After Helen's wedding I had nothing else planned, just waiting for a email to tell me I could see my kids again. If you voted Brexit you are the reason for this, I hope you've learnt never to trust what you read on buses again. I think a better system for moving abroad, worldwide, would be an app where you put in something like, "I want to move to America for 6 months" and it matches you with an American who wants to move here for 6 months and you swap all you rights and your house and car and everything. Maybe even it should be like wife swap and you have to live with another partner with their kids and their rules. At least 50% of those couples will get back together and appreciate their original partner more, they're good enough odds, right?
So Monday and Tuesday were trying to sell my car days. I semi cleaned it and Dan put it on auto trader. I got a lot of interest but no one was really committing to actually coming to get get it. Eventually I spoke to someone who was keen on coming, they bargained me down loads, but I just needed it gone so I agreed to it. As he was on his way up from Birmingham another guy phoned who was local and offered me full price for it. It sucks to be a decent person sometimes. My friend Esther came to visit which was lovely and we went on the paddle boards for a bit. There was a brief moment when a swan did a dive bomb and I though it was going to attack her but it was fine, and we both managed not to fall in.
On Tuesday night I got the message that my visa had finally left London, and so I was waiting to see when it arrived in Manchester. The next day I got the email I'd been waiting over three weeks for. I COULD COLLECT IT! Unfortunately I had just sold my car my dad was away with my parents car and the travel advice was not to travel. That wasn't going to stop me. I borrowed a bike, cycled to a station, got the train (they were still running fine) and then got the tram to the passport place in Salford quays. Collecting my passport with the visa in it was very simple and quick, I was so happy to finally have it in my hands. The whole trip door to door took about 5 hours but it was worth it. When I got back to my parents I looked at flight options back and chose to get one on the Sunday, from Birmingham direct to Perpignan. Partly because my parents were driving down to the midlands anyway on the Saturday, but mainly so I could see my childhood best mate Bex for the day before flying back.
Thursday could have been a chilled out day enjoying the sun, but unfortunately I had received an email from our estate agents saying they wanted to charge me £355 for a deep clean on my old house. This is an empty house, no furniture, with a new kitchen so no oven to clean or whatever. If I had accepted the car guys offer, then the difference would have almost paid for it but I didn't, so I had a big day of cleaning ahead to avoid that bill. Mum came to help and to be my taxi, and my friend Steve also came to help. It was hard work and I kept remembering little things we should clean or fix. Like the room that was my studio had a bit of a rubbish skirting board that stuck out and meant you couldn't close the door, our solution was never closing the door properly, but that's the kind of stuff you should fix when renting out a house. We stayed until 9pm cleaning with just a quick break to go to McDonald's for tea. It looked great in the end.
You can see a virtual tour here: https://www.lewisfoylettings.co.uk/properties/woolton-liverpool-merseyside/12-lee-vale-road-woolton-L253RW-148
On Saturday I went to see my childhood friend Bex and family in Birmingham. It worked out well that my parents were driving to the midlands anyway and they could drop me at Bex's and then Bex could take me to Birmingham airport the next morning. Bex was one of the people I really wanted to see before moving but didn't manage to, so it was really great to see her and her husband and 3 adorable kids.
When I was born we were next door neighbours. I have just a few memories from those days because I was only six when we moved, but nearly all my memories contain Bex. She used to tell me if you eat Rice Krispies up-side-down you'll be able to fly. Which I tried a lot while hanging by my legs from her climbing frame. Then one day we decided to run away. We packed a suitcase and gave the excuse that we were "pretending to run away." Then I fell over and we went back for a plaster and then couldn't really be bothered to run away again.
They moved out to a village and then 6 months later we moved to the same village, because Bex's Dad had found us a house on the same street. Then our games continued, we made dens in the woods and climbed trees and did challenges like "what is the smallest circle you can ride your bike in while closing your eyes." We had sleepovers and midnight feasts and played a lot of monopoly.
Then in secondary school we weren't that close. She was 18 months older than me but 2 school years ahead and was trying to be cool, and I was deliberately trying not to be cool because the cool people made me mad. She was into make up while I was still into buying stuff from joke shops. Then when she was in sixth form we became closer again. That was the phase we were into setting fire to things. I went to visit her in uni halls when I was 16 and I thought going to uni was the coolest thing ever.
Last time I saw them was between the lockdowns in 2020. You know that bit when we thought it was all fine, before it became actually worse than before. We had a little holiday together in my parents house (while they were away) and recreated a childhood photo.
It was lovely to see Bex and Doug and hang out with the kids and then in the evening we stayed up drinking and playing a board game. They are big board game fans, and I'm a medium sized board game fan. I love playing board games but I don't have the patience to learn new ones much. But it's nice to be introduced to new ones when other people know how to play it. I didn't super love this one enough to buy it, sorry, but two games I've bought in the last two years that I do love are Splendor which Bex introduced me to last time I saw her, and Quacks of Quedlington, introduced to me by my bother-in-law Elisha who is the biggest board game fan I know.
I was a bit nervous to get the flight as I am a bad catcher of planes! But it was all fine and easy and hardly any queueing. I imagined arriving in Perpignan airport walking out into arrivals and the boys greeting me and hugging me and it would be this beautiful moment. What actually happened was not quite so lovely. I got to the passport check bit and I was under the impression that I needed to arrive without getting a stamp in my passport. That's what happened when Dan and the boys arrived with their french ID card, they don't even have to show their passport because an ID card is a bit like a passport and they don't get a stamp so they don't get a date they have to leave by. So I thought that's what happened with my visa. So I passed the guy my passport opened on the visa page just in case he missed it and he scanned it and then he stamped it. Then in my head I was thinking he might have just undone this whole 4 weeks I've spent away from my kids, so I asked him and he just replied "you are not an EU citizen" 😠I voted remain!
So I went to get my bag and Dan and the boys were behind an automatic door that kept opening so they saw me looking for my bag, I took a while to find it, and we went out and hugged but I was still worried about the stamp. I was thinking that Dan might need to go back in and punch that guy. I asked Dan and he said it's ok. The visa still works I don't have to leave. Phew! Then I could relax and just enjoying being back, no one has to punch anyone. Although I'm sure if you do punch the passport guy he would apologise immediately, and tip-x out the stamp.
Back home Dan had cleaned the house and got flowers and balloons, the boys were very excited to show me a special thing they made for me:
Errr thanks kids. Then we went and jumped in the new massive paddling pool after a bit of playing as a four. I sent Dan away for some much needed alone time as he's had the kids constantly while trying to work. In this time we invented the paddling pool olympics. With brilliant games such as cup shoot, and nose ball, which is sort of like football but swap the ball for a ballon and swap your foot for your nose. We also tried to do synchronised paddling and relay races.
They were back at school yesterday but they only have 7 days of school until the long summer holidays. Percy has a particularly fun week this week. Today he's going sailing in the morning and then to the aquarium in the afternoon. They both have every Wednesday off. Then Percy has forest school on Friday which I'm going to be a helper parent on. They had school photos yesterday which were taken by a drone! It's fair to say that they are loving french life.
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