Even the best laid plans can be bungled

Just a few days ago, I told all of you we were on the move again. Well, we were and then suddenly we weren’t.

Our apartment was all packed up, appliances and items sold or given away, plants – our precious plants – sent off to caring homes, and the apartment all scrubbed. Basically everything was in order. But then COVID 19 struck.

From the start of the pandemic and throughout this confinement period I’ve steered clear from writing or even mentioning the virus. We all know there is enough about it out there without me adding to it too.

So whilst I left the virus all alone, it clearly decided not to bestow me with the same courtesy. Now now, no one has tested positive here, just in case you were wondering. The virus wreaked upon us a different kind of havoc – airlines not flying animals kind of havoc.

We were all set to take our Air France flight from Paris to Stockholm (yes, that’s where we are headed), but a week before our departure, the airlines informed us that at this time à cause du coronavirus, they were unable to take Mia! So if Mia couldn’t go, neither could we.

The only other alternative was to travel by road. A journey of 21 hours taking us across three if not four international borders. We started working on our route and the stops along the way. We would need to go through Belgium, Germany and into Sweden by ferry. An alternate route would have been through Denmark but we thought it best to keep border crossings to a minimum.

All was in place from our side until we were informed that none of the rental car agencies were agreeing to rent a car for one-way cross border transfers at the moment. There was however, one option – taking the train to Dusseldorf in Germany and then renting a car from there for our onward journey. What I haven’t understood is why the agency in France wouldn’t let us take the car across but the same agency in Germany was fine with it!

Anyway, whilst awaiting confirmations on all our myriad journey options, K’s company finally decided that enough was enough and that this journey would be far too perilous. Far too perilous?? Did they think we were going to swim across shark infested waters or drive through a war zone? Last I checked, we were still just driving across the European Union!

But I guess that is exactly what the virus has done – turned entire countries into war zones; each fighting this invisible enemy with every means possible.

Well, the net result of all this was we now had no apartment nor any furniture. Even our clothes were in short supply and completely unsuited to the fast rising temperatures in France. Sweden being much cooler at this time of the year, we had not kept any summer clothes in the luggage we were going to take ourselves.

But first things first, there was this roof-over-your-head issue that needed solving first. Some of you would agree though that clothes are pretty important too!

After the last of our boxes was carted off, we moved into a hotel while our relocation agency started looking for a temporary apartment for us. A day later, we moved into an apartment – nothing like what we had left behind – but just some place where we could bide our time until the world can reset itself.