First day back in Lyon also meant first café gourmand of this stay. At Le Book-lard – very nice

Our first full day back in Lyon happened to be 3 September so we stumbled across this:

The 3 September is the day the UK and then France declared war on Germany so I had thought that was what was being marked in Place General Brosset.

But then a quick Google tells me that Brosset and his men liberated Lyon from the Nazis on 3 September 1944 – so I guess it was that they were celebrating.

Despite a slight delay to our Eurostar train, we made it to Paris without too much fuss. The journey went quite quickly thanks to 97-year-old Alexis and her daughter Louise who were off to Paris for a short holiday. Alexis was singing songs in French and Turkish to keep us entertained.

When we got to Paris we made the short hop to Gare de Lyon, and a stop at a café for lunch.

And then a little walk around the neighbour including Parc de Bercy.

And then another quick train journey and we were back in Lyon. And our new home.

And just like that it is time to say goodbye and head back to Lyon.

We stayed in a hotel near St Pancras and met the boys for dinner.

And then Matt met us for breakfast before some farewells at the Eurostar gate.

It was totes emosh but will we see them again soon. Bye lads, be good.

It is a big job, let me tell you. Cath has done the majority of it but after numerous trips to the Kingston recycling centre, leaving a few items in my dad’s garage, selling one much-loved VW Polo our house is empty.

We have lived here for 11 years and are the only people to have lived in this new-build house. That all ends next week when our tenants move in.

There is so much to think about with a move like this. As well as arranging to ship the furniture and belongings that we haven’t given to our sons, to France, we have had to change our mortgage, take out landlords insurance, get gas and electricity checks done and many other tests to enable us to move out and rent the house out

But with the arrival of the removal firm the house emptied pretty quickly.

And before we knew it, it was done

And just like that it’s au revoir New Malden. We hope to see our furniture again soon in Lyon.

As well as helping with the clearing out of our London house, these 11 days in London gave me the opportunity to see three Fulham games – two wins, one defeat and six goals.

Fulham have eight points already which feels great – and it meant I got to spend more time with these two – even if they were drunk.

With no car, we had to hire a van to take some things to the dump, a lawnmower to my dad’s and loads of other things – including garden furniture – to our sons’ new place.

Emptying a four-bedroomed house and garage is no mean feat. Cath has done most of it and a lot of furniture has gone to Whitechapel.

But with this trip we have got rid of/recycled/loaned out most of it. I reckon there’s only one trip to the dump left.

And a bit more quickly than expected we have sold our car. I thought it might take a while but webuyanycar.com made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.

It’s been a great car but keeping it in France involves too much paperwork. So it was time to say goodbye to the best car we’ve ever owned.

We will look to buy a left-hand drive car in France once we’ve been back for a few weeks.

My return to the UK meant I could also visit my second home for the first time since January. Fulham are now in the top flight and today’s opponents are local rivals Brentford.

It was nice to see fans in the new stand and the result was amazing. A last-minute winner from Mitrovic.

After the drive from Troyes I arrived back in New Malden. Things look a little different.

The house is quite a bit emptier – Cath has been busy. The boys have moved out but both came round to see me.

At least it has a new home in Whitechapel.