Still no sign of a buyer for the house. A viewer would be a start! The market is so flat at the moment. It’s frustrating just waiting here for something to happen; I am used to making things happen but when it comes to selling the house I have to wait for people to come to me.  Still… looking on the bright side; the house hasn’t looked this clean and fresh in ages! Part of that is the fact that I have almost nothing left in the house. I have been brutal with the decluttering and Ebay, Freecycle and family members have benefited.

I’m off to Belfast for the weekend which will be wonderful and the next weekend also and I have surprise up my sleeve which I can’t divulge here as Patrick reads my blog.  

Tonight I went out with my ex boyfriend for the last time in Birmingham. We went out for pizza and a chat and it was very nice indeed. He is off to Manchester tomorrow morning to start his new life up there and I’m going to miss him a lot.

Patrick was over for the weekend and this was the first time he met the ex… everyone survived! In fact they seemed to get on which was nice. We went to a few places that we’d never been to – or at least had not been to for a very long time. The thinking behind it was that we (me and the ex) have lived in this city for so long and now that we are leaving we’d better get along and see them. The first call was a walk through Bournville – a beautiful ‘model town’ built by the Quaker Cadbury family to house their workers. We then went on to visit the Cadbury Chocolate factory itself. That was fun! No really, it was! We had the full tour and got all the free chocolate that was on offer (not as much as we’d have liked). After that we went to Sarehole Mill, said to be the inspiration for the Shire in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

We went out on Saturday night for a drink with some other mates and then Patrick and I bowed out and went home.

Sunday followed the theme of the previous day and we had a nice Sunday lunch in Hurst street in the city centre before wandering round a comic shop (they are the geeks not me!) then we went to the National Sea Life Centre. Quite why the city most near the centre of the island is home to the Sea Life Centre is something that I’m not going to spend any time pondering. We had another great time, despite the efforts of a homophobic bloke (I dealt with him and he ended up looking like a fool), and then we all went back to the ex’s flat to help him sort some things out before the removal men came today. I ended up shedding a few tears, I couldn’t help myself!

He has been my rock throughout all the recent bad times, he supported me through so many sad times in my life and was always there to share fun times too. I was lucky that when we split up  we somehow managed to carry on being the very best of friends. In fact we are closer than that. More like brothers perhaps? I owe him such a debt of gratitude as he enabled me to change from the guy who was still in recovery from an abusive relationship into a man who is capable of accepting love and trusting people again.

I’m glad he’s going; I would love things to stay the way they are and yet change the way I want them to, but until that impossibility becomes possible I will have to accept that sometimes you have to let things and people go. I’m glad he’s going because it makes it easier for me to leave this city when my time comes and, more importantly, because it is the right thing for him to do. He needs to spread his wings and fly for himself – he doesn’t have to support me any more. I will always want him to be part of my life and I cannot see a reason why that shouldn’t happen – I’m especially happy that he and Patrick like each other.

So, safe journey P. Piglet! The orbit has only expanded and I’m still the Bear Mayor.  

It’s all real – the house is officially on the market. Go to this site to see it (and maybe make a lovely offer )

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-10222977.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy

I am just off to bed but I am aware it’s been a while so I thought I’d drop in a few lines.

Since I got back from Belfast I’ve been rushed off my feet. The house is now carpeted and I have given away nearly all my unwanted stuff. The house seems twice as big now!

On Saturday I was running around the house feverishly preparing for the agents to arrive – I was shoving stuff in anywhere I could hide it; there were books in the fridge! It was worth it though as the house looked good and ready for the agents to take photos. The process over here in the UK is that you choose one company to market your home and all prospective purchasers go through them. It makes for a fun day – not! – as you really should try to interview a few agents before you make a decision on who you are going with. They are all so pushy!

I’ve decided who I am selling with now and as soon as the details are online I will post them up here so you can see how nice the place looks now.

Right, off to sleep – sooooooooooo tired (sick too!)

I must have mentioned it previously but I’ll say it again – changes are afoot! I think 2008 will be a year of great change for many of us and I am betting money on it being good change for the most part!

My ex boyfriend is leaving me!  Yes… after two years or more of being my ex he is moving on to pastures, if not greener then certainly fresher. Around the time it looked like P and I were going to have to start making plans to be together the ex announced that he was off on his own relocation adventure. He is moving from Birmingham to Manchester and he is moving soon.

I cam back from my time teaching in Prague in 1999 (I think!) and I intended to stay a while before taking up another teaching post somewhere else in the world but then I met Conor and my world was never the same again. He was and still is one of the funniest people I have ever met, fiercely protective of me even now and following Desmond’s death the only person who I honestly think ‘gets me’.

I’m being awfully selfish I know but I wish he weren’t leaving just yet! I have to sell my house and I hate the idea that there will be no one to go to the cinema with (sneaking contraband sweets and drinks in will never be as much fun without him there!), no one to wander around the city centre bored and snapping at each other and no one to encourage and at the same time discourage me from eating buckets of ice cream when I feel happy or sad or disappointed or just plain greedy!

I wish him the very best and I am so happy that we are both moving on with our lives at the same time; as much as I hate the possibility that I will be left behind for a while I would never have felt happy knowing he was left behind. So good luck and Bon Voyage P. P. (an in joke that I COULD share with you – but then I’d have to kill you!). I love you very very much. xxxxxxx

I’ve had another lovely visit to Belfast but sadly it draws to a close again. I always go through this feeling of dread when the end of something nice approaches – even though I know exactly what is waiting for me on the other side of the Irish Sea. I feel so at home here already and just want to throw in the job and get started with another new life here but it just isn’t the right thing to do! I am passionate, yes; but also pragmatic; I’ll have to focus on getting the house on the market and the reflexology course finished before I can consider doing anything ‘crazy’. Though of course some might say that crazy is selling my house, dumping/donating/selling most of my belongings to move to a new city and start living with Patrick – others would say that it is incredibly romantic and there are no prizes for guessing which viewpoint my foolish Irish heart is taking on this.

Patrick and I share so many things in common. Not least of which is the desire to get out and see the world, mindful of the fact that we are only here the once. I didn’t think that I would find anyone who I would have so many things in common with once my ex boyf. and I split up and Desmond had died. So sure was I that I would not find anyone that I just wasn’t looking any more. I started seeing Patrick as a friend that I could have some fun with, no strings, no promises just fun. I should have known that this was something that couldn’t last as ‘no strings’ but the fun continues and the promises keep stacking up and are amounting to the possibility of a wonderful life together. I’m happy, blissfully happy!

It seems strange with Easter following so swiftly on from St Patricks day but here it is – well almost.

My Easter holiday starts tomorrow afternoon when I jump on a plane to Belfast again to spend Easter over there with Patrick. We are going to Bangor again as I like to see the sea when I can and apart from that we have a Sunday lunch date with some friends and I think that’s it. I am looking forward to just spending some time with him and away from the work in progress which the house currently is. I am taking delivery of carpets for the living room. hall, stairs and both bedrooms tomorrow and they will be fitted when I’m back. I have dragged a load of stuff outside for the council to take away as rubbish and I have also discovered freecycle which is very exciting! I have already managed to offload a stair rail and I love the idea of passing on stuff that can still be used – give it a try!

I hope you all have a nice weekend.

So tired! Nah, not really but I didn’t get a lot of rest this weekend as I was painting the house in readiness for it to go on the market later this month.  My mate Rolf came over on Saturday morning and we worked through till the night then started all over again on Sunday. It’s done now and it looks so much better than it did before; the hall was always dark and now it is brilliant white and my bedroom looks huge with all my clutter out of the way.

I’ve been decluttering for a while now but there is still sooooooooo much more to do! I keep looking around me and everything I see has to be thrown out, sold on, donated to charity or packed up. My head is in a spin! However, I keep reminding myself that it is good to let go of the past and that traveling lighter through life and into the future is the way to go. I am going to keep plugging away at it and I will get there in the end.

Work continues to be challenging. Sometimes too challenging it must be said but I carry on doing my best to help these people whilst all the time counting my blessings that I am not in their shoes and that I will probably not be working there in a few months.

So, I carry on as before though all the time making plans and working towards them with the knowledge that I am loved and that I deserve that love and that I want to reflect it back on my beloved.

I’m so touched by the comments on the last blog. It’s so nice to be able to share good news with you all. We are both really excited about what the future may hold and plans are being made.

I’ve been busy since I got back with packing bits and pieces and starting another round of decluttering and last night I filled some bags with roughly sixty items of clothing for the charity shop; I was ruthless!!!  Tonight I pulled up the last bit of carpet in the house in readiness for a weekend of painting. I plan to get the house on the market by the end of the month so getting the rooms freshened up and with new carpets is a priority.

So busy busy busy!!

I have had a secret, well not a secret really – a few people have known – it’s just that I haven’t blogged about it. I try to blog about everything good and bad that happens to me and it has seemed that it has been mostly bad these last couple of years. Well it’s good news time.

I’m in a relationship with P and I’m really, really happy! You may remember that I first met P about a year ago and he came to stay with me. I liked him from the start, we had a lot in common and we hit it off. I saw a bit of him over the last twelve months and each time I tended to come away thinking, “we should really be together!”. I tried not to push things too fast though and just before Christmas he said something that I wasn’t expecting; that he really liked me too!

After my holiday we met up here in Birmingham and spent a few days talking and with the matchmaking efforts of my friends Chris and Greg we came away as “boyfriend and boyfriend”!!! This was in January and until this past long weekend we had only spoken on the phone and online. I wasn’t too worried but I guess in the back of my mind there was a nagging doubt that we wouldn’t know how to take up where we left off but it was ok! We kissed outside Belfast City Hall and we didn’t stop kissing or talking till I waved goodbye at Customs this evening. It confirms for me that my next move is the right one.

I’m moving to Northern Ireland. We have talked about it over and over and we want to be together, I planned all along to pass my reflexology and go somewhere other than here and it looks like Belfast is the place to be at least for a year or so and then who knows where we will go next?! I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me as I need to get the place painted and new carpets down before I call the agents in to value the house at the end of the month. It’s going to be a busy time but it will be worth it as I will be where I want to be with the most wonderful guy called Patrick!!!