Saturday 5 September 2020

Week 36 - One Daily Positive - Packing and shipping - Our expat journey.

So a brief run down for those of you not in the know, the rest of you can just skip a paragraph or two (I'm mainly talking to you Mary)

We left the UK in January 2011 to move to South Africa, we took all our worldly goods and our two youngest children with us. On leaving South Africa the kids had left home (youngest back to boarding school in the UK) and we had inherited a cat and dog. 5 years in Dubai and most of our furniture is being shipped back to the UK next week, why? Well it's a long story, how long have you got?

Our first tenants stopped paying rent for almost a year, destroyed our house and stole anything they could. Fast forward 8 years, several good tenants and then our last lot, trashed our house again, so we decided to reoccupy it as the quickest and cheapest way to get it back. So we brought our relocation plans for Peter's retirement forward 2 years.

The plan was to relocate a year before Peter retires and for me to set up home, find a job and Peter would then join me, we might move house, change towns or just stay put. So the house was reclaimed in December 2019, the pets flew over February 2020 and then I was to be in and out of the UK/Dubai and we had arranged for Peter to downsize to an apartment and I'd ship the rest of our furniture back to the UK. Covid hit, we were apart for 4 months. I got back to Dubai and we decided to ship anyway despite Peter still remaining in the Villa till at least May next year, then we'll re look at apartments.

I've now got two weeks back in the UK to isolate and will be finishing the decorating ready for our container to arrive mid October. I then have a couple of weeks to unpack, find a home for everything then I'll be back out to Dubai for 3 months over winter to finish sorting out this end (pet sitter permitting)

243 Sunday Packers arrived, I hung around all day (bored) as I'd separated the house into piles and needed to be at hand to answer a few questions about should they pack rugs, cushions etc. I spent the day blogging and trying to keep out the way, but needed to be around to make sure they didn't pack stuff that we were leaving in Dubai. Peter worked from the bedroom and cooked our dinner.


244 Monday Off to Dubai Mall for the day, I walked 5 miles over 4 hours, all with my mask on, inside and out, taking it off only to stop for lunch in the food court and have a coffee. The child in me always chuckles when you realise how these statues are attached to the wall.


245 Tuesday The day was spent rearranging the furniture and cleaning downstairs. I picked the wrong time to food shop, so busy and the staff always rush you. Not really sure what to do with this space now.


246 Wednesday Back to not sleeping and awake at 4am, I started work on the upstairs, had to stop due to needing to use the hoover so sat outside with my breakfast around 6.30am. Humidity is much lower at the moment and it's quite pleasant with the temp at 31c already. Mid morning I visited Park n Shop they stock a lot of British products, I want to see what Gluten Free products they sell (if any) otherwise I'll just be bringing a case of food with me next trip. I can get GF foods here in Waitrose and Carrefour but it really is limited stock. I'm happy with how this area now looks.


247 Thursday We headed out for an early morning walk then Peter was in the office all day so I spent my time finishing rearranging the bedrooms, did some washing, put the slow cooker on for dinner and just chilled out watching movies and doing the ironing.
I'm more than happy with how downstairs looks now.


248 Friday It's covid test day at City Walk, ahead of my flight on Tuesday. Appointment was at 11am, we joined the queue at 10am. Took some photos of the ever changing landscape and off to Festival City for lunch and coffee. Evening spent watching movies.

This is the new canal they created since we've been here. The buildings on the far right are new also.


249 Saturday Early morning walk around the neighbourhood to take more photos. leisurely breakfast then off to Outlet centre. Evening spent with a friend at the Marina.

We were full on sprayed/sanitised entering a mall today.


On the blog this week:

My Garden in August - The UK and Dubai

Day out with my dog - A visit to Charlecote Park National Trust

My ever changing balcony view with My Sunday Photo



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22 comments:

  1. How exciting to pack everything up. Good luck with unpacking everything at the other side.
    The statues are stunning! x

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    1. Still waiting for a shipping date and not looking forward to the unpacking at all

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  2. Wow, I've followed your blog for a while but I didn't know all the backstory - how complicated ! On to the next stage now then - good luck with getting it all sorted ! I love the idea of getting packers in to box everything up, rather than having to deal with it all yourself. The disinfecting tunnel sounds like a weird idea but why not ?! Good luck with the flight back xx

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    1. My life has never been simple, the flight back wasn't good sadly. I don't think I'd ever move myself again, it really is worth paying the extra to have packers in

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  3. Fingers crossed, all the bits arrive in one piece. When we moved from the States, the packing/moving company managed to ruin quite a few bits. You're so well-organised. Sorry to hear you didn't sleep well, and hope you manage to find more GF products. Good luck with the flight back to the UK! Your downstairs rooms look very tidy and stylish.

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    1. Apart from a lost container for a few days, we've never had any problems with the packing, no damage and everything unpacked the other end also, sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Will be filling my suit case with GF food for my return trip

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  4. That's so selfish of the tenants. I really like the statues and the waterfall. I realize I don't remember seeing the inside of your house in Dubai. it looks nice. OoOo a new canal? Hi, Burj Khalifa

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    1. Thank you, I have enjoyed this style of open plan living but it won't work in the UK with the cold weather.

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  5. Love the diving statues, but I sniggered too.
    Hopefully the packing's all sorted, and it all arrives safely in the UK>

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    1. You're the first one to snigger along with me lol

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  6. I'm sorry to hear that you had such trouble with some of your tenants. Good luck with all your furniture arriving back in the UK and deciding where to put it when it arrives. The interior of your villa looks lovely. Those diving statues made me giggle too. #project366

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    1. Glad it's not just me that giggles when I see the statues. I've cleared the top floor bedrooms out ready for the boxes to be unloaded into

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  7. I have a similar picture of the diving statues from when we visited. They are quite a sight. Hope you managed to find some more GF food and that the shopping was productive. The inside of the villa looks lovely.

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    1. The GF shopping was a failure, I'll just pack my suitcase with enough foods for the next visit, I don't need to take clothes etc

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  8. I knew most of the back story (at least since the first set of rubbish tenants anyway because I can remember talking to you about that on Twitter at the time). Sounnds like a busy week, but at least you have the villa sorted for now.

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    1. I sometimes forget how long I've known people for, hopefully we can now have some normality for a while

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  9. Sorry to hear about all the problems with the tenants in the past.

    Love that waterfall and statues.

    A busy week with packing and getting organised!

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    1. I said I'll never rent again, but we now have our flat rented out, but at least I'm nearer to keep on top of things.

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  10. Wow I am impressed you get fully sanitized on your way into the mall. They do seem to go to extreme lengths to keep people safe there. I like it! You transformed that space moving things around. Such a shame you have had bad tenants, it puts me off ever buying a rental property x

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    1. I'm not sure it did much good if I'm honest, but it was different. We're still renting out our flat, figure there's less damage to be caused

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  11. The sanitunnel sound s bit like something from a movie! I can't imagine trying to pack up a whole house as I've never done it before. It took me a while to figure out how the statues attached! #project366

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    1. Once you work out how the statues are attached you can't un see it

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