The Way - to avoid unpacking.

We have moved into our new home and The Curate and I are slowly surfacing above the sea of boxes and bags left by the removers in every corner and on every surface they could find. This house is smaller than our last house and it is worrying the amount of belongings we have managed to accumulate in our two years on the north coast. Where did all this bedding come from? A smaller house was one of the compromises we had to make if we wanted to move. It was so much harder for The Curate because the north coast was his proper home for the last two years. He is the one having to start work in a new parish in a couple of weeks.

A French colleague said to me some time ago that if you can't give something away -  you are owned by it. This really made me think as I have always been a hoarder and love to be surrounded by things I have collected or have been given. Am I owned by them? I found it very difficult to leave our family house of over twenty years, to live on the North coast. Perhaps this held me back from settling.

 

But back to the move, The Curate didn't seem to know where to start with the chaos that surrounded us on the first day. I started unpacking kitchen boxes - while The Curate decided that it was necessary to have a bonfire and burn all the packing paper. He then spent a long, long time trying to clear a space for his motorbike in the garage. As the garage seems to have the majority of our belongings in it, making a space caused The Curate some stress. Does he own his motorbike - or does the bike own him?

By the second day - we had had enough and I suddenly realised that it was the last screening of The Way which is a film I really wanted to see. So often I miss seeing films because the ones I want to see, do not seem to stay in our area for more than a week (- I must have an odd taste in films). An exhausted Curate and myself downed tools and went to the afternoon showing of this film. As there were only seven other people watching the film, The Curate had the luxury of trying out five different seats before settling down to watch - much to my embarressment.

All I can say is -you must see this film! - If you love Spain and huge landscapes, love travelling, want to cry and laugh, be moved and inspired, then this is the film for you. The Curate and I found that it touched both of us  - in different ways. But we both identified with the role of the parent. We have two sons who like to go off travelling and we know how much they gain from this - but as parents, we are always concerned about them. As we drove away from the cinema The Curate's phone rang and it was our oldest son ringing from Dubai where he lives and works as a diver. He just wanted to see how we were and catch up on any news. The world can seem a very small place these days