And then there were Two

I’m starting to feel it now.

Cleaning out the YD’s room was tough, but the reality of the move is starting to hit even harder, now.

Pepper went to his new home on Saturday, with my friend LSW (the LongSufferingWife, she puts up with all manner of teasing from her husband, LSWH).

I spent most of Saturday morning trying to make his tail look decent, so LSW’s kids wouldn’t look at it and go “Pooh!”

Before…

…after

…during…

and…

(Why can’t someone invent crap removing shampoo? I gave up on the Horse Shampoo and ended up using Fairy liquid, breaking up the crap-dags by hand as I worked my way through his tail. FOUR washes, it took – FOUR! It was worth it though, by the time I’d laced it with Mane & Tail Conditioner, he looked as pretty as can be!)

He was turned out in our paddock with Aero and Flurry for the last time

The three Boys out together

and the LSH and I went into Cork to meet the YD for lunch.

We brought lunch to the bar/hostel where she works, and she joined us and chatted, in between checking people in and serving at the bar.

YD hard at work

The LSH is starting to feel it, too.

He likes to go into town on Saturday mornings, wander around, take photos, visit the English Market, have a coffee and just generally chill. He might have one more Saturday morning in Cork, but even that is uncertain. We started talking about the things we’ll miss – there’s a blog post coming on that topic!

We had agreed to have a nice easy day on Saturday, after putting in six weeks of manic activity while we brought our house up to scratch. It’s funny how we can put up with grimy paint, scruffy carpets and mould in the bathrooms ourselves, but we can’t expect tenants to tolerate them. Anyway, the house is now presentable – not quite perfect yet, but nearly.

We lolled around for the rest of Saturday afternoon, until it was time to go. Flurry saw the trailer being hitched up, and thought I was coming down the paddock for him.

He was a little taken aback when I walked past him and caught Pepper, and he tried to take his frustration out on Pepper, bullying him as soon as I turned my back and led Pepper towards the gate. Every time I stopped and looked around to tell him off, he quickly switched his ears forwards and put on an innocent expression – what a chancer!

Pepper and I posed for photos

although I don’t think he was very impressed, he stuck his tongue out at the camera!

Then he walked happily into the box and off we went. The plan was to pick up a Chinese take-away en route and stay for dinner with the LSW and the LSWH – something we’ve been doing for ten years now! It hadn’t struck either of us, but the LSWH mentioned it while we were eating – it’s ten years since they moved into their first home, and we visited shortly afterwards, bringing Chinese for dinner.

I think we’re not the only ones who are starting to feel it!

Pepper was turned out with the other ponies as soon as we arrived – we were all fairly confident that there would be no shenanigans, and we were right, it went very smoothly.

We had a nice evening with our friends. No-one said goodbye, we all said “Au revoir” and “See you next time.” The LSW is already planning a trip to Provence – I’m looking forward to it!

Next morning, there were just two waiting at the gate for me.