Steady

Tuesday September 30, 2008

Ah well.  Yesterday it was ‘Ready’.  Best I can say about today is that it was ‘Steady’.  Remarkably so.  Our best information is that our buyer’s deposit was in 10-day notice funds and is only just emerging from that period.  It’ll get there but we shall have to sit on our hands until it does.  Graham reckons the end of this week.  More optimistic, I’m opting for tomorrow, Wednesday.  Wednesday is a day of almost mystical significance to solicitors engaged in house conveyancing, in my experience.

“Yeah, but which Wednesday?” asked Graham, always the cynic.

“I shall light a candle,” I said.

“You do that.  Wait until this evening so’s we can save a bit of electricity, though.”

I thought I’d take another pass through the paper work today, and discovered that our existing home insurance covers our needs for the purchase and for the actual move.  And that we can save close on £200 a year on water charges if we have a meter installed in the new house.  Another item on my checklist…

“Good,” said Graham.  ”We can have a slightly better wine today than we’d thought, then.”

“That kind of thinking is cool,” I said.  ”Decent plonk does help keep the nerves steady.”

Ready

Monday September 29, 2008

We spoke to Sally our solicitor shortly before lunch today, to learn that all’s well in the three-party chain, and that our buyers have their deposit on clearance, to arrive in the financial mixing bowl between their solicitor and ours ‘any time now’.  We’re reading that as tomorrow.  Probably.

A quietness fell over the house just after that news, broken by me:

“I’m heartened by that.  I’m more heartened than I have been for quite some time.”

“Yup.  Me too.  All we need do now is keep our cool and be ready for the off.”

“Oh, I’m ready.  You’d not believe how ready I am.”

An unsuitable activity

Sunday September 28, 2008

We were to have visited the holiday camp to decommission Graham’s staff caravan today.  Two things persuaded us not to do so, though.  First, it’s the autumn transvestite week and, at the last moment, the thought of mixing with them one more time, even at a distance and for just a short while was too much.  Second, we both of us feel that burning bridges before we exchange contracts is tempting fate.

We’ve spoken of fate rather too much recently.  Not surprising, really, for we are cast adrift in some kind of fate-driven craft just now, without steering or control of any kind known to mortal man.

Melodramatic?  Yes.  Seems an appropriate time for melodrama.  Tomorrow Sally our solicitor returns to her desk and, one way or another, is likely to tell us our fate.  Exchange, or delay?  Exchange, or cancellation?  We’re expecting a less than optimum outcome.  Seems appropriate to do so in these drear times of bank collapses, Wall Street and Washington shenanigans, and political half-wits who seem not to understand the questions, leave alone have any clear idea of the nature of the solutions.

I tell ya, if we come through this on the right side of the Severn, I shall give up following news of all kinds.  Not a suitable activity for me.  At all.

What happened to my feet?

Saturday September 27, 2008

I’ve switched IE off now as my default browser, and am sticking to Google Chrome.  For the time being, anyway.  IE has taken to being covertly subtle with security and privacy settings and seems intent on preventing my access to some sites that are essential to me.  Like the WordPress back-end pages, for instance.  Chrome isn’t without its faults, either, but I can live with them.  So far.  It’s hard not to like the extra speed with which it retrieves and renders web pages of all sorts.

Today has been as dull and drear as yesterday was sunny and bright.  The sun has come out now, shortly after 19:00, but it’s very low in the sky and soon all will be dark again.  Sodium dark, of course.

I had a nasty moment yesterday or the day before when I realised that the old farties were gathering at the surgery for their annual ‘flu jabs.  I was certain my appointment was for October.  When we got home I riffled through the little stack of appointment cards I keep handy only to find the doctor’s one missing.  Hunted everywhere for it.  Found it eventually where Graham had ‘tidied’ it away when the last surveyor came to visit.  No problem, though, because I was right.  It’s for October 2.

Perhaps in anticipation of a heavy day tomorrow we’ve kept today as a rest day, venturing out only to grab weekend provisions.  And wine.  These Waiting for Exchange days have led us to be heavy on the wine and we’re regularly getting through a couple of bottles between us.  Bad, but we’ll soon cut it back, consciously and unconsciously, when we turn over into packing mode.  It’s a foolish man who drinks more than a moderate amount when he’s busy or physically tired.  Mostly we keep it to a single glass when we arrive at the end of a busy day.  Just now, though, it’s understandable.

It’s playing hell with my diet, though, and I’ve darn near put my inches back on.  Graham says I ought to buy a new bathroom scale so’s I can keep an eye on it.  I told him I’d do just that, when I can see my feet again.

See y’all tomorrow

Friday September 26, 2008

Having great problems with my computer today, with IE/Vista trying to lock out the entire world.  Have re-installed Chrome, which seems to be more obliging.  Still faster than IE, just different.

The struggle has brought me up to the 19:00 deadline for stopping the computing and starting on the evening plonk, so I’ll make this short.  Sweet, but short.

Today we went to Burnham-on-Sea for lunch.  Lovely, lovely sunny day, with the only sour note being sounded by elderly grumpies, of both genders.  Actually, I’m being a little more gentlemanly than is warranted there.  In Britain, it’s the lady grumpies who stand out from the crowd, all moany and gruesome.  The blokes, well, they just go along with it for a quiet life, mostly.  In any event, a pair of coaches filled with the old dears had arrived at about the same time we did, and had overloaded the Bay View Cafe, making for a long queue and crowded tables.

Graham and I smiled gently, hummed a jolly tune, finished our lunch with happy, contented tummies, and took ourselves off along the promenade to burp quietly in the sun.

No moves on the house front apart from a most acceptable quote from our favoured house-mover.  See, strong and quiet gets the business every time while hair gel gets no more than a polite smile.

See y’all tomorrow.

You can hope, can’t you?

Thursday September 25, 2008

This seems to have been a long day.  Up early to be ready for the visits of removal estimators, two of them.  The first one simply wouldn’t stop talking;  came across as thorough and professional.  The second one was the opposite;  firm, friendly, and positive.  It looks as though my budgeted sum is very, very close to being accurate, and we’ll choose between them when their written estimates turn up in the next couple of days, not necessarily on cost.

To the town dump to dispose of a boot-load of crappy from the garage, leaving room for Graham to continue rootling around sorting and packing.  There will be more, so I’m informed.

The dust taken together with a reported glut in airborne fungal and fern spores triggered off a nasty sinus attack, leaving poor Graham groaning and moaning in the small hours.  We called in at the pharmacy to get a pack of anti-histamine and that seems to be doing the trick.

The car park to the medical centre was absolutely packed with early ‘flu jab customers so I dropped Graham off and pulled round to park outside Focus.  The aroma of fried onion from the snack van beat me and I was obliged to break my diet and obtain a sausage-inna-bun.  “Just one sausage?” the young woman asked.  “Oh, yes, thanks.  I’m being wicked as it is.”  I don’t think she approved of my abstinence.

Back home, we collapsed, lunched, and then took a well-earned siesta.

There’s nothing more for me to do before exchange so I’ll fill in the time by making sure my filing is up to date.

Oh, one change to our activity plan.  Both removal estimators were perfectly happy to include our patio plants in the load, so we’ll not need to go down with a rented van.  If all goes to plan, this will be a pretty easy, smooth-running move.

Well, you can hope, can’t you?

Beaten at the energy stakes by a middle-aged Mega-cat

Wednesday September 24, 2008

Busy day, with Graham diving into the garage junk pile, generating boxes of stuff packed and ready to be moved and, as important, to be junked.

I researched removal companies and have set up appointments with two of them for tomorrow so’s we can have a firm quote in readiness, with Exchange and Completion dates pencilled in ready to go.

I also researched the Royal Mail forwarding service and discover that we can now do it all online.  This is a great relief.  You’d know just how much of a great relief it is if you were familiar with the grotty Post Office in Bridgwater.

All I really want to do is hide until the whole thing is over and done with.  I don’t have more than a fraction of Graham’s energy but I console myself with the observation that very few people do.

Dolly is aware that exciting things are afoot and, you know what?  I do believe she’s very much in favour, and taking great interest.  There’s shaming, being beaten at the energy stakes by a middle-aged Mega-cat.

You can find it on Google

Tuesday September 23, 2008

Sally our solicitor says that it’s looking good for exchange of contracts on Monday or Tuesday next week, with completion (moving day) two weeks after that.  She has been in touch with the solicitors acting for our buyers and for our sellers and their reaction is encouraging.

It’s probably worth repeating that under the legal system in operation in England and Wales, a property deal is not binding on either party until formal ‘Exchange of Contracts’–normally carried out by phone calls between the solicitors.  Up to that point, either party may withdraw without penalty of any kind.  From the moment of exchange, the deal is legally binding and must be Completed at an agreed time and date within a set period, usually four weeks.  We’ll be aiming for two weeks.  Failure to Complete on time leaves the defaulter liable to very significant cash penalties.

Graham and I don’t believe in packing up our home a moment before Exchange.

So that leaves us nibbling at the edge of the stuff we can do in readiness for exchange.  It’s a complex problem but we’re working on it and plan to be ready to leap into packing mode the instant Sally presses the big red GO button.

From that point forward our job is easy–grab everything that’s smaller than a box, wrap it in paper and/or bubble wrap, and put it in a box.  A couple of days before the actual moving day we shall rent a small van and transport our patio plants and containers down to be lodged in a corner of the patio in the new house.

My list is easy enough:

• Get estimates from two removal firms and appoint the winner
• Set up house insurance for the new house
• Set up a Royal Mail forwarding deal
• Cancel all utilities and other accounts for this house.
• Set up utility and other accounts for the new house
• Pay settlement bills
• Stock up on tea and coffee for the big day

I shall keep the journal going right up to the move itself, switching over to the laptop when Graham wants to pack up my study.  Sadly, there is no standard British Telecom connection in the new house–the current owners use a cable service which is no good to us–so there’s going to be a short period from moving day forward when I’ll not be able to make daily posts until British Telecom establish new phone and broadband connections for us.

There is however a free wifi hotspot in our new local town, and the public library has Internet access for customers, so I’ll be able to let y’all know that we’ve arrived safely, and go on to keep you informed at, say, weekly intervals.  I’ll post a couple of agent photos of the new house when we’ve exchanged contracts, and fully intend to keep the camera busy all the way through to the point where we’re established and life settles down to a more normal pace.

Dolly the Megacat will spend moving day in her travel box, lodged in safe places out of the way.  We’ll lodge her box between our two seats in the car, facing forwards so that she can give us directions.  The instant the removal men have gone we’ll shut the doors and windows, and let her out to stretch her legs, eat, drink, pee, and generally tell us off until we all fall into bed after dinner.  She’s done it before.  So have we.

It’ll be an interesting couple of weeks.

Quo vadis?  I think it safe to say that our new house is on the outskirts of a small village called Cilfrew, just a few miles outside Neath.  You can find it on Google maps easy enough.

Breaking news

Monday September 22, 2008 (second post)

We heard this afternoon from the agent that our buyers have had their formal mortgage offer and that they are now pressing for dates to be set for exchange and completion.  There’s also a garbled message about deposits. 

Wouldn’t you believe it but Sally our solicitor has taken the day off today and so we’ll not know anything more until she’s back and in control.

Even so, it looks as if we’re [almost] home and dry and that the deal is likely to be cast in stone by the end of this week, with our house move set for mid to late October.

We’re keeping the champers on ice until we actually exchange but tonight we’re going to open a couple of decent bottles to go with our sausage casserole.

I got my oats

Monday September 22, 2008

First day of Autumn, give or take a day, and I pulled the new box of Scott’s Porage Oats out of the cupboard.  One small measure of oats, two of skimmed milk, stir, and nuke uncovered in the bowl for 3 minutes, stir, leave on simmer for a further 3, dust with half a teaspoon of granulated sugar, and stir once more.  Yee hah!