Last days…

At the risk of sounding apocalyptic, these “last days” prior to departure are turmoil of every kind.  The most obvious being the sorting through, clearing out, discarding, treasuring, packing, storing.  

The less obvious are the emotional ones and for me it is the notion of leaving an old familiar routine behind which tugs at me a little, though I am instantly cheered by the fact that I am privileged to be able to establish new routines and familirities in new places, with new people elsewhere in the world! 

The “Pollyanna” in me remains the dominant figure but occasionally, even Polly has a “moment” or two… 

It is remarkable to me how thoroughly “at home” I feel here in our beautiful rented apartment, on the circle of Valkenburgerplein in the charming town of Heemstede, North Holland (yes, that’s a name of a province) The Kingdom of The Netherlands, this after only three years and one month!

I have had the privilege of being included, very warmly, in the community of our apartment block, the hockey club, the local gym, the tennis club, the protestant church and also the museum where I am a volunteer. It is these groups of wonderful folk whom I shall miss, hopefully only for about seven months as it is our wish to return to this very town after our adventuring.

The even less obvious changes are those of the familiarity of the daily routines of shopping, cleaning and cooking.  

The familiar, friendly faces in the supermarket, bakery, greengrocer and favourite ice cream store will be fondly remembered and hopefully returned to.

It is remarkable how quickly one becomes used to the way that the washing machine works; the system of hanging out the laundry and the best days for doing so; the most efficient way to fold and pack away…

Getting to grips with a new kitchen set-up; learning the best setting on the oven and how it actually functions; ditto with the microwave for heating left-overs; all these seemingly trivial daily chores are so essential to our lives and they become a “home comfort” to return to…

Our initial move from the land of our birth was a much bigger, more daunting one but this time it feels a whole lot less certain, thanks partially to the viral crisis sweeping the globe, but also to the age/stage of our lives and the lack of fixed home address to come back to…  

My “moment” has been had and it’s on to the more practical, pressing matters of today: do we still need salt & pepper for our last meal or can I wrap and pack that into the box yet???