We have moved. This was our first proper house move, having previously moved into our first house with very little of our own stuff. Cleaning out the house, it’s been slightly horrifying how much stuff we own. Even trying to donate and recycle we still seem have accumulated enough boxes that we could simply build them into a house to live in.

With my mum and dad to lend a hand we loaded the van in a day with the vast majority of our stuff. Even though we’d agreed to leave behind many of the larger pieces of furniture we still filled the van to the brim.

Uploading was even particularly straightforward. Even though we’re moving into a significantly larger house the problem is that none of the rooms are ready. So to avoid too much moving around we’ve piled everything in to two rooms. To say the place feels cramped and chaotic would be an understatement.

At least the surrounding countryside remains peaceful – even if everything within the house is confusion.

As we had the van for the weekend we tried to make the best use of it by going to collect the second-hand piano I’d been offered.

Chris’s brother came to lend a hand and thankfully it wasn’t as heavy as we’d feared. I didn’t do much on this one I must admit.

We also wanted to pick up some of the larger pieces of furniture we knew we wanted. We’d kept a look out on marketplace but struggled to find what we wanted not too far away. However, I realised there was a warehouse nearby for house clearance goods. We dropped by and managed to find a suitable sofa, wardrobe, table and Welsh dresser. All stuffed into the house it now looks like we’ve become a storage warehouse.

With furniture lugging finished for the day we returned to our old house to finish clearing the garage, clean the house, and to dig out any plants we wanted from the garden.

While taking out some of the pond plants Chris spotted a southern hawker dragonfly exuvia. The exuvia is the skin the larvae leave behind as they emerge from the water and become adults. Ever since digging the pond we’d been desperate for dragonflies to come live in it, so perhaps this was a final gift from our first home.

With the old house finally empty and as clean as we could get it, there’s no turning back. It does feel a bit like getting out of the frying pan and into the fire… but the view and the peace and quiet will keep us going a bit longer, until hopefully soon the dusty and chaotic house metamorphosises into a home.