The 23rd of July was the day I moved back into my house and it was also my birthday, my 60th birthday to be exact and I had not planned to be here but I was planning to be in Scotland. It seemed fitting to me to go home for this birthday because I was now eligible for my UK bus pass and I thought well I might just apply for that and then I can get cheap travel around the UK, but it looks like it will be next year at the earliest before I will be able to go.

I felt quite sad coming back into the house, the house looked sad too because it had not been cared for by the tenants. The house and I were in a kind of symbiosis I think. She was battered and bruised, marks on the walls………door jambs chipped……….curtains looking very sad……….fly screens rotten through, although they have been here for many years.

The garden is also a barren wasteland. When I left there were many colourful plants, many drought tolerant and easy to maintain but all were gone. All the bark and mulch that had been put down over the years had also gone. It is going to take quite some time to get the garden back to anything like it used to be. Mind you the Poinciana is thriving.

As I stepped in through the front door I also felt a sense of failure at being back……..the last four years had disappeared in the blink of an eye and I was wondering if it was all a dream.

I opened up the shed at the bottom of the garden, I had stored all my possessions here. I had come here three weeks ago to pick up the car but didn’t spend much time looking around. Most of the furniture was stored in the first bay and then I had stored all the household item in numerous boxes stacked up all over the place.

First job was to find the kettle so that I could at least make a cup of tea. I then moved onto uncovering the furniture and getting ready for tomorrow when the removalists come. As it turns out they were shite and as weak as piss and I had to help several times or they would have damaged things.

Everything was covered in Gecko shit, Cockroach shit, dust and cobwebs so it took quite some time to clean the things and it’s ongoing. 4 Years of dirt and grime and the insect rebellion had caused havoc.