Leaving Oxford

So it was all over. Richard had finished his time at Wycliffe Hall, we'd been to the ball and had a lovely time saying goodbye to the friends we'd made and we were now very much ready to go.

We found our curacy in the parish of Whitfield, Glossop in Derbyshire the previous summer and it felt like home before we'd even left Oxford. Now it was actually time to go.

Leaving Oxford happens very suddenly; one minute you're having quite a busy social life and making the most of the last weeks at college and the next you're gone. I suppose if you're around for a couple of weeks after the end of term, it feels very different but we left a few days after term ended and it was a bit of a shock - in a good way ...

Packing up to leave went very smoothly and quickly and we were soon travelling up to Sheffield to stay the night with friends before going on to Glossop the following morning. We were surprised that it only took half an hour to get from Sheffield to Glossop - our road is pretty much 2nd left at the end of Snake Pass.

Moving in was probably the best moving in experience you could want. We arrived to a wonderfully clean house. Members of the church had cleaned it up and also left food for us. There was even a bottle of bubbly in the fridge. The diocese (which had just bought the house 6 weeks before we moved) had freshly painted it for us, with the colours we'd chosen, and laid down new lino in the bathrooms. I was so happy I laughed and cried simultaneously for half an hour or so after arriving!

So we were here and felt really blessed. God had provided amazingly for us in Oxford and we knew he'd do the same for us here. We spent the next couple of weeks buying new furniture and stuff with Rich's robes grant so now it's looking great. I confess we spent a little too much but it will all work out ...