Sunday, May 30, 2010

A fresh start

Just a rush rush post to keep you informed...

The last couple of days have been some of the most dramatic in my life. On Friday the movers came to our old house to load the truck. It was a very awkward feeling to see how our house was being emptied. Even more so because with all of our furniture gone, every sound made a huge echoe in our living room. It added to the uncanny atmosphere.

Our cats also felt that there was something big about to happen because I didn't see them all day. I was able to catch Thomas and Canelle reasonably quickly, but Blu was a lot harder to find. Eventually, to my great relief, I heard her hiding under a big hedge and I managed to cath her. In the end, Thomas and Blu had treated me on a whole bunch of scars all over my body and a torn t-shirt. But they were inside and that was the most important bit.

That evening I felt so lonely as I've never felt before. The only piece of "furniture" in the entire house was a camping bed which the new owners were kind enough to lend me for the night. Not that I caught a lot of sleep on it, mostly due to our cats who kept me awake with their frightened meows.

Early on Saturnday morning, a friend of Christine's came to drive me and my cats to the airport. She's a supervisor at Brussels airport and she had arranged everything for us so that I could have a relaxing flight and that our cats would come out in one piece as well.

At Bologna airport, I finally saw Christine again. It was a bit awkward at first since we hadn't seen eachother for such a long time. But once I saw the cosy little house she had arranged for us, all worries disappeared in a flash.

You know, when our Belgian house was being emptied, the harsh reality of our decision finally got through to me. For the first time I started to doubt whether our decision to sell everything in order to start a new life was indeed a good one. But now that I've visited our future home again, and I saw the overwhelming environment in which it is situated, I started to cry tears of joy. Nothing can ever compare to this. We'll be perfectly happy here, even though we'll still have to fight a lot in order to overcome all the problems that still lie ahead. It will all be worth it.

This evening, I enjoyed a good glass of local wine on the terrace in front of our temporary home. And I smiled...

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Christine's found a house!

Did I already tell you that I have the most wonderful wife on the planet? This afternoon she found a nice, small house we can temporarlily rent until our own house is finished. It's not luxurious at all and it's pretty small. But apparently it's a cosy place and it comes very cheap too. And to round it off, the owner appears to be a very kind lady. So we're safe for the time being.

As far as our furniture is concerned, this can be stored in the small warehouse from Christine's friend who's also the local groceries shop owner.

It's not the perfect solution. For example, if I want to play the piano, I'll have to go to the warehouse. The movers' lorry is unable to reach our new temporary home and the house is simply much too small anyway. But you won't hear me complain in the least! I'm sooo happy that everything's going to be just fine. It's such a comforting thought...

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Counting the days

It won't be long anymore. Next Friday morning the movers will come to load all of our furniture and other belongings in the truck. And the next morning I'll be flying to my new, and hopefully final, destination. I'm under a lot of stress these days. Most of all because of the reasons I already stated. But more and more a strange anxiety is coming over me. It's only now that I'm beginning to realise what sort of adventure we've got ourselves into. Not that I'd be sorry to leave this house behind as such. Yes, it's a beautiful house (see picture) and we worked so hard for it. On the other hand, I've never really felt at home in this neighbourhood. Being Flemish and living just across the border in Wallonia is one thing. But apart from that there's a strange feeling about this place that I can't describe. One that never let me in peace and prevented me from finding the rest I so desperately need. The feeling I have in Italy is so totally different, even though also over there we're already into a lot of difficulties. It's as if nothing can really touch me over there.



Then there is the stress of all the things I still need to take care of. There's still a lot of packing to do. Moreover because Christine asked me to dig some of her favourite plants out of the garden so we can take them with us to Italy. I've already put dozens of little pots with shoots and plants in big plastic boxes, so they can keep their feet wet. Eventually it's amazing how much stuff one actually collects over the years. Even though we still have relatively few pieces of furniture compared to most other families. And I also have to go to the commune administration to have myself unregistered as a resident. So there's still plenty of things to do before Friday.



Fortunately, our friend managed to arrange me a very cheap ticket on Brussels Airlines next Saturday, so I can accompany our cats. It's already one worry less...


Sunday, May 23, 2010

Worries

Our path towards our Italian dream isn't strewn with roses. That's the least you could say. This morning Christine received a phonecall from the owner of the best of two temporary houses she's been looking at. The man said, and very rudely too, that his house is for sale and that he does not want to rent it to us for a brief period. Christine tried to explain the win-win situation, but in vain. This means that almost 100% certain we'll have to go for the option of house number 2 and storing our furniture in the warehouse she found. Far from ideal, but at least we'll have a roof over our heads.

As far as our financial situation is concerned, Christine won't give in and she's ordered the works to continue. She believes that we'll eventually receive the full mortgage we requested so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Then yesterday another problem suddenly turned up. A good friend of Christine's who works for Brussels Airlines had arranged a so-called "buddy-ticket" for me at a very low price. So I could move by plane next Saturday, together with our cats. This on the condition that this friend would join me. Yesterday however she suddenly called me to say that she had forgotten about a school party she wanted to go to with her children and asked me if Sunday would be ok then. It's really disappointing, even though the new owners of our Belgian house are kind enough to let me stay until Sunday if I have to. But I don't fancy staying 2 days in a house that is totally empty (the movers come to collect our stuff on Friday morning). Without even mentioning what our cats would think of all this. Cats have in fact a couple of autistic leanings. They're mostly solitary for starters, but most important of all, they HATE changes. That's the main reason why we eventually preferred to move them by plane iso a 12h drive in a small car. Christine said that if she has to, she'd drive to Belgium on Friday night (she had planned important works on our house this Friday so she can't come home any earlier anymore) and then return immediately with me. The fatigue has obviously made her even more looney than I am. :-) So I quickly talked this crazy idea out of her head.

I have to admit... the main reason for my disappointment is that I miss Christine so very much. What's one extra day in an 8-month period, you could argue. And rightfully so. But as I've decided to from now on enjoy every day as if it were my last, this one extra day is not a pleasant thing to look forward to...

A new but difficult beginning...

Even though these days aren't the happiest of my life, to say the least, I have to keep looking at the future. Which is a nightmare to me because uncertainty can drive me crazy. I'm exactly one week ahead of my definite move to Italy. For those of you who haven't read my book or my old blog, my wife, Christine, and I decided to completely change our lives. Less luxury perhaps, but more "life" as such. Therefore we've bought a small house in the Italian countryside where we hope to find some peace. After a professional career of almost 20 years, my autism finally took the better of me and I collapsed. Christine in the mean time suffers from a severe case of the chronic fatigue syndrome. I hate to admit it, but I'll probably be a large part of the cause of that. You can imagine I'm not always the easiest person to live with. But anyway, we're having big plans to turn our dire situation into something positive. Hence the Italian adventure. Unfortunately, this adventure turned out to be more of a rollercoaster as you can read in my old blog. The restoration eventually cost twice as much as originally budgeted by our geometre. In spite of big promises we only received half of the mortgage we requested, even if our future house is worth at least three times of what we asked for. And finally, disaster struck on the stock market where I was trying to make up for our losses.

So here we are now. Our future house is still far from being "habitable" and we don't have the money right now to continue the works. Christine has been living in Italy since September in order to coordinate them. I had to stay behind in Belgium because I had to take care of our animals (3 cats, 5 chickens and 2 guinnea-pigs) and manage the administrative bit. So we haven't seen much of eachother over the last 8 months. Therefore being together again will already be a great comfort. Christine has just found a small warehouse where we can temporarily store our furniture and we have high hopes that we can rent a temporary house for a reasonable price. And then we'll take it from there. One step at the time.

And then... I can hopefully find the peace I've been looking for for so long...














Welcome to my new blog!

WELCOME!!! At last I've decided to create my own blog about my adventures and about the way I experience autism in particular. I sincerely hope that my stories may be of help to people who want to know more about this terrible condition, or that you at least enjoy reading them.

For those of you who'd like to have more background information, feel free to visit my old blog here:

www.bloggen.be/anewlifeinitaly

Happy readings!!!