Nearly ready to go

Less than three days to go now before I finally leave the house and head for the airport to start the adventure. As ever, so much to do, so little time! I’ve finally heard from the man who’s going to be fixing my kitchen, so I‘ve been madly moving things out of the kitchen so that he’ll be able to strip out what’s there and put a new floor in so that the fitters can put the kitchen in: hopefully it will all be done by the time I get back. All the food is now in its temporary home on the old dining table. It’s amazing what you find that you didn’t know you had: a pack of tarka dall (I love Indian food), some pudding rice dated ‘best before 2001’ which I’ve thrown out, and several other things… I discovered I had two packs of rice and two of spaghetti on the go! So when it all goes back I’ll at least know what I have and where it all is. The new kitchen has its main food storage in drawers rather than a cupboard, so it’s easier to see what’s there at the back.

So many plans seem to have fallen into place. Amazingly, I heard that two young people were looking for temporary accommodation in Newcastle just when I’m away, so I got in touch, met them and they will be house sitting for me – much safer for me than having the house empty. They are a lovely pair (just to make it confusing, she’s also Sarah!), and are both planning to do postgraduate study, she at Newcastle and he at Durham, and I hope they’ll become good friends even after they’ve found a more permanent home and I’ve reclaimed mine. They weren’t at all fazed when I asked if they were happy to have the kitchen replaced around them, either!

And Australian Quakers really have been great. In several places they’ve arranged a complete programme for me: so much so that when I get to Sydney, half way through the six weeks I’m travelling in the ministry, I’ve booked myself into a hotel for three days so I can just chill out and have a complete rest. After that I’m moving into the accommodation at the Meeting House. Sydney is the one place where nothing much seems to have been arranged: but I’m not bothered by that, I always said that my main objective is simply to be there and to meet with people, and anything else is an extra. I will be able to go to Meeting in Sydney, and that’s as much as is necessary.

Meanwhile I’ve also been madly tidying my bedroom, moving clothes around, selecting what I’m going to take (about half a ton, I’ll have to cut back a bit!) and making the room at least vaguely habitable for the house sitters.

So there’s still a lot of loose ends to clear up: but then I’ll be up, up and away!