On being Gypsies and Cuckoos

For those of you who have followed my blogs and my Facebook, you will know that I have three passions in life: genealogy (family), travelling and writing (not to mention my Other Half (OH), of course. He’s part and parcel). There’s a new twist to our nomadic life this year.

After our marathon journey last year ­– via cruise ship three-quarters of the way around the world to Quebec and overland through the Eastern parts of Canada, flying to Alaska and cruising back to Vancouver and then doing the Rocky Mountaineer train journey – we arrived home exhausted, and with a virus, thinking we’d stay put for a while. But life has a habit of changing direction. Our daughter offered us an opportunity too good to miss – “design a new home for your later years, here, on this section right in front of our place and I’ll build it for you.” (She is the franchise owner of Sentinel Homes North/West).

But with the building process, nothing ever quite goes according to plan and while the developer and council argued back and forth over details beyond our ‘need-to-know’, the inevitable delays occurred. So our home sold, settlement date arrived and we moved – partly, at least. The furniture went into our daughter’s garage and we moved into our caravan. The build is still months behind where we’d hoped but we’ve turned the wait into an opportunity.

This is where the gypsies and cuckoos comes into it: we will do some travel in our caravan, some staying put in our caravan, some house-sitting for friends who are travelling overseas and some visiting with friends who say we can stay as long as we like. I’m sure I’m going to open lots of kitchen drawers and doors looking for things that live in different places and one day I might get up and wonder in which direction I’ll find the bathroom, but there’s nothing like a challenge to keep you on your toes.

Most of our friends think we are crazy building a new house. There’s far too many decisions to make and far too much time taken, but I’m a details person so I love the planning and designing, and choosing all the new things I can have. I love seeing it take shape and the expectation is spurring me on to make more decisions about what our future life is going to look like in our new, double glazed, fully insulated, north facing, scenic view home designed just for us.

OH has the library as his space, filled with his rugby books, radio and his laptop, with French doors to a courtyard, while my writing space is on the other side of the house, with doors (and the view) to the north. I can’t wait to have my own space, shut off from everyone else. I might even write another book. Meanwhile, my latest novel The Costumier’s Gift – the dual-timeline sequel continuing the family sagas of Brigid The Girl from County Clare and Gwenna The Welsh Confectioner is now available for pre-order for release on 24 May.

Have you any travel, shifting house or building stories to share with me? I’d be delighted to know your experience.

‘Til next time
Take care

By Vicky Adin, 

Author & book lover.

Read more by Vicky here.