There's always a last time for everything

So.....with less than four weeks before we leave we have moved into a reflective phase where many things we do make us think "This is the last time I will be doing/seeing etc this".  And it's quite a sobering thought.

I have been involved in scouting for many, many (oh so many!) years and had a wonderful time :-)  A couple of weeks ago I attended a Cub Scout camp for over 2,500 Cubs + all leaders etc to celebrate the centenary of Cub Scouting.  I have qualifications in air rifle shooting and abseil/climbing instruction and I went knowing that this would be the last time I used these hard-earned qualifications.  I instructed shooting all day on the Saturday and abseiling all day Sunday and as I instructed and enjoyed the day, all the time there was a little voice in my head saying "This is the last time you will be doing this" and it was quite bittersweet.  

We experienced the same feeling on our wedding anniversary which we always spend in Arundel (our special place) - it was the last time and we will miss it.  But we will create new traditions such as this but in Mallorca instead.  We already have a few ideas :-)

It's not even the more memorable moments like these.  Some everyday items such as large bags of pasta, bottles of shampoo and that sort of thing - it just suddenly registers that we won't be in the UK to finish them.  We've had to be careful that some things we've ordered will arrive in time and Ian, who wanted some non-emergency dental work done, has been unable to do so as it wouldn't be finished in time.  It's those sorts of moments that make us realise that we really are doing this........   It's not unsettling as such but a reality check nonetheless and probably one of the times that you could feel a bit wobbly about taking such a huge step.  Luckily - so far! - we've found it sobering but not worrying and fervently hope this remains the case.

In other news, we're making good progress with the packing and there's not much left all things considered.  I had a girly panic last weekend when I thought I'd packed everything appropriate to wear to a 'glamorous' themed hen-do but I managed to find something in the end.  The house has gradually been taken apart around us to a large extent and it feels like we're living in a perpetual state of departure.  

Overall, time seems to be flying by and we're trying to keep up with things like cancelling the various utilities, all of which seem to have different notice periods, and also sorting out our wills.  TOP TIP: make sure you have a will if you own property in either country.  We have had a Spanish will for a while now to cover our apartment in the Port but hadn't yet sorted out wills to cover our property etc in UK.  Apparently a lot of people don't have wills, perhaps because no-one likes to think about the fact that one day we won't be around any more!  But there is no getting away from it and you can get wills done in the UK really quite cheaply.  

In the meantime the clock keeps ticking.........