Tuesday 1 January 2013

Where did 2012 go??

Apparently I'm rubbish at blogging!! So sorry for the lack of, well, blog since moving day!! But ... we did it!! Six months ago!!!

I can't believe it's been that long. It feels like forever and no time at all both at the same time. So much has happened since July. Moving day was fun … the guys we found in the end were excellent, and massive thanks to our brothers who both rocked up raring to go and help us load the vans. Unfortunately said vans weren’t big enough for all our stuff … the old house’s tenant is being very accommodating of her cellar full of our stuff that’s still there!

Our summer was perfect, getting stuck into country life. I’ve never seen so many dead mice and small associated rodents … our cats think they’re in heaven!! Most were intact at first, then one of the cats decided that she likes their bellies so we now find heads and bottoms … nice!! It only took me about 6 weeks to stop having panic attacks, cold sweats and nausea when I fling them off the dustpan into their oblivion, I can even do it without covering them with kitchen roll now, get me! The children are loving the big house, the fresh air and the neighbours … currently sheep. There were cows, but they’ve gone off to the big farm in the sky, so we now have a winter of mucky little clouds running across the hillside. Our eldest started complaining a couple of weeks in that his body was hurting, and here I was thinking he was stricken with some hideous disease. It didn’t take me long to realise that it was his muscles – he’d never had the space to run around like he does now – all flipping day!!

Our house is beautiful, and in the perfect setting. We have a family of owls in the “chimney”, and through the skylights above our bed we can see them soaring late on a summer evening. Of course it’s very cold and very dark just now, 1st January 2013, so we don’t see them very often now. One thing we learnt is about domestic oil tanks. Now, us townies take things like hot water for granted. So, it comes as something of a surprise to find out that you have to fill an oil tank up to benefit from this luxury. Bye-bye £1500!! We’re desperately hoping that it will last us the winter as we battled to find a company that would deliver to us, and they all refused to do so after September, eek! We live down a track, which is fabulous as we no longer have to put up with 6 busses an hour passing by, along with the drunks heading to the newsagent next door at 10am in the morning. We now have the neighbour walking his dog, the farmer’s brother visiting him once a week, the odd pheasant and a family of partridges, who are hilarious by the way!

Our eldest has settled into his new pre-school impressively well. He’s got another year there in Scotland – in England he would have started big school this September. There are 11 in the pre-school, and our youngest will make number 12 when she starts on her second birthday in February – she can’t wait!! The “big” school has 32 students – that’s smaller than his old pre-school class. It’s a completely different way of life, and a way of life that we seem to have dropped seamlessly into. Hubby and our boy have been shooting, we can drive to beautiful, secluded beaches in less than 15 minutes, everyone knows everyone and there’s such a sense of community. The children are just about getting used to strangers saying “Hello” in the street without us having to scuttle off worried that we’ve done something wrong. The stresses of our former life seem to have melted away, as corny as it sounds. Now I worry about, well, thinking about it, not a lot really! Work is streaming steadily in, the bills are getting paid, although our cars seem to be revolting against country life and have insisted on being pacified by having copious amounts of money spent on them in the last few months. 4x4 here we come methinks! We’ve all never slept so well in our lives … there’s literally nothing to wake us up, except sometimes the weather. Which is dramatic in its gloriousness. Seriously, it’s like the sky is in HD. The sunsets are incredible. The dawns are incredible. To the point that I keep my camera readily accessible so that I can run outside to catch that day’s.



As we rolled into 2013 last night, I realised with huge surprise that 2012 saw us realise a lifelong ambition – we moved to the country. To a stunning house. To a wonderful lifestyle and a life full of opportunities for our little ones, and for us. We did it, we really, truly, actually did it! :P  that’s me, sticking my tongue out at all those who didn’t think we would!

I just wanted to say a great big MAHOOSIVE thank you to all the lovely folk who’ve supported us and to my wonderful clients. As some of you know, 2012 has been a huge one for us. This time last year we were wondering if we could do it. Well, we did it – we moved 400 miles away from our families, left well-paid jobs and made Neverland full-time. And we haven’t looked back.

If you make one resolution for 2013, make it a good one. Take that leap of faith. Better to regret trying and being able to go back, than regret never trying. Do what you love, be with who you love, be someone you love. Hug often, smile more, laugh every day. Talk with your angels. Be proud of your children being children, yes, even when they’re tearing round the house screaming their heads off! Be thankful that they can. Pray that they will for as long as they can. Make memories people.

We’ve all been through some tough times, some much more than others can possibly imagine. We need these times to make us strong, to make us people we are proud to be. Don’t go into a new year feeling guilt or regret. Feel strong, feel empowered to do something positive, ask for help, offer it whenever you can. Pass it on.

We wouldn’t be here without Neverland, and testimony to that is the fact that about 75% of our waiting list is returning clients or recommendations. This means so much to me. You have made our dream possible. YOU! If you can help someone who you’ve never even met fulfil a lifelong dream, what else can you do?

With the most heartfelt thanks
Clare, aka Tink (with tears in her eyes and a swollen heart) xxx

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