Skip to main content

Still waiting...

Our lovely home as we pack up to leave
So who would have thought it would come to this? For a family that generally has everything organised and under control, we are completely at the mercy of the house moving gods and it is very unsettling. In order to be in Somerset for the start of the girl's new term, we are moving out of our house before we have even exchange let alone completed, and moving into the barn, again with no legal right to be there (other than of course the part-owner's permission). It's not what anyone would recommend and the solicitors would have a field day if they knew, but of course we are all so far down the line that we are just head down, fingers crossed, hoping it will all come good. It's a gamble.  

Watching the world go by
As we speak I have one child (Izzy) and 2 guinea pigs in Somerset, one child here with us along with the dogs, the snakes are boarding in Oxford and Glenn is in the garage with a face like a wet weekend panicking that it's all going to blow up in our faces. I'm trying to put a brave face on things while wanting to burst into tears and Steve the builder looks like he has been hit by a ton of bricks - somewhat late in the day the pressure is finally beginning to get to him. I've spent much of the last 48 hours chasing building control and warranties, finally starting to see some progress when the phone rings and the agent says the Tuckers (our buyers) want to delay completion until the 10th May because they don't believe they can get it sorted earlier. I could scream! We agreed months ago we were working towards 16th April but that ship sailed some time ago. In some ways the date on completion is now a mere detail. We have committed to moving down in time for school and so the actual date of completion moving right (as long as we can exchange) is not such a big issue. It is for others in the chain however and more than anything we all just want to get to the end of the process in one piece. How we can still be doing house transactions in this archaic, stressful manner is beyond me - its unnecessarily complex and doesn't need to be like this,. Trouble is the people responsible for overhauling it would be the ones who make money on the current way of working being so rubbish. Turkey's don't vote for Christmas.

The sad point in all of this is that its so hard to keep in mind why we started this whole journey. We keep having to remind ourselves that we will be closer to family and friends and once we are through this horrible process all that will become clear again - it will be fine (my personal mantra which I say to myself about 1000 times a day currently).

So in the meantime we get ready to say goodbye to a house we have been truly happy in. We have loved renovating our home over the past 7+ years and have so many happy memories. We will be so sad to leave but the time feels right. The funny thing is that as each picture comes down off the walls, as each piece of furniture is packed into the van, a piece of us leaves the house and it feels less like our home and more like four walls in which we have lived. I hope what this means is that as each picture goes up onto a wall in the new house, and as each piece of furniture finds it's place, we will find our new home taking shape and new memories starting to be made. I am looking forward to new adventures, I can't wait to be closer to our family and building new routines and friendships. Kerrie's bump gets bigger by the day and its very exciting to know we will be able to see our granddaughter growing up week by week rather than only seeing her periodically. We have to hold onto these thoughts over the next few weeks and stay positive. IT WILL BE FINE!!!!!

At least these 2 are still smiling





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...

Blame the jet stream...

Shed prep, with oversight from the dogs Apparently we have the jet stream to blame for the truly awful weather we are having right now. I blame our builder - if he had got his act together and sorted out Glenn's workshop roof as he promised, sods law the sun would be shining from dawn to dusk. Instead it's still pouring every half hour and Glenn is constantly worried about how much water is coming though the roof / walls / floor etc. Apparently he 'literally' just needs to put the ridge on the top and the gully down the side and it will all be fixed. We are literally at the point of wanting to do him some actual bodily harm. The moment he disappears the better. This week he was also literally going to clad the office ("done") and has failed everyday to turn up and do it (which in my book is literally not "done"). He was also going to have Gary come and finish the electrics (not done), whack down the paving slabs (not done), render the last of the bri...

Ypres

Walking around the lake in Ypres while waiting for the rugby to finish! A wet Monday evening after a lovely long weekend away in Ypres - just the two of us and just what I needed after what has been a relatively stressful few months of decision making. The decision is now made however and on Monday I resigned my job in order to join a new company in January. This will be the same role, but a company that hopefully offers more long term stability than my current one. It's been hard going through the initial round of telling people.Despite only being there for 7 months I've made some good friends and very quickly become established and everybody who I've told has been happy for me but very sad that I'm going - it hasn't made it easy. I do feel like I've been through the mill a bit this year - what with leaving EY, ramping up to a big new role, finding out it probably didn't have the longevity I was looking for and then going through the process of finding ...