Mission Complete

All good news...the flat sale  was completed about 12 noon and the new owner's furniture arrived about 12:01 and we had finished cleaning about 12:02! Things run on a tight schedule here in the UK!!!  Our friend is now settled in her new rental flat (until she finds the right one to buy) and we have a week off to visit friends and buy a few things to take back to the boat.

I finally made it to Bognor beach!

We went to visit our new cooker at the factory and it looks very nice except there does now seem to be a problem with the promised factory-to-boat shipment. We shall see........

We  also visited friends and the Beaulieu Motor Museum near Southampton. There was also a boat jumble sale and the Top Gear museum (a TV motoring show).  On the way back we drove through Bornor Regis.   Years ago the main thing you heard about holidays in the UK was a trip to Butlins at Bognor. Well for the first time I have been to Bognor beach and also saw the Butlins Holiday camp!!! I have have now seen England!

They are still waiting for the beach pebbles to breakdown into sand....

Kite flying on the pebbles of Bogor beach

London: Three Weeks Later...

It has been a dramatic 3 weeks since we left Sunflower in Morocco.

About a week after we arrived, Our friend's husband  lost his battle with the stroke and various cancers. Being Jewish, the funeral etc was over quickly. 

The penthouse flat was under offer with a move out date of April 15. The English real estate sale laws allow either party to "pull-out" of the sale until the exchange of contracts. For various legal reasons and the fact that the owner of the building was in hospital, means that we are now 3 days away from moving out and nobody is "locked-in"!  All going well the contracts should be signed today.

For Nan & Byron, it's still there and doing great.

The last week has seen our friend  frantically looking for a flat to buy or rent. She finally signed for a 1 bedroom flat to rent, yesterday.  We are also frantically clearing and sorting "stuff" that has accumulated over the last 7 years. As she is moving into a furnished 1 bedroom flat, most of her furniture etc will go into storage until until she buys another flat. A very stressful time for her!

 

Hyde Park & the Serpentine

A narrow boat on the canal at Little Venice (Paddington)

The exciting news is that we had a day off last Sunday and went for a drive into central London. We had a wonder around Covent garden, drove around Trafalgar Square, Oxford St, Little Venice and Hyde Park.   

We have even planed another escape this weekend, with a drive down south to Southampton and stops on the way. More later.....