After getting contract work for a short while, My husband had to move back down to the London area, the contract kept getting extended, but because of him being sent to Germany and the cost of a mortgage, plus his boardings, the flights to come home, the cost of the expenses while he was away, and the dream of emigration to Canada for more land, it worked out so much cheaper for me to give up my dream of the small holding in Scotland, and move back down to Midhurst from where i had once left.
We rented our house out to a lovely friend and her son. My own son came up with his girlfriend and helped paint the outside of the house as well as help me pack up boxes,
and he help my friend move into the house from where i was leaving.We had a fancy dress leaving party in the barn to say goodbye to our friends, there was a few tears, mainly from me, a few giddy heads that night too, again mainly from me, it was a very emotional night.
The following day the storms arrived, some of the hard work we had put into the garden, got destroyed, it was so disheartening, especially as i was leaving Scotland with a very heavy heart.
The archway i had put together and stained, and my husband had bolted to a concrete floor, was destroyed and about five feet away from its original position, that was the Monday night, again i wanted to cry.
The Tuesday we collected the van, collected a mates son and his mate, and loaded up the van ready, only to find, that although it was the biggest van that my husband could drive on his licence, it wasn't big enough, and we would have to leave some of our things behind for a while, we sorted out essentials and packed them, leaving non-essentials behind, later that evening, we said our goodbyes and left for the long journey back down south.....during which, we stopped at regular intervals to let the two dogs out for a pee now and then.
The dogs were brilliant during the journey, even though the space for us all was cramped, they didn't whine, and just settled down under my feet, the cat was beside me in her basket with coats and dog leads on top, in fact my husband had the best seat even though he was driving, he had the most space!
My son helped us move into a little rented mid terrace, town house, in a very neat little close... the garden out the back is the size of a postage stamp in comparison to the house in New Byth, with the front garden being smaller still. Getting used to stairs again was a bit strange at first, and Katie the Spaniel refused to go up at first, until of course she couldn't see me then she changed her mind.
Ghillie had managed to tear his paw at some point, so we had visited the vets within the first few days, and the poor dog is now drugged up to the hilts.
Well this is it, the end of a chapter.....well for now. After the amount of time, effort, and money, let alone the paperwork and events we have had to attend to be able to emigrate, we hope we can, its taken over a year and they can still say 'no'.... so i will write again at the next chapter, whether its in Canada, with a new life.....or back in Scotland with a slightly different life...either way, we will have livestock again, and maybe a small business to go with it, but will tell you about it all next time.
