OUR LAST WEEK

Sunday 23rd October

Brian, spent the day recovering from his walk up Scafell, and I pottered around  doing various chores.  Went for a walk up the fell through Leck Village. 

Monday 24th October

Grey with occasional sun, so spent time updating the blog for the previous week.  Then decided to walk to Whoop Hall for lunch.  It is just down the road but the walk is across the fields.  We had done part of it  on the first Sunday after we arrived at No.2 Bronte cottages when we walked to Kirby Lonsdale.  On that occasion, we were not sure whether we were on the correct path This time however, we discovered that we were definitely not on the correct path that Sunday, because we had very little trouble finding it this time.  Does this mean that we are getting better at not getting lost?  As Brian said it is probably more to do with the fact that as a result of our stay, we have become more familiar with the landscape and understand the environment a bit better.  The lunch was good.  Brian had soup and I had stuffed sardines - nice but a bit oily and they kept repeating!  Whoop Hall looks like an interesting place for people who want a complete holiday.  Nice old building with a comfortable bar and restaurant.  Lovely surroundings, its own heated pool, a few of what looked like self catering cottages on the outer perimeter, and a caravan park next door. 

Tuesday and Wednesday 25 -  26rd October

Potted around Tuesday am and then drove into Kirby Lonsdale about 2.00 pm to go on the Internet in the Library.  Brian wanted to do the banking and post the blog and I went into the email.  When I opened it, I was astounded to see that the estate agent had a reasonable offer for the house.  We have been trying to sell for the past 15 months and to receive this at the end of the holiday was the icing on the cake.

We agreed that we would accept the offer and sent an email to the Agent to that effect and then we had to start looking at how to get our signatures on the contract.  Fortunately the library has a printer, and also a fax machine, so it was not a hassle.   However, we discovered via a text message, on our way back to Bronte Cottages, that we had to sign not only the contract, but initial all 14 pages as well.  This presented more of a problem because the library in KL was not open the next day and we were going to Lancaster to see Sandra and Malik after I had had a hair cut.  A Polish lass at Super Cuts did a really good job on my hair.

We were not so lucky with the Lancaster Library.  Mid term break mean't that there were lots of kids at the computers and the system just couldn't cope - I lost three emails that I had composed and then I couldn't save others  I had been working on - all this with Brian muttering and cursing because  he too was having trouble -  don't get him started on wireless networks!.  They didn't have a fax machine, or a scanner at the Library and one of their staff directed us to a shop which charged £5 per page for a fax -  ten times as much as we had paid in KL.   As the contract contains 17 pages, we went looking for an alternative.  Brian found someone who would scan the whole document for £3, which he accepted, but then discovered that the scanner had left off the bottom of each page where our initials were. 

We were being pressured by the Agent to get it right and back to her immediately because she feared that the buyer would go elsewhere, so next day we headed into Kirby Lonsdale first thing in the morning - had it scanned correctly by a local service (Art Shop - next to The Royal pub) for only £1. After emailing it received confirmation that everything was okay and we had a valid contract with the buyer.  Whoopee having waited 15 months to find a buyer we are very pleased and coming as it did at the end of the holiday means that things should go as well as can be expected with the move.  Now we just need to find somewhere to live!

Thursday 27th October

Spent the day cleaning and packing.  I went up the Fell Road for a walk and then we went into the Cowan Bridge Tea Shop for a last farewell to Geoff and Stephen.  They have only been in Cowan Bridge since April, but have done a great job with the shop.  We had a long chat with them and Geoff was delighted when he discovered that Brian had once worked for Parkland Mfg Co in Bradford because his aunt had worked there as well.   

Friday 28th October - Back to March

Sandra arrived just as we had finished loading the car.  We told her we would send her a note about how much we enjoyed the cottage so that she can put it on her website .  Not that she seems to need it.  The cottage seems to have had someone in it ever since they started advertising it.

The drive back to March was mainly uneventful - except for getting lost in Otley.  It was not a bad 'lost' just added about half an hour to the length of the trip!  But it turned out not to have mad any difference because of a long queue on the Mototway.  Alan and Tina were well when we arrived and we had an easy Friday night meal with them. 

Saturday 29th October - My Retail Therapy Day

After a leisurely breakfast with Tina and Alan, I caught the train to Peterborough to spend some time on my own in the shops.  I had a good look at them all, got some ideas for a new winter wardrobe, bought a lovely pair of black leather boots and a small overnight bag to hold all the additional items I had added since we had arrived.  The bulkiest was the woollen jumper I started knitting when it looked as though we would be doing lots of sitting around because of the bad weather.   I've finished the back, one sleeve and half the front, so didn't do too badly.  Pat from the Kirby Lonsdale shop where I bought it, told me that the wool came from Hebden Bridge, so I'll have a reminder of Yorkshire when I use it to keep me warm on those cold Canberra days next year.  Also made a cowl neck scarf and beanie which I put to good use soon after we arrived in Cowan Bridge.

Alan and Tina took us to The Bay Window at Ramsey for a delicious dinner - lots of fun and laughs with some of their friends who were also there celebrating a 60th birthday.

Sunday 30th October

Went to see Daniel at Linda and Roy's in the morning and then a delicious roast dinner back at Cherrywood Ave.  Tina did a great job and Georgia and I ate most of the roast parsnips - will have to get some of them for our next roast at home.  Before we left Oz the vegetable supply was badly effected by the floods and cyclone early in the year,  and bananas and parsnips were scarse and very expensive.
Then a lazy afternoon with all of us helping Georgia with her math homework.

Monday 31st October

Tina and Alan went to work.  We had a leisurely breakfast then walked through town down to Tesco.  We were looking for a particular brand of port for Alan, but didn't find the exact one, so got a good port made by the same company and a single malt whiskey.  Also some lovely flowers for Tina put together by a woman who has most of her family living in Australia.  Brian cooked a delicious Spag Bol for dinner.

Tuesday 1 November - Return flights

Said goodbye to Alan and Tina; finished loading the car and said goodbye to Evan.  Took longer to get to Bill's house at Wivenhoe than we anticipated, where he Billie and Jean were waiting for us (sorry about that Bill).  Lunch at a pub close to the A12 which we had to take to get us onto the M25 to Heathrow.  Billie, Jean and Brian had fish and chips and I had my first pub style beef pie of the trip.  Can't remember what Bill ate?  It was hard saying good-bye mainly because we always wonder if we will ever see them all again!

No dramas getting to Heathrow although we did miss one of the turnings - but were able to back track fairly easily.  Dropped the car off at Hertz and caught the shuttle to the terminal.  Couldn't believe that I had to remove all the toiletery items in the see through bag I had and put them into a plastic bag supplied by the security guard - talk about bureaucracy gone mad - then a reasonably comfortable flight to Seoul.  Spent most of the three hour stop over stretched out on some seats in the very comfortable Incheon airport and then a smooth and more comfortable flight to Brisbane.  The seats on that flight were more roomy than the ones on the first leg. 

Were directed to use the e-passport route through immigration on arrival in Brisbane (Brian said it didn't save any time) and then the airport train to Roma Street, and the new morning service from Brisbane to Gympie dropped us at Pomona around midday.  We were delighted to see that our friend and kindly neighbour Stephen was waiting for us at the station.  It is not a long walk from there to the house, but it was around 30 degrees centigrade and it is uphill. 

The house looked great.  Robert and Barbara Thorpe were staying in the flat, and they had opened it up to let some air in.  They also provided us with lunch and dinner.  And so to bed and the end of this blog! 

It was a great trip - we were very comfortable in the historic Bronte cottages and despite the weather we did most of the walks Brian wanted to do.  It was great to catch up with all the Smith/Cox family again, and we look forward to seeing some of them visit us in our new abode in the not too distant future.  Linda said that since they have been here, they can picture us in Pomona, so they will have to come again, so that they can picture us in Canberra! 

Thanks

Thank you to all our house sitters for doing such a good job in looking after the house.  It looked lovely when we walked in.  Thank you also to our friends and neighbours Stephen and Gail who came to the aid of those who got stuck with some of our appliances, and also passed on keys and messages.  What will we do without you when we move?