Long overdue trip to Leamington

Our first trip back to Leamington since moving north had been late January, to coincide with Charlotte's 21st birthday. The next trip had slipped and slipped, to try and coincide with Amber and Charlotte completing on their new houses, but finally arrived mid-April on Easter weekend. There was a lot to do - we'd moved everything north in November, so this was the opportunity to move what belonged to the girls, plus what we didn't need / want / had duplicated, to where it needed to be - the girls' new houses. After quite a bit of debate and a trial run to the local tip with a borrowed trailer, we decided to bite the bullet and hire a van - and we filled it to the brim with furniture, childhood keepsake boxes and household items for our young adults.

As the kids still had no spare beds, another Airbnb was on the cards, this time in Leek Wootton, which was welcoming and convenient, but John was still feeling the cold - even in Warwickshire! Spring may have arrived, but it still felt like winter. A portable heater was supplied by our lovely host, and everything was ok.

First stop, was to unload all the boxes, a sideboard, some odds and ends and two chairs at Amber's, lugging it all upstairs to her first floor maisonette, sweating buckets and wearing us all out. Amber had literally moved 48 hours before but it already felt homely with her two adorable rescue kittens frolicking around the place and making a house a home - priorities! We grabbed a takeaway curry from down the road in Balsall Common for a quick dinner.

Next, we called in a favour with a former neighbour to dump the stuff going to Charlotte and Hugo - a large sofa, dining table and 4 chairs, as their house had not completed in the end, at the last minute. We're eternally grateful for the favour. Louise was 37 weeks expectant and they were in the middle of their 'nesting' phase so it was very good of them to take on even more to help us out!

On Saturday Charlotte joined us at Amber's to go through the contents of the boxes and determine Amber, Charlotte, charity shop or tip. It took a while but we got through it pretty efficiently. By the end of it we had unpacked a load of stuff into Amber's cupboards, packed two boxes up for Charlotte, one for charity and one for the tip. We packed the latter four boxes back into the van.

The weekend was full on, next meeting Claire and Paul for lunch at Bistrot Pierre in Leamington, for some good food and lovely catch up. We also got to say hello to Dasha, the lady we hosted for 18 months from Ukraine, who works there, and we were so pleased to see her looking happy and contented. We dropped the charity box to Cat's Protection, and the tip box to the tip (got in trouble for turning up in a van). Then back to Amber's for some family games before a bit of takeaway pizza. To round the evening off, we called in at the cosy local pub, The Anchor, near the Airbnb and had a pint with Nigel and Euan from John's work, plus Jo and Mandy their partners, and some more box transfers, this time the two destined for Charlotte's went into Euan's boot for storage. John was tired and a bit emotional by that point, but it was so nice to see everyone.

Sunday first thing, we had negotiated John's chemo pump being removed at Warwick Hospital, which was very kind of them, before heading to an upbeat and very homely feeling Easter Sunday communion service at Old Milverton where our old vicar, Ken Lindop, preached whilst Sue lead the service.

Family lunch at a favourite restaurant, Hayashi, followed by some more family time at Amber's and a little DIY to help set her straight. John sorted a loose skirting board and a missing socket cover, while Liz and Amber removed picture hooks and filled holes. Later Liz managed a walk and a drink with a work colleague, Nicki, while John went back to base for a snooze because the busy day had wiped him out again. He was now starting to look like he was feeling the strain.

Monday was intense again, heading for Lincoln and seeing Liz's mum and dad for lunch, Parveen & Emma (school friends), Grandma and Liz's sister, Jess all in the space of one afternoon. John was pretty exhausted and hardly said anything and went early to bed, and we still had the drive back on Tuesday to get through. Liz felt like she was being dragged away from everyone too soon as it had been 6 months since our last visit there and she misses everyone!

Tuesday's drive back was, on reflection, un-eventful and we got the van back in one piece and carried on to home, despite worrying for a whole day about whether it was us that scratched the bumper or not (a £2000 excess looming if we were unlucky)! A successful and hectic trip all round and we were both pretty beat. Wednesday, John slept most of the day and Thursday he wasn't much better.

Charlotte's move still remains pending which is frustrating for both her, Hugo and everyone else (including those housing her stuff.) Next visit shouldn't involve a van - just a car load of several boxes, a couple of dining chairs and two push bikes - fingers crossed all round.

For now though, it was great to connect with everyone and get some stuff done, but we're both happy to be home and able to enjoy our views out across a very different landscape to the West Midlands!