Oh my, I really have been very deficient haven't I? In my defence I have been quite busy with preparations for The Move. Things are going well so far, at least they are at my end. Anything that is the responsibility of another person is being horribly delayed and it's making me fret. I am still planning to move in 2 weeks' time but these delays mean it is unlikely that I will have a tenant ready to move in straight after Easter. This isn't all bad as it will give me time to scrub, clean, paint and make pretty but it does mean that I'll be paying the mortgage and not clearing debts.

I'm quite excited about this move actually. I have been for a while now but it's actually happening - it's no longer just talk or daydreams. It still surprises me that moving house, which is usually enormously exciting and full of promises of what is yet to come, actually means carrying out a series of mundane, tedious or even unpleasant tasks. Packing for example is not a great way to spend any amount of time, least of all an hour every evening for 2 weeks. I've also spent the past 2 Sundays scrubbing my window frames to clear the mould and spiders' webs (I realise I would need to do this anyway but I feel my hand is slightly forced by the circumstances). And now I need to paint most of my house. The inside, I mean. I'm not scaling the outside and re-rendering or anything.

A work colleague and his wife recently bought their first house, having rented for several years. They don't yet have children but they bought a 4 bedroom family home with the intention of staying there until they retire, when they might perhaps downsize. This to me seems quite alien as I never have been particularly good at planning for my future, but on a more practical note if I hadn't moved as much as I have I wouldn't have sorted through my belongings on a fairly regular basis. And by golly do I hoard a lot of crap. Imagine having to clear through 40 years' worth in one go?! *shudders*

And just think, I get to do all this again in a years' time when I move back out of Mummy's.