D -1 Last day in London

We had various small jobs to complete today.

First, put on last clothes wash and hang it out to dry, then visit the local council office to get our Council tax exemption registered (for leaving the house unoccupied we pay less tax until it is sold). Next we visited the Estate Agent and reduced the house price (we always thought it was a little high, and we've had no offers yet after a month on the market). Then a short walk to a London Underground station to get the £3 each deposit back on several Oyster cards. These are credit card size passes that you use on buses and tube trains, and we had accumulated half a dozen spares over the years.

On to my parents house, with sandwiches, to say goodbye and show them how to work several electrical items we were giving them, mostly digital radios and digital TV tuners that won't work in the US.

Back home via an ATM to get some cash for the airport taxi in the morning, then a quick whizz round with the vacuum, clean the bathroom and kitchen again, and I collapse for an hour or so while industrious wife puts a last coat of oil on the new kitchen work surfaces and starts going through last minute paperwork.

I get in the washing (it hadn't dried much outdoors but you have to try), put it in the tumble dryer, take down the old washing lines in the garden and add them to the growing pile of junk my parents will be disposing of after we have gone.

Join wife on paperwork sorting, and we take the opportunity to upgrade our plane seats. It's a ten hour flight so we figure it's worth it for £100 each. Check through papers we're leaving with the house, papers we need on the flight, papers we need when we arrive, insurance papers, papers, papers.

It starts raining heavily.

Off to our favourite Sushi restaurant for a delicious supper (no washing up, wahay!), stopping on the way at the local library to take a photocopy of my UK driving license (just in case) and back home to say goodbye to our neighbours who are keeping an eye on the house for us. Long chat about our flight, the cat's flight, relative size of the city of Eugene to the borough of Ealing (half the population, twice the urban area) and the use of Skype.

Drag heavy suitcases downstairs ready for the morning, and pack the last few items including just dry clothes.

Update Blog.

Phew, usually the last day before the start of a journey I get a bit antsy, but I didn't really have the time today. I'll have to wake up at 5am to get it done tomorrow.