Jackie's Blog

When we left California, we had a quote from a moving company in the amount of $24,000 which did not include the mileage! That was why we chose to self pack using Uhaul Ubox pods. We ended up with five pods, and the total cost including storage came to about $8000!  Therefore, we were quite scared at the thought of a transatlantic move. However, the cost of moving is largely the road cost. It is lucky that we live very close to a port! Right now, the cost of a 20 ft container shipped door to door is about $10,000, which is something we can live with. In the mean time, I have started removing the 'personal' touches in our home by taking down framed family photos, and mementos that have meaning to us but may distract a possible buyer. Now I have to fill in a lot of holes in the walls. 

 We decided to move back to the UK in the middle of 2023 and then it seemed so far away! Six months later, Dick has a new job (which he loves), and I don't have one at all, The latter being part of the moving plan. Technically, I finished working at the nursing home in October but I have worked two separate weeks in the mean time to help train my replacement and still maintain ties there. Since then I have kept myself very busy completing small projects in the house- all strange things that you only really notice when you are thinking about selling and what other people may notice! Paint flaking in a corner, and patching and painting a closet among other things. I've also started what I can only say now is phase 1 of the sorting and clearing out process. I say phase 1 as I've quickly realized that you need more than one go through 'stuff'.  Aside from that, I wanted to start recording the processes we are going through to move our lives back to the UK. I am using Tr