MY LAST ENGLISH HURRAH

This will probably be my last blog from England. We leave for America on 9/11, and this next week is going to be frantic, which it has been these last few weeks as we tried and succeeded in selling our house here in Eastbourne. The new buyer of the house, a charming lady in her sixties, is coming here on Tuesday to determine what of our possessions she wants. In England, everything not an integral part of the house is sold separately, and you must file forms showing these contents.. After she has picked her choices, we have arranged to ship certain items we like in furniture, cutlery, kitchenware and personal items by sea to our address in Florida. The day after we leave the shipping company will come in and pack up those designated items. After that is accomplished, an old friend who does cleaning for us will come in and pick up certain items chosen by her and put the house in order. Then the rest will be taken by an antique dealer/liquidator, who will come in shortly after we leave.

Then we must push to expedite the paperwork with the lawyers, hers and ours, so that we can sign the agreement, and some monies get transferred. Since we will be paid in sterling, I’m going to talk to our accountant here on how best at minimum cost to transfer the funds. Should I invest some of it in gold, in low-yield safe bonds or money market funds until final disposition is determined. That’s a nice problem!

All of which means, there is a helluva lot to do in the next eight days. Somehow we will muddle through and get it done. One of our daughters is here and can help in the disposal and packing process, thank God. Arranging the logistics for all these transfers of merchandise is tricky, but we will pull it off.

We are ready to come home. We have had a good time in spite of the English weather, which has forgotten to be summer a good part of the time. England is not the same---then, again, what is? Everything is expensive here, even more than in the states, and the mood of austerity and fiscal pain preys on everyone. As I said in an earlier blog, we’ll probably come back, health permitting, for shorter visits---but no more three months away, it’s too long.

I’ll blog at you soon from home soon.