Goodbye day...

Just finished saying goodbye to most of my life here...and I can tell you it was tough.

Jenny meowed all the way to my parents, having put up a bit of a fight getting her into the cat basket. She stayed out all last night and only came in around 8am - I had set the cat flap on 'entry only' mode, but I do not suspect she realised. Still, once there, she seemed to settle in my parents pretty quickly - silly thing did not actually get out of the basket for 30mins in the end! I guess she was just happy to not have the road noise and me moaning at the traffic!

I will let you all know how she gets on with my parents cat - Blue - once I hear. Hopefully they will be fine together. Also, this goodbye has only really started the clock on a future 'hello', which will either be a) Early Jan 08 when my money runs out and an unemployed 'not yet kiwi kev' comes back to Essex - consider Harwich as a holiday home if this happens Jenny, or b) Around Feb 08 when a 'kiwi kev' sends for her to come and join him in windy Wellington - but I imagine the pilots will find 26hrs of meowing a tad grinding!, finally c) When I come visiting in March, and find a settled cat who will have forgotten Coggeshall, and taken up a life of fishing in the rock pools and mousing in the fields.

Well, the goodbyes did not stop there of course, next came a quick farewell to my car (that was quite easy all things considered), then my sister and her son...posing for a farewell photo and my Mum asked if I wanted to say goodbye to Jenny...well that was it, I had to erm, sniff a potential flood back and regain composure. My sister asked if I had a cold, and a silent nod from me (with sniff), provided an answer. In the end we had a hug and a waved goodbye from the car.

My parents drove me back to Coggeshall in my (sorry Dad's) car, and after a quick (final?) tour of the house and more helpful comments from them both...yes the freezer is now defrosting, and yes Dad, I may not be able to finish on time...they went to leave. Dad was out of the door after a quick hug, but mum held back at the top of the stairs. She was clutching a book she had lent me, which of course I was returning now, and I knew the next moments of my life would be some of the toughest I had ever had. I will not go into more detail here, but suffice to say I never want to go through that again if I can help it....this bloody New Zealand better be damn good, that's all I can tell you!

My next posts will either be on route - or more than likely after arrival....but I am not sure if anyone is even reading these, as no-one is leaving any comments?! I have turned off the vetting and need to create an ID, so it is pretty easy to do...