Plans going awry and emigrating friends

I don't like planning. I am more of a take it as it comes and fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. Whenever I do make plans they always seem to go awry.

This weekend we had several plans.

1 Remove lots of crap from the garage
2 Recover photographs from storage
3 Have lunch at the local pub with friends who are emigrating to Australia this week (sob!)
4 Have lunch cooked for me by another friend who I haven't seen in over a month and am missing dreadfully
5 Go see British Superbikes at Donington
6 Relax

Aims achieved - I found my photographs and the pub lunch turned into a whole afternoon/evening session.

Everything else has gone by the by due to the usual lousy British weather and washing machine mechanics. Mam's washing machine has finally given up and I have been hunting for another likely suspect to take over the chinese laundry duties on a temporary basis :) I had a generous offer from a friend at work but she is about to become the youngest grandma on the block (any second now) and turning up with a laundry bag just didn't seem appropriate during childbirth!

We nearly made BSB at Donington but when we woke up this morning, the strong winds and dark skies gave us second thoughts. The racing very likely went ahead but the enjoyment goes out of watching when you have an ice-cream headache from the wind and you are trying to keep your brolly the right way out!

I think that the overriding thought for me this weekend has been that there is something horrible about counting down to saying goodbye to your best friends. Going from seeing them 2/3 times a week to seeing them once a year if we go out for a holiday is going to be hard. They have been constant fixtures in my life for nearly 20 years. Ok, it will be great to visit and we can combine it with a visit to New Zealand to visit our other friend who emigrated 3 years ago but it is hard to say goodbye with only skype to look forward to!

I think this has given me more pause for thought than anything else that has happened recently. I now realise that we need to make a loose plan for our future rather than just drifting as we have been. Currently we are working towards getting an RV, this involves having a house for a few months whilst we sell our current van and import a Safari Trek from the USA but what do we want to be doing in 5 years? Travelling, working, have a house, have a motorhome, be in this country, emigrate, have own business?

We don't know ... it feels like a huge blank canvas with an undefined point in the distance that we are hurtling towards ... clarity is definitely required .... along with a bit of sunshine! :)