August #1: The Last of London

On Thursday the 11^th of August 2016 we left London to take up our new life in the Isle of Man. These final eleven days were action-packed and momentous as you might expect.

But first, the monthly pictures:

21 months old

22 months old

58 months (4 years 10 months) old

59 months (4 years 11 months) old

This one was also taken during the monthly photos, when Finn found one of the camping equipment bits that we were trying to pack, and decided that he was off on a hike.

Our final less-than-two-weeks in London was, perhaps obviously, spent with a great many Lasts: last Dad’s Club, last great Whole-Family-Adventure, Last day at nursery, last days in our flat etc. But before getting onto that, the two boys continue to grow and grow up. Orry in particular is surprising us in how much of a little boy he is becoming by the day. Here are a few little notes or stories which give a very good idea of Orry as he is now...
We were distracted at dinner one evening for a minute or so. The next time we turn around, we find Orry quietly putting pieces of bread down his shirt. "Orry, what are you doing?" we ask. He looks up innocently and earnestly tells us everything in a single word: "Pocket." He then looks down into his shirt and spies the heap of crumbs against his belly, and then looks up and quietly says: "Uh-oh." We all laugh, Finn most heartily.
Previously it was Finn who lead the activities, with him running from this to that and Orry following in his wake. But now it is more becoming Orry who initiates things. Finn will often be found quietly playing with his toys (talking for them in some odd role-play involving whatever car, Lego person or stuffed toy is to hand), so it is left to Orry to wander off and do something fun or silly, but normally disruptive. It is not an amazing thing in itself, but it is quiet a development in the relationship between Finn and Orry, and the dynamic of the house. Although we're delighted about Orry's "development" and "independence", we're also very much aware that Orry's "a trouble-maker", as Finn so frequently calls him!
Orry has recently taken on the need to say "please" to play the polite game with us; to get when he wants, and to do the right thing in our conversations. However, Orry being Orry, he doesn't just say it. Rather, he will quietly whisper it and then give you a cheeky smile. Very odd (and cute!)
He also took on, for only a couple of weeks or so, a lovely "no, thank you," which we managed to get on film:

"No, Deedah!" and "No, Mama!" are two of Orry's most distinctive phrases of late. They are generally said at great distraught volume when we try and do anything which he's displeased with. This might be trying to give him the wrong cereal, get him out of the bath, come into the room, stand in the wrong place etc. It's still a joke to us all, but it could blossom into being thoroughly annoying!

Orry - a little boy, along with his best friend in the world, his brother:

Last day at work

My (James’) last day at work was actually in July, but I forgot to mention it last time. But perhaps it’s better suited to this post of Lasts.

After nine years in the same role, it is quite something to leave. After the final leaving lunch everyone else headed back to the office, and I turned and walked away. Freedom, fear, strangeness. It is very strange indeed

Nine years done, just like that.

In contrast, Cori’s giving up work was a terrible wrench; giving up something which she loved and which was perfectly suited to. To this was added, as she was leaving, the realisation that she had embedded herself into a group of lovely people and good friends, as was shown by the honestly surprisingly and lovely turn-out for her farewell tea:

This was followed by the leaving dinner, where much drink was drunk and much crying cried.

At the point of leaving Cori was also realising not just how good she was at her job, but how special her skills were in the role and in the museum, but also how this was beginning to be recognised by The Powers in the Museum. Besides the success of the Latitude Festival trip, the most obvious example of this was Cori’s having brought about the Museum’s first ever “show”, on the theme of pirates.

This has been achieving large crowds, or the right sort (i.e. new visitors etc.), and getting shining reviews, such as this which was a screenshot of a random section of comments below the Museum’s advert for the show – that these are just random people who have been or who want to go is quite amazing:

It is a big wrench for Cori to leave her work, and it very sad to leave the museum now, just when it looks as if things were really beginning to fit together for her... And there is not much to done about that in the situation other than to just be very sad indeed…

Last Dad’s Club

I’ve spoken many times about the importance of Dad’s Club to me and the family; because of its providing of a community and giving me confidence and empowerment as a parent. I am a better father because of it, and the boys are better people through it also. – I don’t think that I need to go on again about that side of it.

What is perhaps worth saying is that it has been absolutely a part of my life as a parent, ever since Finn was under one. It has been absolutely a part, therefore, of Finn’s life also.

Finn and I have been the longest-attending for months now. It was strange to be thanked and bode farewell at the end of the final session, in just the way that I saw others bode farewell within months of my first going. Back then I thought it unremarkable that someone had been there a lot and now was not going to go again – it was irrelevant to me and Finn. But now that it is me, it is strange to see all the new dads with young children in my position then, who are just embarking on the journey that Finn and I (and Orry) are now finishing off for the last time. It was a great time which had a large impact on the quality of our lives, and I can only wish that they get as much from it as we all did.

We took chocolates for Simon and Diane, the organisers of the event every fortnight, and Finn thought to draw their portraits on the wrapping paper. They are absolute likenesses of them both:

It was strange to hand these over, and have the final chat, and then go. And it was all over.

Finn, however, enjoyed the mask we made from the remnants of the wrapping…!

Art

Since most of it was made a Dad’s Club, it is probably worth putting in some of Finn’s weird and wonderful art here…

These were all done at Finn's final trip to Dad's Club, where there was a giant African snail (which appears in the pictures). There was not, however, a vampire under the stairs. I have no idea where that came from!
Finn also did a lovely variation of a picture in one of his books: of someone inside a postbox with lots of letters all around them - this time the person is joined by Finn also:

Orry also likes drawing, for a short period of time at a go, but its mostly to scribble over whatever it is we've done at his demand...

Last Whole Family Adventure: London Eye & Aquarium

We thought that our final Adventure in London should be a good one, so we submitted to the misery of tourist crowds and the horrifying costs to go and do something that Finn had wanted to do for a long time: the London Eye.

Finn didn’t have any specific reason to want to go on it, other than that it was there, he knew its name, and he knew that it was possible to go on it. He enjoyed it though, as did Orry.

Orry also particularly enjoyed the packed lunch which followed – Orry always enjoys food.

After the food, Orry felt ready to take on the world... maybe...

Having done the Finn thing, and since it was just there, we then did the Orry thing and went to the aquarium. Orry and Finn (and we) enjoyed it a lot:

An curious part of the aquarium was a small gallery about the water system in London, with a short film running through the history of London sewers from Bazalgette through to the modern dealing with the Thames Estuary flood plain. What with its swish graphics of pipes and flows, an occasional toilet and the appearance of death in the form of a skeleton boatman, Finn was transfixed. It obviously went into him as he reproduced the sewerage system of London in perfect replica on his whiteboard once he got home:

A good final adventure day, and something worthy of our last full free day in London.

Final day

Packing began three week before departure. At first it was slight, then it was interrupted by other pressing chores (such as final fixes to the house, form filling and Council dealing etc.), leaving the majority to the final three days before we left. This was as planned, as it was to be both Cori and James, with the boys in nursery, which seemed like plenty of time.

It. Was. Not.

Inevitably we completely underestimated how long everything took, and so the final rooms were begun to be packed at midnight on the evening before (morning of) the day of departure. We were there in misery until 4am putting the last damn things in the last damn boxes, before dropping into bed for two hours and then getting up at 6am for the day of the move.

This was the final mass of stuff (excluding a couple of things which were in the next room):

We are not sure whether we were quicker or not for Finn’s help, but we’re certain that we were slower for Orry’s!

This is what Finn and Orry thought of the move over breakfast on that last day in London:

The day looked like this:

4am Go to sleep

6am Get up

8am Drop boys off for their final day of nursery (and the final day of the term)

8.10am Pack the final things into boxes at a desperate speed

11am Removals men arrive

(11.05am Finish packing)

11.05am Start shifting everything into the vans

1.30pm Finish packing the vans & the removals men leave

2pm Finish cleaning the house

2.30pm Drop off the discarded stuff at Oxfam

2.45pm Much sandwiches on the walk home

3pm Get to nursery to pick up boys

3.30pm Get out of nursery after our final goodbyes

4pm Set off to Gatwick (on the bus and train, via Victoria)

7pm Flight delayed

8pm Set off

9pm Land in the Isle of Man

9.15pm All children asleep in the car

10.30pm everyone asleep at last!

It was a long and terrible day, but we were able also to find time to realise and take in the Last Times of it. Finn too…

As I walked Finn to nursery he asked me to keep something or other in my memory, and I commented that this was his last time going into nursery and that he should keep that in his memory. He was quiet and I asked him how it made him feel to be going to the Isle of Man later and leaving London behind: “Excited,” he said thoughtfully, “but also sad. The sad is mixed in with the excited.” I agreed wholeheartedly.

And, this was what we looked like minutes before this exchange, waving goodbye to Cori on our last ever trip to nursery in London:

It was probably a good thing that we were so busy all day, leaving little time to brood. But it was still terrible to collect the boys from nursery the last time, and to leave the house at last. “Home,” as Finn always insisted we call it.

When we came back in to collect our bags after getting the boys I stood quietly weeping in the bedroom as Cori finished the clean in the kitchen and Finn and Orry ran around in the space. I was surprised at my emotion at leaving, but it came in floods, and then we had to go.

Next stop, the Isle of Man!