jasper123

And remember way back then we received our pay in those little brown envelopes, notes along with the coins altogether,
What I have been told lately is the way you get your pay now is most people get it paid into there bank account by direct debit like we do in the States,

jasper123

Hi trottytrue,
Well I was thinking of moving my date a little closer but have decided to just go with my original flight booking of November 30th, it will give me extra time to get everything done,
I have done all the time sensitive things that were on the top of my list, taken care of business so to speak, so that gives me a good feeling that I have all my bank issues and legal stuff all done, I have closed down three bank accounts, and arranged for all the utility bills paid electronically by the one bank account that I am going to leave open, so when I move back home the final bills will get paid automatically by my bank, of course I will have to make sure I have more then enough money in the account Lol

The last important thing is my car, It got a nasty dent in it recently when I parked it when I went shopping at walmart and when I came out I saw the damage, so I have arranged to take it in to a body repair shop tomorrow morning, and they will fix it up like new, my car insurance is paying most of it, my part is the $300 deductible, so then you see I will be able to sell the car when the time comes closer to my leaving date,

So now I am looking forward --- (NOT) to sorting and packing and chucking all my stuff that I have horded through the years, like you are doing, then I have to go through all the boxes in my Garage and sort through everything, stuff to sell and stuff to just chuck, then sale the furniture, when my place looks close to bare, then I will feel great, all I need is my TV and a Recliner, and I will bring the table & chairs out on the patio inside to eat off of, they are old so when I leave I will just chuck em out,

But I can take my time on that bit by bit, every week on my days off, I still have almost 5 months left before my flight,

But I know that time will just fly by --- and then I will be on the plane flying back home, ---- and of course I will make sure that nobody sits in your seat T.T. You always keep everyone company on there flights I have heard, you will be able to find me easily --- I will be the guy with the big smile on his face ear to ear, the old guy with grey hair that looks so (HAPPY)
Take care T.T.
Rodney.

Mrs Sully

Congratulations, I'm so happy for you Barb

trottytrue

Rodney I do not envy you the sorting out I am completely exhausted from doing it. It use to be I could clean up and just stick things in the closet or in drawers but now I have to really think about what I am doing. I am a great hoader. I have brochures and travel leaflets from when we first moved to California. We drove all the way from Florida in an old station wagon. We called in at many places on the way each time I would pick up leaflets. We stopped in at Boot Hill. I have cards and letters from when we first arrived I found a very larg box under one of the beds and could have spent hours going through it but it will have to wait. The estate agent is coming on Tuesday to do a virtual tour so everything has to be looking really good. When everything is done I am going to make up a scrapbook of all my saved memories.

Thankyou for keeping the seat for me Rodney I wont take up much room. I dont know how many times I have taken that trip but I keep ending up back here

aes1

TT, that sounds so funny, but I know it really isn't for you. I am keeping everything crossed for you to sell your house this time around. Has the market picked up in your area? It must be very frustrating hearing of all those with definite leaving dates or already over the pond, but remember, things always work out the way they are supposed to, even if we don't or can't recognize that at the time. Patience is indeed a virtue, I wish they gave classes on it at school

Just thought I would give a quick update on Malta life! It is now getting hotter and hotter, 31 Celsius with sun all day long every day. But there is still that nice sea breeze, mornings are cool and nights are pleasant to be outdoors. Unlike Charleston, where I would be sweating 24/7 by now, I find here I can still sit outside at one in the morning enjoying the night air. There are a few mosquitos around, very sneaky, keep themselves hidden, lie in wait when you aren't suspecting them, and then attack!! No insect screens , so everyone gets bitten but we don't complain too much - I think they are the diluted kind of mozzie here, not the giant armour plated, helmet wearing out to kill US football kind of insect we got in the States! Summer months in Malta are delightful. Even more activities and events going on, we are in the middle of the Malta International Arts Festival - I attended a free play in Valletta, in the open air, this week. Great! Only problem was, I didn't realize it was going to be in Italian, a language of which I only speak a handful of words!!! The write-ups for it were in English so how did I know?!!! I am still so used to living 26 years in a country which thinks American English is the only language in the world, that I had forgotten how cosmopolitan life here in Malta is! This island really does show how small the universe is, with so many people of so many nationalities, of course most of them tourists, and plenty of them are Brits! My roaming about and exploring days are being curtailed with my part-time hotel job and evening TEFL course. Those together easily make an 8 hour day. Studying is very hard at this age too, I find I am definitely in need of a lot more down time to rest in between!! But, I am hoping it will all be worth it and August I can get back to finding out more about this fascinating country!!

Everyone, keep dreaming and making those dreams come true

pcmaccallum

Hello everyone. I am trying to keep up but i dont get on line too often now we are in Ireland. the threads build up so quickly. So much is happening for all of you, new jobs, houses up for sale and the ones who have moved back already. I am thinking of you all and sending lots of good vibes which ever side of the pond you are on. I hope you dreams come true very soon. Welcome to the new ones.

We are having a great time here in Ireland with our son and his family. We have been so lucky with the weather. We miss our family in USA but know it was the right thing to do even more so now. We can be outside all the time now. I had forgotten how much i loved just being outside.

Denise/dgjamison pleased you got home safe, sorry you had all the trouble but at least you can concentrate on your new life now. We are still in Glengarriff so maybe we can meet up if you ar going to be round Cork for a while.

Take care everyone, i will try and keep up with all that is happening, but please know i am thinking of you all and wishing your dreams come true very soon.
Chris

charleygirl

Chris, Anna so happy all is going well for you, so many getting closer to their dates... Rodney i suggest you start now justgoing through the odd draw now then, thats what i am doing..... we have so much stuff I honestly dont know where to start.......

DDL

Just a little update. We leave in only 5 weeks!

I sold my Saturn a month or so ago, and just this week-end my husband sold his Jag, so now we are borrowing one of my best friend's spare cars. (You know Americans: we all seem to have a yard full of cars!)

We're handing in our notices at work either this Friday or next Monday. It will be nice not to have to carry around our "secret" any longer!

It seems like almost everything we are doing now/every place we are going now, we are saying to ourselves, "This will be the last time that ......"

This is all very bittersweet, to be honest. I don't think anyone doing what we here in this thread are doing can honestly say that leaving is 100% easy and without a certain amount of melancholy. Still, we forge ahead and do that thing that must be done.

Anna, we have had something like 29 days above 90 degrees I'm not going to miss Charleston's weather, either !!!!!!!!!!

Back to work tomorrow after a lovely 3-day week-end.

trottytrue

As I am so knackered, (can I say that) I am going to make this a general posting for all.

No the housing market has not turned around in some cases its worse.
I spent the last week and especially the last 3 days getting the place ship shape. Its almost midnight and I have been going since early morning. Everything is away and furniture moved to where I think it looks best. I am so sick and tired of cleaning. I smell like a bottle of disinfectant. My feet hurt and my arms are about to drop off. The only thing I have not done is polish the kitchen floor but I decided it would not show up on one of those virtual tours I hope no one wants to see the house tomorrow. Who am I kidding

Tomorrow I have to get outside in that stupid heat and weed and clip some of my flowers. I really am starting to hate this house.

One good thing to come out of this I know where everything is now.

Anyone who is moving back and thinking of clearing out do it way before your time to go . It just gets overwhelming when you try and do it all at once.

I just had a glass of wine I hope it helps me sleep I feel like that Easter bunny with the batteries just keeps on going and going.

Fish n Chips 56

As much as I want to go back home that is one thing I dont want to do...

Fish n Chips 56

Denise you speak the truth, America and its people have been very good to me, leaving wont be easy, Ive lived here most of my life, leaving my sisters here will be even more difficult, not exactly something I want to do, They are both married to Americans so I cant see them leaving, I just cant see a future here for me and my wife.

Denise the countdown is on, I wish you the best.

Relocateme

Reading thru the posts on our thread my heart goes out to all those getting ready to go back to UK. Its sure brings back the memories of those "last" times you see and do things...even weeks after you have gone the pangs of those good memories and times do haunt!

In the last few weeks I have been here in Australia helping my aunt go thru every scrap of paper, photograph, receipt and item in every drawer in her house of 20yrs as she too is returning to UK at 77yrs of age.

What a time we had and it took several weeks. Honestly it was like going thru the experience twice. She is losing her sight and needs to be with family so I was glad to be here to help her however I am done with it now but gosh what an ordeal.

It's nice to be back on reading again and catching up with how everyone is doing..I do wish TT, Rodney, PC Mac and DDL (only 5 weeks to go!) all the very best.

I am leaving here on July 26th bound for UK yet again only 18 days left in Oz

Anna ...you are doing great and keeping busy....say, whats the cost of fruit and veg in Malta?..is it cheap?

DDL

Amen to that!!!!!!

Even by breaking it down over a period of time, we found it overwhelming. Maybe some of it has to do with the emotional as well as the physical aspect?

Now that our house is so barren - I am finding myself becoming more and more detached from what was once my much beloved home. I don't like that feeling, but it's happening nevertheless.

DDL

Roll call!

Relocateme leaves on 26 July.

I leave on 08 August.

Who else is leaving within the next few months?

J.J

Hello, I feel that breaking down our US home in some way prepared us for the effort to re-build our lives in UK. The taking apart of our comfortable life and home in US has helped as a shock absorber to the chaos and intensity of effort needed to get started 'from scratch' again.
This weekend coming we move out of our one-room bedsit, collect Charlie Cat from kennels, and all move into a nice mobile home as the next step.
Our personal goods shipment picked up in NC by Navis on June 7 are now ready for collection at ThamesPort this week.
It is all beginning to come together, we can see progress after 3 weeks over here.
No regrets on coming here, no regrets of leaving 'there', not every thing is wonderful here, but it is home.

We had a letter this week forwarded from a US Insurance Co enquiring of a car we sold a few days before we left. Apparently it was in an accident on the day we flew and we are still the registered owner - although they did find that we had returned the plates to DMV. It was not a requirement to get a Bill of Sale and so we didn't - but now wishing we had done and also should have copied the notarized Title just in case this turns into something nasty and convoluted.