Driving through rainbows, moving in and house sale completed.

All went to plan on moving day, van locked and loaded and on the road by 09.30. We cleaned up, handed over the house keys to Kevin and followed at 11.00. A clear run to Cumbria via Shap summit and horizontal wind socks warning of high winds. No kidding.  Bad enough in the car, heavens knows what the winds would be like for the van. Passed all of our wordly goods somewhere between Birmingham and Manchester. Everything that defines us - in a single, medium sized, lorry!
A lovely B&B and a good pub meal to end the day.
Woke to stormy weather for the drive to Fishcross. This made for a drive through rainbows as the sun hit the storm clouds. In addition, the spray from other vehicles made for some mobile rainbows - something I had never seen before. Very pretty, almost magical.
No sight of the removals van on the motorways but as we arrived at the house (dead on time) the van and the lettings agents were waiting for us. The heavens opened again just as we arrived and as they opened the tailgate. Paperwork signed, kettle found and on for a brew.
Rain or no rain, the furniture and boxes were being unloaded. Just the two guys to do the unloading - they were both excellent and were happy to move things around, help with reconstructing the furniture and lifted and shifted as required. 
Within four hours, with only a short break for lunch, everything was unloaded, van checked (found three small pots and a bucket of cleaning products in the locker) and they were off back to Devon.
So we were in our new temporary home surrounded by boxes and falling over various items  every time we decided to move anywhere. Time for some logic and some food. Then to work sorting out the lounge (somewhere to sit) the bedroom (somewhere to sleep) and the kitchen (food and drink)
Some time later, TV set up and settled in for the night. It was as quiet as we hoped it might be. We had no internet or phone - all due to be connected tomorrow. Luckily all the windows have blinds (but no curtains) so we shut out the night and slept the sleep of the really tired.
Friday -  the shifting and organising and tidying continued with order gradually being restored. There were many instances of finding something, putting it down / back in a box then losing it for a couple of hours only to re-discover it later. So far, no breakages to report and we know that everything is here somewhere. 
Then, late morning came the call we were waiting for - the house sale was complete and the cash was with the solicitors. Well, you never really believe it's going to go to plan until you get that call. If only the bank had played the game and confirmed the redemption figure as promised, we would have had the cash transfer today. However, unusually for First Direct, they were a bit tardy and we missed the bank deadline for transferring the money. Will be first thing on Mondy then - not concerned as the balance is with solicitors and the buyer has coughed up (something that had been in doubt in our minds following the chaos that was the exchange process)
After unloading yet more boxes we went out for a short stroll. The photo below shows the view from the cycle / footpath five minutes walk from the house.

The hills are the Ochils and we will be exploring them from our door over the next few weeks. A beautiful evening with clear skies, sunshine if a little cool. Anticipating phone and internet connections to be completed by the end of today; meanwhile we have mobile internet that works just fine.