The Grand Drive adventures...

...of Molly Mouse!

Saturday morning the final move from Amity Grove progressed and we took our last car loads full and 2 loads in Ruby (Amy and Nick's travel wagon) off to Grand Drive. Before we had even thought through the logistics, since Amity Grove was now basically empty....Molly Mouse decided to go walkabout...clearly not very happy about having her home dismantled and empty. We hadn't quite thought about locking her inside until it was too late...and her decision to give us heart failure had already been made. After the final offload we came back to get her, in the hope she had returned from her morning adventure....but of course she hadn't! I stood on a bar stool in the garden, looking over all the neighbours fences (as she always seems to come from that way when she does reappear) calling her name for about an hour (regardless of the fact that she is rather deaf)... unsurprisingly she never appeared! I was distraught!

Mark phoned our new tenants-to-be (who are allergic to cats and not cat lovers) to let them know she had gone walkabout and to please call us when/if she returned. They were supposed to move in around 12h00 and come 14h00 we still hadn't heard a word. Closer to 5pm we finally got a call...it turns out the tenants had only arrived at Amity Grove very late with their van load, and when they opened the door there she was! I have never been so relieved and so happy!!! We of course went off straight away to fetch her and when we got there she looked a little dazed and confused... sitting near her cat flap and where her food normally was (now being close to her dinner time). The catbox came out, which she eyed out with complete and utter disgust, but before she had time to make a run for it again, Mark grabbed her and commenced the struggle of what you would swear was the most tortuous thing in the whole world! We left the tenants in peace and took Molly to her new home!

After lots of moaning and groaning, she finally started to settle down in our room in Grand Drive and as soon as our bed was made she was on it and happy as Larry! Relieved and hungry, we headed off to Nev and Jen, who had kindly offered us a sushi dinner invitation, which we readily accepted.

On Sunday, once the builders had all gone out for the day, we decided to let the Molly Mouse of out of our room, so she could explore the rest of the new house. Bearing in mind that the building works are still underway, and there are still a few floor boards up here and there, where the builders have been working on the wiring...we watched the Molly Mouse discover her new home (seeing her on the stairs is hilarious...she can’t quite decide if hopping or walking up them is easier!)

After much adventure and exploring, we thought it safe for us to carry on with things that needed to be done, and left the Molster to do her own thing. Not 5 minutes after our backs were turned, she started performing again.... scratching and meowing as if her life depended on it...

We set off in search of her, thinking she might just be stuck behind some furniture and boxes somewhere... But of course, she wasn't...instead she had managed to find the one hole (next to the washing machine) that we weren't able to pick up any other floor boards around it....and instead of staying where we could see her she set off to roam around under the floor! Mark eventually managed to coax her back to the hole until he could see her and proceeded to pick her up by the scruff of the neck and bring her back to the surface!! Hopefully that was a lesson learnt well (for Molly that is) and one that won't be repeated again now until the new flooring has been laid...but until then I guess Molly Mouse’s adventures will continue...

As for our own Grand Drive adventures...things have come along very nicely! Most of the inside is now done (apart from the painting, which is up to Mark and I to complete) apart from the kitchen tiling and all flooring which will be done at the very end...and which the builders are hoping to finish by the end of this week! The outside has made huge progress too, with the paving out the front and the deck out the back now complete too. All that remains outside is the garage/outside room to be completed followed by the turf. It's all very exciting...and we are looking forward to seeing it all complete very soon. [pics to follow]