We're moving house....

[Miaou]

Well we've finally taken the plunge and are moving away from our beautiful island back to the mainland. There were lots of reasons for going, main ones being that now we are having no. 3 I wouldn't be able to work for some time, but there is no work here for dh to do, so we decided to move back to the mainland for work. Dh has landed an excellent job, IT technician to two local high schools, and we have found a fab house in a small village about 8 miles from our nearest town, and only 50 miles from where we are now (which isn't a lot given that we live in the Highlands!). We are (in theory) moving on 1st February, depending on the weather, boats etc, so we are busy packing up at the moment! Am currently taking a well-earned break from packing!

[Mothernature]

Ooohh, how exciting...hope everything goes ok..

[Hulababy]

Very exciting - good luck!

[littlemissbossy]

Hi Miaou, good luck with the move, I'm sure it will work out just fine
Did you suffer in the storms last week?

[roisin]

I am shocked!

[NameChangingMancMidlander]

Good luck with the move. Hope you're as happy on the mainland as you were on your island

[sweetkitty]

good luck miaou

wish it were me moving

[BethAndHerBrood]

Where is it you're moving from? If you don't mind me asking.

[littlemissbossy]

Miaou lives on the Isle of Muck, in the Highlands

[Miaou]

Hello, thanks for all your good wishes!

Yes we suffered a fair bit of damage last week - the pier has been severely damaged (so much so that the boat cannot come in - we had to get a rib to bring us home via a neighbouring island!), the pier road washed away, the pier waiting room has lost all its windows and doors and roof, one house was flooded, a few people lost slates off their roofs - but no one was hurt, thank God. As things stand at the moment we don't know how we are going to flit (move) but we are sure it will work out somehow.

Sorry for the shock, Roisin! We had been thinking about moving for some months but didn't want to say anything until we knew for definite, then everything seemed to move very fast! There is a severe housing shortage in our area and we expected it to take several months to find a house, so we didn't think we would be moving quite so soon.

[roisin]

OK exposing my ignorance of all things nautical here, but what's a rib?

[Miaou]

Rigid Inflatable Boat. Basically one of those orange boats that coastguards often use - they have inflatable sides and a solid bottom.

I wouldn't really expect anyone to know, just forgot to explain!

[roisin]

Thank you - I like to learn something new every day!

[littlemissbossy]

Glad to her of no casualties last week! good luck with the move, keep us in touch x

[littlemissbossy]

sorry "hear"

[bertiebrown]

miaou - was there a story about you in the Daily Mail today??

[bertiebrown]

just wondered if it was true

[Miaou]

yes it was me in the DM and no none of it is true, , it caused a lot of upset here as you can imagine.

[Miaou]

Anyway, reason for looking at this thread again was to say that we are moving on Friday (argh!!!) - computer will probably be the last thing in the boxes! We had a "leaving party" last night which was lovely, and we are almost packed, just got all the pissy little bits left (you know, the I-know-it's-useful-but-where-the-hell-does-it-go stuff). Am completely knackered and can't wait for it all to be done - I hate moving house!

[tamum]

Oh, Miaou, I just realised that I've read about you too (sorry if it's caused you upset though). You were in Metro last week I think, and in the Sunday Times, maybe? Good luck with the move

[Miaou]

Yup, everyone picked it up and ran it.... we were really hoping to get away with no publicity this time, but hey, hopefully the media will leave us alone now.

[tamum]

The Times piece was quite reasonable as I remember though, about the general limitations of island life. Someone (maybe your dh?) was quoted as pointing out that it takes 3 days to go to the optician, which really gave me pause for thought! Must be a pain to have all that attention though, I can see.

[Miaou]

Yes I have to say i really hate it ... dh doesn't mind too much but then had to spend a whole day fielding questions from the media after the story came out - if you just say "no comment" then everyone assumes it's true and it gets printed again and again, so ended up dragged in to the whole shebang and having to defend us - really REALLY pissed me off when we had enough to do as it is!! Ah well - once we are back on the mainland we will become "unnewsworthy" again - phew!

[JanH]

Hi, Miaou - we had missed all this - I just dug out the story from the ST. Sorry to hear you have been tabloided like this - hope the people on the island are still OK with you - wishing you all lots of luck with the move and everything and I will email you soon! XXX to you all

[Miaou]

Hi Jan, thanks - email addy staying the same for now!!

[lou33]

good luck with the move miaou.