Day 327 – Boxes upon boxes

It’s been a very busy day, but we are surprisingly close to finishing our unpacking.

Another 15 or 20 boxes were unpacked today, and many are already on their way to being reused at another unconnected move nearby.

The kitchen cupboards have now been allocated and I’ve almost remembered where the mugs are for my morning coffee.

I unpacked my clothes and I can’t wait to get rid of some to a good cause in the very near future.

A nice man called Simon came round and got our weird (but hugely effective) internet setup set up.

A nice man called Ben came round and got rid of several (or more) European Paper Wasp nests from around the house and garden.

I’d recommend both of them for those sort of specific tasks.
(Simon does CCTV as well; Ben does bees as well.)

The beagle got closer to sleeping through in the kitchen (her usual chosen bedtime spot) last night and only woke me up [weep] three times. I are a bit broken.

High hopes for a full night tonight.

My study is still peach. So very peach.

Day 326 – Broken, but we’re getting there

I warned you here that things were going to be a bit short and sketchy on the blog for the foreseeable future, and I think I’ve proven myself correct several times over already.

Move news: we’re in, but we are fully knackered. Long days full of hard work, with daily step counts into the 20,000s, and nights disturbed by a still skittish beagle.

We’ll get there. Well, we are there. I’m literally in my new study, albeit that there are still boxes everywhere, there are no curtains and the walls are still very, very peach.

But today, I unpacked several (or more) boxes elsewhere, sorted the wine and spirits out, and set up the Playstation for the kids.

And right now, I think I’m going to end this post and drill a hole in my desk. Because I fancy drilling a hole in my desk and as soon as I stop working, I’ll probably fall asleep.

Day 324 – The Last Night

And so it’s come to this.

Yesterday was our last night in what has been our home for the past 15½ years.
The home into which we brought our newborn children from the hospital.
The only family home they have ever known, and which has seen them grow into young adults.
The home which we have worked so hard upon to make our own, with all our creature comforts.

And now we move on.

The new place is all about Location, Location, Location.
While it’s perfectly livable, it needs work, it needs updating, it needs all our creature comforts.
It’s going to be a huge amount of effort to get it to where we want it.
But we have done this before and we will do it again.
And this time, we have a better, safer, bigger place to do it in.

We’ve cleaned it top to bottom yesterday, and moved some of our stuff in. Today, the team with the big lorry are coming around to move the bulk of our stuff, and on Monday, we hand over the keys to this place to another young family, who I hope will enjoy our home as their home for years to come.

We’ve been too busy to concentrate on our feelings for the past few days.
Once the pressure is off (this evening?), it’s going to be interesting to see what comes out.

I will likely accompany whatever it is with some brandy.
Safety first for the first night in our new place.

Day 319 – (Un)fair warning

We move house in very few days. If you’ve ever moved house, you may know how chaotic everything is likely to be right now. And you’d be right.

I have a long list of jobs to sort and I’m very much on a deadline.

Normally, before I get into situations such as these (especially the ones I’ve know are coming from waaaaay off), I’d write some blog posts in advance, while I still have some free time.

I appear to have missed that opportunity on this particular occasion.

So, fair warning (or at least it would have been last week): I’m going to be squeezing blog posts in here and there (but usually here) as and when I can over the next few days.

Thanks for your mails, people who have mailed. I will get there. Almost certainly.

Day 294 – The house strikes back

Episode V of the Star Wars trilogy.

Wait…

No, this concerns the house from which we are moving in the near future (Covid-willing). It’s striking back – hence the title of this post.

I’m not for one moment suggesting that the house is a sentient thing, is aware that we are moving out, and – a bit pissed off about the whole situation – is taking some sort of preemptive revenge*, but at the same time, I actually am.

Because that’s pretty much exactly what is happening.

First off there’s the mandatory inspections for electric fence, plumbing, beetles, electrics and gas. This is like an MOT or a Roadworthy for your house, done each time you move, and it’s there to make sure that the new residents aren’t moving in to a death trap, even if you’ve been living in one.

And apparently, we have.

Because regulations have changed (a lot!) during our long stay here (almost 16 years), because some builders clearly took some shortcuts when working on our place (lesson learned), and because wiring deteriorates, our house doesn’t comply in a number of ways, all of which require remediation.

Costly.

On the plus side, I completely recognise the need for this and we’re also going to be moving into a house which has also been inspected and made safe.

But that’s (expensive, but) standard stuff. It’s the little niggles that the house has thrown up since it discovered that we were leaving it that are causing us more problems. A jammed outside door, a gas hob plate that’s suddenly not working (and even after being fixed twice, still insists on not working) and a lawn that is defying the fertilisers and the watering and just being yellow. Oh, and then the hosepipe just burst on me**, which wasn’t actually that bad since it’s stupid degrees Celsius out there today, but still – you get my point, right?

We have another few weeks to get through here before the new house – irritated that we were instrumental in taking away its previous and much-beloved owners – takes on the mantle.

Woohoo.

 

* is this a thing? wouldn’t it just be “venge”?
** no, I wasn’t watering during the day. conciliate your breasts.