Home time

Last post was Thursday 25th, so picking up the thread from then, Thursday we travelled to our usual Calais site, but that was full, so we found another ACSI site near, and spent a hot day and night there. We were up early and managed to book on a crossing a couple of hours earlier than our scheduled booking. The Animal Health Certificate check was a drive-through and was painless and quick. The crossing was also the usual 35 mins and before we knew it, we were in the UK. 

We have now been home a week. In some ways these are really the first days of our retirement, since the European Tour was living in a bubble, a fabulous bubble and one where life is reduced to the essentials ; beer, football… 😁

We have been exceedingly busy in our first week back, clearing waist high growth in the end section of our garden, and getting the pool setup for the summer season, since access to water is now a critical requirement for any pitch. 

We have seen all our family, in dribs and drabs and weekend stays, and we are settling in to this new phase of our life. Maybe a bit early to be sure, but we think we’re going to like it. 

The van needs a bit of a look at, it having a service light on and also a failure of the SRS, the security features that include seat belts and airbags. It’s booked in for next week. 

Otherwise I’m back to band practices weekly, and also my youngest and I are up to Heathrow tomorrow early to meet his US girlfriend who is coming to stay for 3 weeks. With the England game back at 1am, after FIFA teased us with a rearrangement to 6pm (seems like they don’t really know their worst from their elbow) I sense a big kip Monday lunchtime once we’re back from the airport. 

Reflecting on our trip, it was amazing. We’ve seen so much and experienced so many different things. It was definitely the right thing to do on the day we retired.