hope all goes well for you both down South. Great picture Kerrie........Have you distributed it across the net?
Kerrie John-The garden design Co March 1, 2010 at 7:31pm

Simon, I have now!
Graeme @ BGS March 1, 2010 at 7:38pm

I am sure it will raise your profile Kerrie!! :-)
Cat Fereday March 1, 2010 at 8:19pm

Wow - thanks everyone! Pip - I managed to 'wipe' my BlackBerry on Friday - I've been down with lurgy and - it appears - incoherence!!!! It gave me ten goes to get the password right, and each time I spelled the name of the village we live in wrong - Doh!