I promised in my last post that I would let you know why I have been writing fewer blog posts recently.  Well, for the last few weeks I’ve been tackling practical jobs and to-do lists, while trying to get ahead with deadlines for commissioned articles in order to create a few weeks’ breathing space for myself.  The thing is, I’m moving house next week.  Not just moving house, but relocating to the other side of the country.

When I left Somerset some years ago to move in with my partner, I didn’t imagine I’d be going back any time soon – but life (and my partner) had other ideas, and earlier this year the decision was made that we would relocate.  We’ve always been great at timing – for example, we booked the Registry Office and only weeks later realised that we’d picked a Bank Holiday weekend, thereby condemning ourselves to a future of trying to book anniversary dinners and weekends away at peak holiday time.  In this instance, no sooner had we decided to start a long-distance house hunt than lockdown was announced.  However, despite all the obstacles and frustrations, and with a lot of help along the way from Robert at Robert Bruce Relocation, four months on we have found our new home and are preparing to move.

For a number of excellent reasons, I have moved house quite a few times since the turn of the millennium.  This is what I have learned about moving house:

1. If you can avoid moving, do so. It’s expensive, stressful and time-consuming.  You need to be very convinced that the benefits of your new location are worth the upheaval.
2. If you can’t avoid moving, it’s great if you can keep the move local.  Long distance moves are exponentially more stressful and fraught with complications.
3. Ensure that you have the following items in your possession (not on the lorry):

• • toilet roll
  • emergency chocolate
  • a kettle and/or whatever you need to make and drink hot drinks of your choice, including at least one teaspoon
  • cleaning materials (your new home will never, ever, be as clean as you’d want it to be when you get there)
  • keys to your new home AND to your old home (you’ll need to lock it up after you!)
  • the keys to your car (sound obvious? Maybe, but a friend of ours managed to leave their car keys in the drawer of a dresser which was loaded onto the removal lorry…)
  • if you are as paranoid as we are, all important personal documents, your passport and driving licence
  • phone chargers
  • hand soap and a hand towel (to go in the bathroom when you arrive, together with the toilet roll)
  • a toolbox (there will always be something which needs tools in the first 48 hours, while your stuff is still in boxes)
  • a doormat (saves a lot of floor cleaning)
  • at least one bin bag
  • a meter key (you’ll need to take meter readings at both ends for the benefit of the utility companies)
  • hand luggage (a couple of changes of clothing, your daily toiletries, and a bath towel) to tide you over until you can start unpacking
  • Paracetamol
  • a mobile phone, for guiding the driver of the lorry when they get lost, photographing the meter readings, and using as a torch to find the stopcock in the back of the cupboard under the sink.

4. Find out (ideally before you get there) where your nearest hardware shop or DIY store is. You will need at least 5 things in the first 48 hours.
5. Find out where your nearest takeaway is. You’ll need it for several days.  Make sure you know where your plates and cutlery are (or add a picnic set to the list in point 3 above).  Eating egg fried rice out of the carton with your fingers is not recommended.  Trust me on this.
6. You will need to leave your fridge and freezer to stand for a while to settle after their journey. Just make sure you remember to switch them on at some point BEFORE you do your first large food shop.
7. Write your new address down somewhere or store it on your phone. You will go blank when asked for it.  For several weeks, possibly longer.
8. There will always be at least one Really Important Contact whom you forget to notify of your change of address. Just make sure it’s not your bank.
9. The spare light bulbs from your old home will never fit the light fittings in your new home.
10. It is a universal law that the more you spend on curtains, the less likely they are to fit in your next home.

Despite all that, I am excited as well as apprehensive, and very much looking forward to being back in Somerset.  It’s the place where – notwithstanding a mixed heritage and a nomadic childhood which left me feeling rootless – I have felt most settled and at home.  Thanks in no small part to the decluttering process which I have written about in a previous blog post, this move isn’t as daunting as some have been.  Wish me luck – I’ll see you on the other side!

(Can you guess from the photograph where we are moving to?)