The snowball that is our move to Russia has started to gather speed - mainly because, as Husband pointed out last weekend, we will probably need to be out of our flat in around 8 weeks.
I'm sorry?
8 WEEKS?
It's at this point that my 'laissez-faire cosmopolitan it'll-be-alright-on-the-night' attitude starts to get a little frayed around the edges. How did we go from 'oh, there's plenty of time, la la laaaa, I'll do a cupboard a week, and before we know it everything will be brand spanking ready to go' at the beginning of term to the beginnings of 'blind panic! which-way-is-up?' confusion, in one easy move?
We made a list this weekend, of all the things that need to be sorted. Correction; since Husband is working in Russia every hour god sends, all the things that I need to sort. It wasn't too scary to begin with, but as with every list about moving, you blink and suddenly somebody has snuck into your handbag, kidnapped the list, and added another 40 tasks to the bottom of it.
This morning, for example, from out of nowhere, 'get scratches on car door fixed' appeared after a particularly hairy school run.
Distracted? Me?
I don't really.............
I think my son could definitely help you to learn Russian if you haven't already. Remember the TV subtitles? He learnt a lot that week.
ReplyDeleteWow! 8 Weeks? OMG.
ReplyDeleteI did a change of continence in that time, but that was from one English speaking country to another.
Is there anything I can do to help??
xx jo
You'll be fine. Take a deep breath, say to yourself it's all going to happen anyway, and take it a day at a time....8 weeks is ages in moving-land.
ReplyDeletegood luck, pm. it may seem like you only succeed at the final hour, when everything comes together. but i'm sure it will; you're a commanding woman!
ReplyDeleteI realise this is going to be no comfort to you, but my father used to disappear off to foreign parts leaving my mother to pack up the house and move 6 children abroad on her own. Well, I'm not quite sure that all 6 of us ever moved abroad all at once(births, leaving home, that sort of thing) but you get the idea. So it is possible. Doesn't mean it's easy though. Mind you, she didn't have a blog to look after as well.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!!!
But have you had The Fear yet? At the moment you think you have a lot to do and not much time to do it in. The Fear is when you KNOW that there is not enough time to do it in. It still gets done.
ReplyDeleteWe shipped the boys to Grannys for a weekend when we were packing up. Then went out and both got very very drunk and lost the whole weekend to a bad hangover and The Archers omnibus/Desert Island Discs Sunday morning combo. I recommend not trying this tactic. But it was fun.
And another typical great side effect of this constant state of anxiety...weight loss despite eating your body weight in chocolate, biscuits and crisps washed down with a bottle of vino a night. I don't envy you. Been there. Done there. 3 times. More or less single handed. Despite many a lost night's sleep, things do seem to pull together at the last minute. But I am thinking of you with the greatest of sympathy!!
ReplyDeleteHugs xxx
It will all work out although you may find the 'not-needed, chuck it away' pile expands considerably as you get closer to the move out date!
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem with lists - they always keep getting longer. For every one you scratch off, 5 more appear on the bottom. Down with multi-tasking!
ReplyDeleteI'm stressed just THINKING about it.
ReplyDeleteOh poor you.
ReplyDeleteI think you need the panic moments from time to time, to kick you up the proverbial. (I mean 'one', not 'you personally'.) I felt it was like approaching exams. One minute you're thinking "loads of time for revision" and the next "aaaaargh, I don't know anything at all and it's too late now". A little bit of panic gets the adrenalin flowing.
Hang in there.
I like lulu's change of continence in 8 weeks...
Hello - first read of someone else's blog and love it! All the more so because you're off to Russia and I used (over ten years ago now but still) to live there. Good luck! It's amazing and fantastic and exhausting (and probably both much more and much less of all those things than it was when I was there). Keep posting from there! All will be utterly utterly otlichno, except when it's uzhasno of course.
ReplyDeleteps glad I wasn't the only one that started doing my pelvic floors at the change of "continence"...
Whenever we move (no matter how far) I have booked a moving company that comes in and packs for you. Any chance of getting that?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad no one ever told me how manic it was & how much to do there would be, or I might not have done it. SO I'm not going to tell you.
ReplyDeleteWe still got it all done, but it did mean we went to the airport with 18 pieces of luggage....
Troutie, funny you should mention that - and I bet it was cheaper than Rosetta Stone...
ReplyDeleteLM, thanks so much for offering but I think I will just quietly implode on my own (for the moment!)
NVG, well, of all people you should know so I'll take courage from that!
Grit, hmmmm (my blog alter-ego may be commanding...)
Gpm, thanks - I think! - for the comforting words. And the blog may have to fend for itself for a few days whilst this is all going on (guest posts, anyone? Ha!)
Brit, not a bad idea. Although since Husband is travelling so much I may end going out and getting blasted alone which frankly wouldn't be quite so much fun. although probably cheaper.
Nicola, no no, don't hold that sort of carrot out. These things (i.e. unworked at weight-loss) NEVER happen to me - the opposite in fact.
Sharon, well it's not all bad, then!
A&J, down with multi-tasking, up with pa's. except of course I don't have one of those, dammit.
Mwa, now that's not what I was trying to do; spread the stress! Stop it at once....
Iota, you're right of course. A kick in the butt was definitely needed. Still hasn't stimulated me into taking any action, mind you. And isn't spell check a wonderful thing?
PlanB, hello and thanks for visiting! And you lived in Russia 10 years ago? We probably know someof the same people (I wasn't there then but Husband was)
EPM - I'm sorry? IS there another type of mover? (Actually we've not booked one yet, so I may have to eat my words, but hopefully that will be what happens this time too)
Paradise, 18? EIGHTEEN? I bow to you owe superior traveller. Did you have staff to carry it all as well?
Hey! *snapping fingers* back to earth here.
ReplyDeleteEight weeks. Really? That isn't that long.
Hang in there.