A new home and a cat called Houdini........................

It is a long time since my last blog update and so much has happened.
Our last few days in France were spent cleaning the house, taking cats for tick/worm treatments and packing up. Having tried so hard to be good and not 'acquire' too many things there still seemed a lot to try and fit into the car and I sadly had to leave most of my beautiful plants behind!
With the cats safely in their new travelling boxes (two per box) we set off on the next stage of our journey. Fortunately we arrived at Calais considerably earlier than anticipated and after the cats' passports/microchips were checked, we were able to get on an earlier shuttle. We arrived at our new home in Bury, Cambridgeshire, late at night, set the cats free to explore the house and fell into bed, totally exhausted.
Our new home is one of a series of old MOD houses which having been boarded up for some time, have now been revamped and rented out. Our house is at the end of one side of a square of six houses. Behind and to one side of our house, the land is undeveloped with beautiful old trees and leads to a small road with a further row of houses. Across the road are open fields. We seem to have exchanged the French countryside for a similar, 'tho slightly smaller farming community. However, we have noticed a planning consent notice when exploring the area and it would appear that there are plans to build houses and apartments in the future.
The past week has been hectic with various dramatic events and preparation for the Hugglets show keeping us very busy. So much has happened with leaks in the bathroom upstairs to trying to introduce four cats to a large boisterous dog who has never had much contact with furry felines! This has proved difficult and I am sporting a black and bruised eye as a result of a close encounter with a terrified cat trying to escape from the dog! Never thought this would be an easy transition but did not plan to get into the middle of it. My poor old Sasha cat was extremely traumatized and I spent an anxious few days caring for him. Whether they will get to accept each other and live peaceably side by side is still to be discovered. Mischka had settled in so nicely in France with an enormous garden in which to safely roam. He is now confined indoors and is quite furious.The only windows open at night are upstairs and with the safety catch hardly wide enough for a cat to slip through. However, Houdini cat has somehow escaped on two occasions ending up in the garden then screaming to be rescued.
As our furniture is still in storage we are making do with the basics at this stage. This week I will start the process of having it shipped to the UK which could take some time! We visited our nearest Ikea for some flatpack items to help with storage and our house is slowly becoming a home.
Yesterday we travelled to London for the Hugglets show. As there are no congestion charges on a weekend we decided to be brave and drive to the show. We did not allow for ongoing roadworks (which always seem to be on the go here in the UK) and ended up using a B road for quite a distance rather than the motorway. Fortunately we still managed to get to London in good time to set up.
Attendance at the show was once again excellent and it was wonderful to meet up with old friends to catch up with all their happenings. Met some delightful Australian and New Zealand artists who were exhibiting at the show for the first time. I fortunately managed to complete a lot of bears before leaving France and Megan has been extremely busy embroidering tiny clothes. It was a very successful show and quite a few bears found new homes. The drive back to Bury was uneventful and we arrived home quite late, rather exhausted but happy after a good day.
Hope to have some pictures to share soon......................

Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. ~Lao Tzu