New furniture

In the last few days, I have wondered more than once what possessed us to sell so much of our furniture. Yesterday, though, our new bed arrived and we bought some flat pack furniture.

When Josh was little and obsessed with Lego and K'nex, I had no idea that later in life it would be such a blessing. He actually enjoys building flat pack furniture.

Fish 'n' chips

Yesterday, we collected a dining table and chairs, which is now residing happily in our conservatory. I'd promised the boys that the first Friday we were there, we could have proper fish 'n' chips from the village chippy. It was quite special, sitting together and having our first meal in our new place.

Family meals

There are many things that we had forgotten to miss, things like coupons to collect. Tonight we went to Tesco and had the dilemma of which toilet rolls to buy. The comparison price gives the price per 100sht, which made us giggle a bit. There were a couple of cheap but functional brands but Andrex won because you can collect 'puppy points'.

Other things, we have consciously missed. Sharing meals with family and friends is one of these. Last night we had dinner at my auntie's house. They had made an amazing buffet but desert looked spectacular!

Nice end to a sad day

Today was always going to be very difficult for me. For the last few days, I've had a sadness descend on me everyone I've driven around Oulu. The thought of not being there is unthinkable! Leaving home for the last time, I was utterly heart-sluffened! There just aren't adequate words to describe it.

The flights were pleasantly uneventful apart from being abandoned in Stockholm by the assistance crew. They seemed to find 2 branches of Roberts Coffee too much to cope with. You'd have thought that when they went to the wrong one, they'd have guessed it was the other... but no!

To finish the day, we enjoyed a treat that we have really missed and can't get in Finland - a KFC and Starbucks - thanks to my uncle who collected us from the airport.

Almost ready

We have just had confirmation that a lorry is coming tomorrow to take all our stuff. What a relief! All we have to do now is finish packing.

Playing by the rules

One of the things I have found difficult about living in Finland is the fact that the customer is rarely right. Customer/consumer rights seem to be unheard of here, so I was quite looking forward to going back to a culture where contracts are completely binding and customer service generally underpins everything.

With that in mind, we were extremely disappointed, frustrated - totally discombobulated - when the removal company (English) that we had already booked and paid for, started messing us around. First they raised the price, then demanded that we finish packing, weigh everything and send an inventory that day. Finally, they lowered our agreed weight limit before cancelling the job altogether. After the last few years, we should be used to such things but this time there is one thing going in our favour - we will be seeking compensation in our own language! We know good English lawyers and they are already on our side. Okay, it's still unacceptable but at least we have hope of a satisfactory outcome.

The packing is going pretty well except for the dilemma of how to weigh a sofa with household scales.

Total weight - Josh's weight = weight of sofa

Misty Evening

Neil and Josh have been outside, working hard again today. I still get twinges of sadness when I think how much work has gone into this house and that we won't get to enjoy the benefit of it. One of the advantages of summer is that it stays light, well into the night. This evening though, we saw something we haven't seen for ages! The mist suddenly descended and it now feels positively autumnal after such a hot summers day.