And I’m in…

This weekend I moved in with JJ. Funnily enough it all went according to plan. We rented a van Friday morning that JJ was driving and returned this morning without a problem. The plan was to wait for his roommate to move out on Saturday and both of us move in that room. He took his time of course and he was out Saturday late in the afternoon leaving a very filthy room and bathroom behind him and lots of stuff that were his responsibility but we had to sort out.

Anyway, we did three trips between my old place and my new. We could have done less if we pushed it a bit, but there was no actual need to overstress ourselves. We made one journey a day. In between, we cleaned and painted the new room, washed the carpets, cleaned the bathroom, removed shelves, built furniture, move JJ’s stuff from downstairs upstairs and tidied things up. During these days we also paid a visit to IKEA, a local DIY store, a sofa store and the recycling center of the borough to get rid of old things and appliances no longer needed.

The result is outstanding though. I completely love the way the new bedroom looks like. It’s very cosy, inviting, ‘clean’ and tidy. I still have a couple of boxes to unpack and some clothes to sort out. I also need some time to get used to the new arrangement of things but I will be fine soon enough.

And this is only the beginning.

  This is how our room now looks like

Last weekend…

Saturday was JJ’s last day of holiday and we decided to do something different than normal. That’s the good thing about London. It can provide so many great means to escape your everyday life. So, having a list of possible destinations we decided to visit Hampton Court Palace.

Hampton Court Palace was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey, a favourite of the King Henry VIII. However when the Cardinal fell from favour the palace was handed to the King. In case you’re not familiar with Henry VIII’s story I strongly suggest you do. His is a very interesting story. (That is if you are into this kind of things.) He is generally acknowledged to be a very charismatic, attractive, intelligent but at the same time notorious, vicious and very strong-minded person. He is mostly remembered for his role in reforming the State with separating the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church and for his many wives. Especially for the way he treated them and moved from one to the next in order to get a male heir.

These are some pictures I took during our visit. The palace and the surrounding gardens were very interesting to see. We were very lucky as well because of the beautiful weather.  I think we must have spent around 2.5 to 3 hours walking around, visiting the quarters and learning about the old days.

The palace 

Some residents

 The kitchen

The wine celar.

The courtyard

The inside

 The beautiful garden

The room overlooking the garden

 

During Sunday I started packing! Hooray!
I wasn’t looking to it to be honest. I didn’t know where to start. I want to go through most of my stuff and separate those which must be given to charity, recycled or simply thrown away. That procedure is time consuming but required so that I don’t carry my stuff to my new place to simply throw away later. I’m also taking my time to wrap everything properly so that to minimise the items that will come out of the boxes broken. That is why I needed to start early. Although I am pretty sure I’ll still have loads to do at the last minute.  

My room now is mostly occupied by boxes, piles and half full suitcases. I don’t have lots of room to manoeuvre and I keep on kicking a damn box I have next to my door. My toes are not that happy but all this is simply temporary. Next weekend a brand new life for me / us begins.
  

Status update…

 In a week time I’ll be packing my stuff to move to JJ’s house that will become our house. I can’t but feel excited and nervous about it. I haven’t started anything yet, but I have many lists in my head of what needs to be done, packed and when. We’ve booked a van and I say ‘we’ because he will be driving. I’ve also booked a day off work, next Friday. I need to take some days before the end of the year and with my Christmas holidays already booked; I thought it would be a good opportunity.

Without doubt, having a van means that we will pay a visit to IKEA. It’s a ritual now. Every time we have a car and some time, we always go to pay our respects. It’s funny how there is always something to buy there…

In preparation of the day, JJ decided to have a massive spring cleaning of the house (beginning of winter). So, he got dressed on his DIY clothes and got into work. He has some days off from work anyway, so he decided to use them by getting productive.

Of course during the last weekend I was able and glad to help him. Saturday morning we got dressed into clothes for the occasion (old, falling apart and ready to be discarded) and firstly visited the local DIY stores. We bought the paint and material we needed and we soon got into work. If you have never been to your local DIY store, you should. It’s an interesting experience for various reasons.

Anyway, the last weekend we finished the front wooden door (crimson red), entrance corridor (almond), one wall of the living room (passionfruit), changed the outside motion-enabled light, doorbell and filled some cracks on various walls. The colour of the living room looks nice. We did only one wall and the room looks cosy. The rest of the walls are covered by beige wallpaper. The name of the colour though is probably the gayest we could find: passionfruit.

That's the newly painted wall...