Goodbye Britain

It is time to say goodbye to the country that we have happily lived in for the past twenty six  years.   

We have sold our house, the touring caravan and our car and cancelled most things relating to our life in the UK.  We now have no keys either.   A very strange feeling. Our pensions will be sent to Australia, the taxation department has been notified although we still have to completely finalise tax arrangements.   Amazingly all discussions with pension departments, three for me and one for Walter, and the taxation department went very well.   Lets see if we find the same efficiency when we arrive in Australia, as we will be applying for our Medicare cards and reactivating our tax file numbers as soon as we get to Adelaide.  

  

We have said our goodbyes to all our friends here, although we hope that some people will visit us in Adelaide.   Of course there is a chance to catch up when we return for a holiday next year.   But we no longer live here, and it is a huge wrench to leave an area that we know so well, and especially when it comes to people we have known for such a long time.   Thank goodness for social media and emails, which makes keeping in touch so much easier.   No writing letters by hand, which sadly means losing touch with many people.

We have been very fortunate to be able to stay with Emma, Steve, Jackson and Isabel in their rented house in Orpington, a house belonging to the Church of England. It is called Church House and is a huge eight roomed house. It had previously been rented out to a charity, and before that the curates lived here.   Such a spacious house, set on the top of a hill, and surrounded by a very large garden and with the church hall, church, vicarage and large carpark to the left of the house.    

 The photo below looks down at the overgrown part of the garden, where there was once a small patio.  Now it is home to badgers who live under the plastic table, the corner can be seen in the photograph.   The badgers come out at night, but one has to be very quiet in order to see them.

 The back lawn, so lovely and shady during this very warm weather.   The grass has turned brown, which saves on mowing time.

 The side view of the house, the driveway beside it leads to the carpark.

 A view of St Barnabas Church, and hall , with our car in the carpark.    Not a busy time.

 The huge lawn, with a backdrop of trees and shrubs, at the back of the carpark.   Altogether a delightful place.    There are plenty of foxes in the shrubs.

Jackson celebrated his 16th birthday two weeks ago.   A very special and exciting time.

His birthday cake, consisted off his favourite biscuits and small cakes, with a special effects candle in the centre of the tray.   When lit, the candle briefly gave a loud whoosh and blew small pieces of coloured paper everywhere.   It was fun, for all its briefness.

Kathy, Karen and me about to have breakfast on our last walk together.    Very dear friends.

Last weekend Steve's church held their fete in the back garden of the vicar's house.    It was all very English, with cakes, and cream teas and small stalls.   Although quite a hot day all went very well.

The fete had an Australian theme, in recognition of Steve moving to that country soon.   He was also presented with an 'Australian hat'.    Someone had made lamingtons to mark the occasion.

 Steve's church, Holy Trinity Church.    A very old church, not sure of its age though.

Another church spire, in St Mary Cray, taken on a walk one day.

 There are plenty of wooded areas around Orpington and it has been lovely to discover them.    The park in the photograph below, which we walked with Jackson, runs behind the buildings and shops at the Nugent Centre.

Jackson, Steve and Walter on a walk in Hoblingwell Wood and Recreation Centre.   These woods lead to Scadbury Park and the huge wooded area in Chistlehurst.

And now we are sitting in the lounge at Terminal 2, Heathrow Airport, looking out at vehicles mostly, but there is a plane sitting in front of us.

 Walter looking very comfortable in the photograph below.   Our last chance to use these airport lounges as we are cancelling our Black Card as soon as we get to Adelaide.   We will no longer need the use the benefits, which we pay dearly for, of this card. 

It is a very strange feeling to be sitting here, in the airport, on our last afternoon in Britain. An unreal feeling.   It is almost as if we are going on another holiday, and we are I guess.   A very long holiday.

And the last aside.  We are hoping to escape the worst of Britain leaving the European Union.   However as a proportion of our income will still come from here, we will be always linked to the country and be affected by the final outcome of future negotiations with the European Union.   Troubled times ahead.

Roll on Australia.