It is less than a week since we upped sticks and moved 3,378 books, five people, a cat and a few bits of furniture to 'New Hobeck Towers'. I can't quite believe it isn't yet a week since it all started. It has been a whirlwind few days. I can't tell you how many boxes we have packed, only to later unpack two days later. The answer is: lots.
We still have possession of Old Hobeck Towers and I've been going back to clean and gather the last few belongings left there. Here, below, is a photo of Old Hobeck Towers. After this coming Friday, it will belong to someone else.
Looking back, sitting here writing this in 'New Hobeck Towers' on the day we published Hunted by Antony Dunford and the day we presented our spring catalogue, with just a few hours notice, to a bunch of booksellers (the subject of another blog - if we thought moving house was stressful...), I ask myself: 'How have we managed this?' The answer is, that we've had no choice but to mange it. We have just got on with it and put every ounce of our energy into keeping Hobeck going and keeping everyone sane (trouble-shooting the usual problems such as how the heating works, why the printer isn't printing, how to get food despite a foot of snow outside and the like). We've done it because we are both so determined to turn this new house into a home for us all, cat included.
As I type, the cat is curled up on a chair opposite me. She seems to have adapted quite well to her new surroundings. The people are familiar. The furnishing are familiar. But there are differences. The walls are straight. The stairs don't wobble. The windows are bigger and the floor is flat. She seems happy enough. And so are the rest of us, thus far. We are happy enough. We haven't quite finished the unpacking. There is a 'pile' of stuff that needs a home. But we are nearly there.
As for business, from tomorrow, it will be business as usual. We are hoping to record the next Hobcast and work on promoting Hunted to the world.
We will always hold Old Hobeck Towers close to our hearts. It is where Hobeck began. It has been around for 300 years so has seen lots of life, hopes and dreams begin and build, and perhaps fall too. I'm sure it will get to see many more. We feel lucky to have been part of its story. Out with the old, in with the new.