A Slat in time - saves money.

On Tuesday morning when I tried to pull up one of the external window shutters in the lounge, to let in the Spanish sun, it wouldn't raise more than a few centimetres. Repeated lowering and raising of it came to the same result. It wasn't going up. Further investigation of the problem revealed a broken, split, horizontal slat was acting as a stop. A quick temporary repair was made, my trusty wire clippers to the rescue, so that we didn't have to sit in the dark.

Having not experienced a similar problem in the ten years we have lived in the property, and having no knowledge of the internal workings of the blind system, my second thought after how do I get this repaired was; I suppose this is going to cost a fortune to put right.

Although we are retired, and younger people assume we have nothing to do all day, it wasn't until Wednesday afternoon (yesterday) that we could call into our favourite local ferretería, with some trepidation, to seek a solution, either a spare part or the name of 'a man who can'! Once again the shop had the solution, a ample stock of spare slats of various types. After the little joke by the assistant warning us that we needed a large wallet; we left the Aladdin’s cave with two replacement slats, the extra one in case I made a mistake when carrying out the repair as my DIY history has shown it's better to be prepared, a cash register receipt for just €3, and a smile on my face.

This morning I successfully slatted the repair into our day. It is good to learn how to do something new each day. A good, inexpensive, job done.

I must go and check again if it still goes up and down!

We have moved in!

We arrived in theUnited Kingdom on Saturday 12^th November 2011 and just three weeks later, on schedule, on Saturday 3^rd December 2011 we moved into our UK based home in Heighington. It had been three weeks of mental and physical fatigue.

All the time we were wondering; would the contractors complete their tasks on time; would the suppliers of our new furniture and kitchen equipment deliver on the days agreed; would we complete our purchases of linen, bedding and the oh so many other sundry items in time for our move in?

We vacated our temporary accommodation at 07:30 hrs. on 'Occupation Day' as the last major delivery, the fridge/freezer, was due for the second attempt at our new UK base any time after 08:00 hrs. but before 18:00 hrs. It is so good when one receives a definite time in a reasonable time slot! Especially when the reason for this was to correct an error by the supplier. It arrived mid-morning.

Kitchen Before

During the first and second weeks the decorator and the kitchen joiner completed their work. Early on Monday the 28^th November the plumber and electrician made the final connections in the kitchen. The rest of the day the house was empty to allow the carpet fitters a clear run to lay the new flooring.

Monday for us was the second day of the IKEA expedition. On arrival in Nottingham our first task, well second actually after having a coffee, was to order the picking and home delivery services shopping list of the larger and heavier items. With this job out of the way our two subsequent trips in the IKEA maze, interspersed by having our two course lunch in the restaurant, were completed when the kitchen equipment and other sundries had overfilled two trolleys and tiredness was setting in. Time had arrived to head back towards Lincoln and wait in anticipation for the home delivery scheduled for Wednesday.

Tuesday was the day for putting up the curtains on the new fittings, and moving the many odds and ends purchased up till then from the rental property to our house. During the day IKEA surprised us by telephoning to confirm our delivery would be with us within an hour. We pointed out that that was a day early but we were very happy to change our plans to receive our furniture.

Our schedule changed for Wednesday as the early arrival on Tuesday enabled me to start the flat pack assembly experience a day earlier. Oh what joy! In the afternoon, between 13:15 hrs. and 17:00 hrs. we were expecting the delivery of our Dream machine. As if trying not to be out done by the IKEA delivery service by mid-morning our bed had been delivered early.

Thursday saw two more deliveries, our three major white goods from Comet and four small furniture items from Argos. These should have been our final arrivals but as I have already mentioned we had to wait until Saturday for a pristine fridge/freezer as the Thursday arrival was damaged and had to be returned. This caused some concern as it initially seemed that we would have to move in without a fridge/freezer, therefore the chilled and frozen food we had in the rental cottage would be ruined. However the result of a telephone call to Comet customer services to persuade them, well actually to plead with them, to deliver a replacement before the following Monday was successful with delivery made on Saturday as I've mentioned.

Friday, like the previous two days, involved assembling more flat-pack wonders. Another day of aggravating my flat-packer's knee and back syndrome! By late afternoon we had a bed to sleep in, furniture to sit on, a kitchen to cook and eat in so it was time to go to the rental cottage and pack our suitcases for the Saturday early morning move in.

If it hadn't been for the effort and flexibility of work times of Roger Fletcher and his team of decorators, Jonathan Frecklington of Baytree Joinery, Steven Mark of S M Electrical Services, Len Lembo of LincolnshireFlooring Ltd and the prompt deliveries by the retailers , Dreams, IKEA, Comet and Argos we wouldn't have achieved our three week property refurbishment time-scale.

We are certainly not one hundred percent Shipshape and Bristol fashion yet, this will probably take another week or two, but we have moved in.

Preparations for our home in the UK.

I said in my article 'Change of LifeJourney – Epilogue' that our plans for our future direction of life were being collated, costed, and converted into a more conclusive basis.

Our summer visit to the United Kingdom confirmed that it would suit us best to have a home there, as well as in Spain, to give the flexibility in lifestyle we need for the future.

In order to have this base we decided to use one of our rental properties, where we had lived prior to moving out to Spain, as the easiest and least costly option. Unfortunately this meant that we had to give notice to our tenant in the property; but you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.

The time is almost upon us to begin the new phase of our life.

The date when the tenant leaves the house has finally been agreed.

Our journey to the UK has been organised. The Channel Tunnel crossing, the route to Calais, and the two hotel stopovers in France have all been arranged.

The refurbishment of our second home has been programmed. The decorators, the kitchen fitters, and the carpet fitters are under starting orders; they're listening for the jangling of the house keys as the starter gun. They know when the race must end!

We have a few days left to make ready our Spanish home for a period of winter hibernation until our anticipated return in the New Year. The closure of 2011 will see our preparation for a new and better 2012 and our ongoing years.