Final Countdown to Departure

Since getting back from Jamaica in the middle of March, we have had a really busy period of tying up the loose ends in the UK as well as doing some of the not so trivial work in the house that really should have been done months if not years ago. This is a sort of a diary I have been keeping of the work we have been doing as well as some of the socialising we had to do (lots of arm twisting involved of course).

Diary of Final Days Before Going Cruising

Too much of the information about getting ready for going long distance cruising is either about the really big stuff or, alternatively, sunny harbours and blue waters in remote anchorages. The reality however, is that there is an awful lot of mundane running around to get all the bits in place so you can manage the big things and then drink rum punch in a palm fringed anchorage. This outlines our experiences of the last three weeks before getting on the plane to Gibraltar to join our beloved Sarah Giddings and head off into the blue.

Wednesday 20/03/2013:
We arrive bleary eyed from two weeks visiting Audrey's parents in Jamaica. The trip was nice and relaxing and the temperatures were typical for Jamaica at the time being in the high twenties or teens in the night. London is suffering a late cold snap with snow and freezing temperatures. We can't wait to get south again.

Thursday:
We use as a recovery day but do some paperwork and such like as well as start tackling the mountain of laundry. We also visit a tile shop to choose tiles for the refurbished kitchen.

Friday:
I go and have lunch with a former colleague who couldn't make my leaving do. I buy the tiles and even start putting a few up.

Saturday:
A bit of a shop in Tescos and start the tiling in earnest. The estate agent comes round to start the process of getting the house on the rental market. We really need to concentrate on the Kitchen, clearing our rubbish and a bit of decorating. More visits to DIY shops and IKEA!

Sunday:
Audrey gets busy with the sugar soap while I continue with the tiling. I have half done the application of the tiles but still need to get the rest up and grout them Two car loads of rubbish to the tip.

Monday 25/03/2013:
Multiple visits to DIY shops and IKEA. I now have wood stain and varnish for the Kitchen shelves, paint for touching up the living room and new curtains for the dining room. I also, managed to grab some plastic containers in IKEA that should come in useful on the boat. Weather continues to be freezing though other pats of the country have been snowed in so we are getting off lightly.

Tuesday
Off to Burgess Hill to buy a back door and Ikea to exchange the shelf brackets. Hopefully we will have the kitchen shelves up today. Door was still at the shop and was also a customer return so was less than half price. Went to Doctor and got jabs for tetanus and polio but need to go to travel clinic for yellow fever, hep b and rabies. Doctor also prescribed strong painkillers and antibiotics!

Wednesday
Finished last of tiling. Stained and varnished shelf. Just grouting and painting to do in Kitchen.

Thursday
Lunch with friends from former work. Car to garage for service. Waiting for call from garage before I can start grout work. Most of tiles now grouted.

Friday
Finished tiling and general tidying up work in kitchen. Put shelf up. We will probably only have the one shelf though. Also did some general tidying up in house. Cooked a lasagne in the kitchen and enjoyed doing so with all the extra counter space now.

Saturday
Started painting new kitchen with the yellowish paint we have. The new plaster drinks paint with a glug glug sound. Went to theatre to see the 39 Steps with Mother. Thai meal off Regent Street.

Sunday
Mostly just painted rooms. New kitchen is now finished. One wall done in main kitchen. It will look OK but we will probably want to do some plastering and more tiling. At least the colour scheme will work OK. Cooked a big meal to celebrate kitchen with Mother and Matthew as well. Took a load of rubbish to tip including the sailboard.

Monday 01/04/2013
Visited sisters house. One is going on their own long term cruise in the French canals.

Tuesday
Finished painting in kitchen – ergo kitchen is finished. A bit of tidying up but not much else.

Wednesday
Cancelled mobile phone contract. Booked travel clinic for Hep B jabs and booked doctor for yellow fever jab. Booked travel insurance. Going out to meet friends this afternoon.

Thursday
Nursing a hangover from the meal (and associated wine and cocktails). Working to get blind up in Kitchen to replace old curtain. Builder came round to quote for fitting a door.

Friday
Picked up contact lenses and new glasses in the morning. Visited B&Q to get some paint and a few other odds and ends. Two sets of people visited in the evening. Did some other small patching up of house.

Saturday
Went to Victoria to get first of three Hep B jabs at a strange holistic health place where a London Travel Clinic have inoculation sessions on Saturdays. Met up with old friend for lunch in Covent Garden. Bought some hiking boots for Audrey. Audrey's old school friends round for dinner in the evening. New phone arrived so I have worked on getting that working to sync music from laptop. Copying music and radio plays from desktop PC to laptop and then on to the phone.

Sunday
Continue playing with new phone to get all our music and audio plays on it. Did some more tiling in bathroom. Some tidying up and packing in living room.

Monday 08/04/2013
Initially, tried to take too big door back to B&Q but our friends car is too small so will hire a car. Skoda Octavia booked! Chipped off all the tiles that need to come off in bathroom and started to retile it. Went to get passport photos in case we need them for visas etc. Also got a series of crimp connectors in a Maplins.


Tuesday
Visit doctor for yellow fever jab. Pick up hire car and drive around. Take wood door back to B&Q, take rubbish to tip, lino from Carpet Wrong. Pick up Iridium sim cards from Mailasail. Neighbours round for dinner in the night. While driving back through Balham, a car pulled out from the right and nearly hit us. Missed getting to Carpet Wrong. Ergo, do that tomorrow morning.

Wednesday
Nursing a bit of a hangover. First to go to Carpet Wrong. EPC guy coming between 11:00 and 13:00. Pick up head gasket from post office depot. Tiling in bathroom! Got smaller box for stuff to be sent down to Spain. Packed it full.

Thursday
Getting very close. Tiling in bathroom still being a problem. Lino bought and now needs laying. Packing stuff away. Lino laid, tiling done, time to do the grouting. Buildings insurance sorted.

Friday
Change address as building society, grout tiles. Builder in to fit new back door. Pack stuff away. Sort out what is staying and what is going with us. Undercoat new door and frame. Went to pub to meet Uke N'Boogie which was a lot of fun.

Saturday
Last day in UK. Up early and start putting stuff in loft. Audrey putting down plates to fix carpet/lino at doorways. Off to Travel clinic for second Hep B jab. Drop keys off at Estate Agent. Pick up US$ prepay credit card. Clean house, go to pub for final real ale meal. Down to hotel outside Gatwick.
22:30 and still putting stuff in loft. Living room cleared, kitchen cleared, spare room mostly cleared, dining room mostly cleared, study mostly cleared, main bedroom a bomb site. We are going to work through and get a train at the appropriate time. Time for a beer and a pizza.

Sunday 14 April 2013
Finished packing up house at 03:00 and taxi came to take us to Gatwick at 03:30. Breakfast in airport and then an 07:00 departure with a 11:45 local time arrival. We are in our new home though it has been a 30 hour marathon from Saturday morning to Sunday noon!

20:00 Local Time
Well, after a five hour siesta through the afternoon we are starting to settle into our new (old) home. A quick beer in the marina bar an we started the inevitable list of stuff to do here. It is, however, inexpressably nice to be here at last though we won't be moving anywhere for a couple of weeks. We are now definitely on a long distance cruise!