Nobody Panic...

Honestly, I'm beginning to feel a bit like a rabbit frozen in the headlights where this move is concerned. It's just that I have to get my head around not only moving, but getting rid of so much of the 'stuff' that I have gathered around me over the last twenty years or so. Then there's the fact that I will have to completely gut and refurbish the new place, which will take roughly two months, during which time I will have to rent somewhere short term. If all of this sounds stressful, it is supposed to be but I feel strangely calm most of the time - just unable to actually do anything.
   I should be planning it all, on the computer probably, and I am  getting together a lot of pictures which I'm saving in my "Moving Folder". Typically for me, I can easily visualize what it will look like when it's finished; I can see the kitchen, the sitting room, the bedrooms, the bathrooms and even
the garden as they will be when finished, it's just the getting there which eludes me! I have now seen three builders, all different, and all very helpful in their different ways - they can all apparently do what I want and seem competent enough. But I have heard so many horror stories about builders that I'm naturally cautious and, frankly, terrified of choosing the wrong one. My best option would seem to be the one who is actually working on another house in the same development at the moment. I have been watching their progress over the last couple of weeks and their work looks good. Fingers crossed, they could be the ones...
   I don't want to add any pressure to Son's life either, since he has only just emerged from wrestling with his builders, who were basically a "gang" of Polish men who were often drunk on the job, often not even on the job, and finally left their new house in an unfinished and dodgy state. All I want is for him to come down in a van (with a friend) and take some of my stuff away. They already have one of my lovely rugs in their sitting room, and it works well on their new oak floor. I just wish they had room for more. And if only Daughter could take a few things! But that is just wishful thinking as their flat (a large, three-bedroom job) is already stuffed to the gills with their things, and even when they move I don't think they'll want much of mine.
   Anyway, I'm just whingeing really. We obviously have lofts and attics for the sole purpose of storing things we will never look at again.. and particularly our children's things. Mine contains children's books (still boxed from my move 12 years ago), black sacks full of old stuffed toys,
a half-size snooker table, a travel cot, a rear shelf from an old Renault 5, suitcases full of summer or winter clothes, bubble-wrapped pictures...well you get the picture, and I swear I won't do it again..
   I know I'm going to have to store some things, like the table from my Dad and the elm chest and probably the beautiful C18th corner cupboard, but now I'll have a garage, a dry, solid brick-built garage, in which to store them for a while. Ho Hum...
   Oh and just before I go, here's something I heard on the radio this morning: "What is Dark Matter?
It's called Dark Matter because it doesn't give out any light." Basically, it's the dark stuff in between the stars. Isn't that wonderful?