Out with the old, in with the new

We went for a walk today along the river. It's one of our favourite places, and it was so beautiful in the winter sunshine. It was an ideal place to recount our memories of last year, and to try to think towards the adventure that's to come.

Last year brought both joy and despair. We decided to have a baby, and then discovered it was going to be difficult; I got a great new job, but my husband lost his - and then found another better one, but thousands of miles from home - so I resigned from my job. Still, despite the inevitable tears that those things brought, it was another year full of laughter, family and love, so on balance, still a wonderful year.

This year I know will be a challenge. Things seem to still be moving very slowly on the moving front. We're still waiting to find out exactly where we're going to be living and how exactly we're supposed to send our stuff out there, so it's hard to pack when you don't know what to pack it in, and where to send it! We're also having masses of work done on the house before we go, which inevitably I'm going to have to take charge of once my husband's gone. The joys of work men, you can't beat them, eh?! Oh yes, and the MESS they make. Can't wait for that one.

We're also crossing fingers we'll be able to get tenants soon. The market is just flooded with people who are renting their properties out rather than selling... It's depressing even thinking about how much our house has gone down in value! What a nightmare the economy's going through. Still, even if we don't get tenants immediately, our accommodation in the Gulf is provided free of charge, so anything we get from rental here is a bonus. Thank goodness.

(On a side note.. it never ceases to amaze me how often you see accommodation spelt wrongly on signs advertising accommodation! But I digress.)

Tonight I'm going to have a big sort out of my clothes as a first step to what we're calling The Big Clear-out of 2009. It's going to be a long job! We have so much extraneous rubbish lying about... This is just like our last house move, but worse, because we can't take it all with us!