Tying up loose ends...

It has been over 2 weeks since my last post, & I'm not quite sure where the time has gone... We spent the first week after getting back from Africa working on Will's house, getting it in a fit state to put on the market. We listed it last Thursday, & all our long hours of hard work paid off because there was a lot of interest in it. This culminated in Will accepting a very good offer on Wednesday. It is a first time buyer so not part of any chain which is good. Fingers crossed that she will get the finance she needs & everything goes smoothly...

Saturday night was our leaving party, & it ended up being a great bash with a really good turn-out. We started at 4pm, & finished at 4:30am, so it wasn't a bad send-off! Ric was kind enough to host it at his place, & he did a great job of manning the BBQ for hours on end. Big thanks to people like Renee & Jeremy, & Goody & Emma who travelled a fair way to make it.

Will & I spent Tuesday in London. We don't get in there that often, but thought that we really should take advantage of one of the world's most exciting cities being only an hour away! We had a lovely time exploring the National Gallery & the National Portrait Gallery. We then headed to Camden Town for lunch & a wander around the markets. When we got back we headed out Oxford way to say our final farewell to Will's brother & his family. This was followed by dinner with Will's parents. We made it back to our temporary home at Claire & Mike's at around 11pm, happy but exhausted after a busy day.

On Wednesday I had afternoon tea with Karen, who is one of my rugby friends. She lives on a boat in the marina that is quite close to Reading city centre. I've been wanting to visit her boat for ages, so am glad that I got a chance to before I left. We then went on to my last ever Reading Ladies rugby training. Actually it is likely to be my last ever rugby training full stop as I'm not planning on playing when I'm back in NZ. It was quite sad saying goodbye to all the girls. They have been a big part of my life over the last 6 years.

The rest of our time has been spent tying up loose ends, doing things like cancelling utilities & streamlining bank accounts etc. We fly on Wednesday, & Will is a bit stressed about how much he still has to do between now & then! We're also a bit concerned about how we are going to fit all our remaining stuff into the 2 bags we are each allowed... We have ordered a couple of tea-chest boxes which arrived today, & will be picked up on Tuesday to ship back to NZ. That should ease the load a bit, especially as they are done on volume & not weight, so we can put heavy stuff like some of Will's academic books in them.

It's pretty strange to think that in less than a week I will be home...