Welcome Home?

Last Sunday night saw the Welcome Service for all of us starting in the Manchester Circuit this year - I am one of four people, including another Student Minister who have taken post. The Preacher started off by talking about his own experiences of moving to a new Manse, in particular a tale of a cooker that he was assured was in terrific condition despite having been in storage for several years; his appetite for using it though took a nosedive when two (cooked!) slices of Bacon were found to be still in the grill pan....

There haven't been any horror stories of that variety in our own move, for which plenty of credit has to go to people in Manchester; but of course there have been some interesting moments.

This was in a way our first major move. Previously we'd mostly been moving somewhere close by, with an overlap allowing us to ferry things back and forth; this time, we had to pack everything ready to be loaded into a lorry and then unpack at the other end. Suffice to say that, three weeks later, there are still boxes waiting to be unpacked and a few things that seem to have disappeared.

Then there were the wardrobes. We had a couple of self-assembled wardrobes that looked like they would fit nicely into the Manse; however, as it turned out we'd put them together a little too well, and unless we removed the banisters then they weren't leaving the house. In fact, at the moment I should really be assembling the new one that's just arrived....

Then there was the fact that we had to clean and fix up the other house as we've had to rent it out. With a few shenanigans on that front (having to replace a baluster broken during the move, and laying some new lino in the bathroom having torn what was there before by accident for example) it hardly seemed we had time to even start getting organised.

There's been plenty to be thankful for however. Friends from our old church have come and helped unpack, put furniture together and the like; people that are already on the way to becoming friends have made sure the Manse was clean and decorated before we arrived, and even provided the means to have a cup of tea on arrival! We are gradually emerging from the chaos, and gradually turning this into our home. It's been stressful and still is to be honest, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and a lovely new home too.