Today

In (to paraphrase "The Weakest Link") a reversal of fortune, we went to Sussex to bring all Paul's stuff back.

Paul hired a transit van and we set off for Sussex. It was empty, of course, and reverberated a bit in anticipation of having a full load.

Unable to sleep, we'd set of at a ridiculously early hour. Utterly ridiculous, because we still hit 8.30 rush hour traffic at Worthing and 9.00 rush hour traffic at Brighton. Still, we stopped off at Flat 2 and admired the work that had been done on the ceiling.

Then off to collect the stuff. It had been fairly neatly arranged and, after all, Paul hadn't unpacked very much, All loaded in 1/2 an hour (all those sessions at the gym do have some effect, you know) and we were on our way back home in 40 minutes.

In My Day

It was so exciting when we moved from the flat in Belmont to our first house in Eastbourne. Even the fact that the mortgage repayment was 3 times the rent (that was in the days of 16% interest rates) couldn't damp our enthusiasm.

We were told that the house would be ready in March and started to get organised. We were so poor that we had hardly anything. The carpet wouldn't fit as the new house was open-plan, nor would the curtains. Paul decided to hire a Bedford van and we asked a friend to help. On the great day, Paul couldn't get away from work till the evening, so I started packing on my own. (Where was Lizzy? Perhaps at the childminders'...)

It's surprising how many boxes you can fill, even when you've very little furniture. I flogged up and down the stairs, taking stuff down in readiness. It didn't help that my period started that day - I had to lie down at one point.

Eventually Paul and friend turned up; were delighted at how much I'd managed to do solo and got the van loaded. We collected Lizzy and drove, in pouring rain, to Eastbourne.

The layout of the property was with the back garden, surrounded by a high wall, facing the road. There was a high wooden gate into the garden. As it was a new house there was no lawn and the garden was a sea of mud. We slipped and staggered into the house (good thing there were no carpets); the pieces of planking we'd laid over the mud being more of a hindrance than a help.

Paul & friend drove back to get another load. I tried to keep Lizzy, aged 2, entertained and to sort a few things out. There were a couple of cards and gifts at the house. Mamma, bless her, had sent a box which had tea and loo roll - the sort of things that tend to buried in a box labelled "Christmas Decorations".

The following day we went back to lift the carpet which we giving to Mum (it turned out to be full of pins as a result of all my sewing and fitted nothing at their flat).

Ever since using removal firms has seemed like a good idea.

My arms ache from lifting.