Well what a year 2020 has been. Thanks to Covid-19, we’ve all suffered upheavals and many of us have experienced losses. Although it’s just like me to make matters even more complicated by moving to a new country at the start of a pandemic. Yes, my husband and I could have waited. However, having accepted an offer on our then-home back in November 2019, come March of this year the last thing we wanted was to lose the sale altogether, leaving us with little choice but to finalise things and get on with it. So, packing up regardless and determined to hold on to all the confidence we could muster under the circumstances, we boarded a ferry and set off on our new adventure.
Holly's Christmas Countdown
When we first began to plan our move, we envisaged spending time in all the places we visited, making sure to get a proper feel for the various locations we’d short-listed. Instead, we found ourselves in a foreign land, frantically driving from place to place, viewing house after house, looking for somewhere to settle, all the while knowing that lockdown was imminent. Until day seven of our search, such was our resolve, when I’m pleased to say we found what we were looking for. I can still recall my eyes lighting up at what was to become our new home. That little cottage by the sea might have needed a tonne of work, but to an old romantic like me it was perfect, and I couldn’t wait to sign on the dotted line.
Then, bang! lockdown was announced, which naturally brought our property purchase to a halt.
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Finding ourselves homeless and living in a campervan was certainly an experience, although the locals couldn’t have been more welcoming, and we met some wonderful people throughout. From the lovely chap who offered to re-charge our van battery and wash our clothes when we were parked up at the beach. To the council worker who asked his bosses to delay closing that beach until the next day just so he could give us fair warning. To the chap in the garage who happily kept charging my laptop up for me so I could keep on writing… I don’t know their names, but their acts of kindness will always be remembered.
It was another five months before we got the keys to the old cottage and three months on, we’re still living in the campervan while renovations take place. But it’s nice to have our own home again, and after the uncertainty created by Covid, the sense of security that comes with it. And although I don’t anticipate the whole house being finished come Christmas, I’m hopeful that enough will have been done to enable us to move in. At least that’s the plan.
Fingers crossed.
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If the first lockdown wasn’t strange enough, it was definitely more so as I had a Christmas book to work on. Back in March, faced with the shutdown of schools, and life as we knew it, I had to conjure up all the Christmas spirit I could find and write a festive, uplifting book, ALFIE THE CHRISTMAS CAT... to read more click HERE
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