17. Away to Spain

What a busy day moving day is, first of all I had to get rid of the computer desk and chair then take Harry our for his last walk in the park I had no idea what an emotional day this was going to be. We bumped into Jackie and Nellie and Roz and Dylan I was nearly in tears when I had to say goodbye to Roz and I think she wasn't that far behind me. I got back home to find that Julie our neighbour had popped in to say goodbye on her way to work but I had missed her. I had time for a quick sweep through and another trip  to the tip then I was ready for the phone call which didn't take too long.

An hour later Remzy turned up I showed him round gave him the code for the alarms and handed over my door keys. Wow we had done it. So, I put Chris and Harry in the car I had managed to just about squeeze everything into the roof box or onto the back seat and we were ready for the off.

A  quick fuel stop and then a gentle drive down to the Euro-tunnel crossing I had changed my crossing type from standard to a flex account which allowed me faster booking in and a lounge just for us Flex account types with free food and drink and we were allowed to take Harry in which he loved, We caught the 4:40pm train and then it was across France we went.

That in itself is not a problem but and this is a big but, the car kept stopping I meant we got a message on the screen telling me that the Anti-pollution system had a fault and when this came up the car lost its throttle response, so we had to pull in and wait 20 mins and for some reason the system would re-set itself and off we would go again.

We got caught up in a couple of Yellow Jacket demonstrations, at one large roundabout they were just slowing traffic down at another one and I didn't even realise what was going on at the time, the tolls have gone up a large amount in France and at the longest stretch of toll road that we had used we were waved through without paying the barrier had been removed, I found out later this was also part of the Yellow Jacket protests…thanks you guys. After a few more stops courtesy of the EJF valve we crossed the Pyrenees into Spain.

The continuous forced stops had added hours onto our journey time and I was getting tired..then Bang!! I had nodded off and hit the barrier Chris had also nodded off he came down with me to help with the dog and…keep me awake! Oh well the car is badly damaged but still drivable, so we kept going. A trip that I had estimated to take 14 hours max had in fact taken us 26 hours. I needed my bed. But we don’t have any yet so it was time for the sofa, we had arrived to no water and no electricity but I didn't care.

Over the next few days we sorted the water out, but it will only run for a couple of minutes then trickle out so we have phoned a plumber for help, will let you know the outcome of that. We have to run the gauntlet of red tape to get the electricity turned back on, all the paperwork is done now just waiting for the big switch on. Today we were supposed to get our first gas cylinder delivered but it hasn't arrived yet! Looks like another dark night with eating out at this rate, the washing machine we were supposed to have delivered toady has also not arrived yet..Spain eh?