Nous sommes arrivés -- we've arrived!

And, at last, we're here to stay!

Friday was indeed a busy day. We started out going to the bank to empty and close our safety deposit box, only to find that they don't open the boxes on Fridays (or Mondays). Now, there were two people with their jaws on the floor. Luckily the bank took pity upon us, and opened it especially for us. This took half an hour, while Kaye went off for tea with a friend and Ed went to the dentist. Kaye went back to clear it out and turn in her key, while Ed returned after his dentist appointment. He had a root canal and the dentist managed to break off a drill deep in a root. In theory this should be okay in the end, but meanwhile he has lots of pain and we're hoping it settles down soon so we don't have to find an emergency dentist on short notice. All our other errands were accomplished and we spent the afternoon doing the final packing up in the house. In the evening, we had a nice dinner with our neighbors directly opposite, and the next door neighbors came over later.

Saturday we got up early, took the mattress and a few other things to the dump, and started packing the car. In spite of our best efforts, we had to abandon more things, including the card table (and chairs) that we were planning on using for a computer table until our furniture arrives from storage. (Meanwhile, we're "computering" on a parson-style coffee table.) Some plants that we really wanted to bring had to be left behind.

Around 10.30, the three of us wedged ourselves into the car and took off to drop the last key at the real estate agency. We were blessed with a bit of Dutch hagel (hail) on the way, but that cleared up and we had reasonably good, if windy, weather for travelling. We went via Amiens and Rouen, rather than through Paris, which added another hour to the trip, but was easier driving. After dark, from near Le Mans to past Tours, we chased a setting crescent moon, which was quite lovely. We arrived about 23.30, unloaded a minimum amount of boxes and bags and fell exhausted into bed.

Lydia did not take well to travelling in her cage. We ended up taking her out, with lead attached, and she sat on the passenger's lap or on the floor. (This was actually quite nice, since she has never been a lap cat!) She was fairly quiet, moving around to change position occasionally, until about 22.00, when we were all getting anxious to get home soon. Out of the car, Lydia immediately drank quite a lot and ate a bit, after refusing to touch anything all day.

We're keeping her in the bedroom for a day or so, until she settles a bit, then we'll let her explore the rest of the house. This might be sooner rather than later because this room is quite cool, which is fine for sleeping, but not for a small cat.

This morning, we got up, unloaded the car and rushed to the grocery, which closes at 11.45. We won't have to go food shopping for a few days now. Now we're attacking an enormous mound of washing, hoping that nature's dryer (the clothesline) is in good working shape in the next days.