Happy New Year! 2017 has finally arrived :)

The 1st day of 2017 finds us doing very little, after putting the house back to normal that is…  As anybody who has ever hosted a New Year party knows this is a pretty monumental task, and even though we sent bottles away with as many people as we could, we still ended up with more alcohol than we started with!  Well it feels like that anyway.

I’m starting to feel pretty emotional now – the house is sold, my car has gone, we’ve had our last Christmas and new year in the house….. you get the picture.

And I really miss my car.  I know it’s pathetic.  But now I have to get used to driving the tow car (the most basic Citroen C1 model) all the time.  At the moment I’m still comparing it, you know, the fact that I have to use a key to get in and start the car (I don’t just put my keys in my pocket and press a button), I have to wind the windows down, there’s no heated seat to help when I’ve got a slightly aching back, no rear camera, no steering wheel controls and no sat nav and so on and so on……

So the other day I was trying to think of all the positives of the Citroen:-

• It’s easy to park (being so short – I noticed the other day that it fills about a half of a parking space)
• Really good fuel consumption
• £0 car tax
• We can tow it behind the van
• We have a towbar on it (yes, we really do) which means we can tow a trailer and also carry the bikes on a towbar bike rack.
• It’s petrol so it’s cheaper to run (my car was a diesel)
• We really don’t mind it getting dirty!

I’m almost over it now 🙂

So tomorrow the hard work starts.  We have already started packing up the house (regardless of when completion is we will be leaving by Monday 16th at the latest), we’ve sorted storage and a van.  Now I’ve got to sort through my worldly goods and then Calv will go round after me packing it all up – an easy job for him as he used to be a removal man 🙂

The other part of the hard work is to get back to the gym and stop eating!  It would be good to have lost the excess Christmas poundage before we leave – I’ll do my very best.  Although this will be made more difficult by some more goodbye nights out!  Although I am looking forward to them all of course!

I think I will definitely be in Spain by the time I get another opportunity to post, although I have no idea of where we will actually be pitched!  We have organised though to meet friends in March and walk the Camanito del Rey near Marbella, which looks absolutely spectacular.  Can’t wait Elaine & Chris 🙂

So that’s the first actual plans we’ve made for our year!

We hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year and that 2017 is good for you 🙂

Author: MandoraTheExplorer

Having given up full-time work we currently work a year to travel for 4-5 months, and we're hoping to continue this until we can retire properly! Currently living, and loving, life to the full :) View all posts by MandoraTheExplorer