Homeless

Well that's it, we're now officially homeless. We completed the sale of our house yesterday and that's it! Of course, our purchasers finished things off nicely: Mr Idiot just marched in at about 3:30pm (which by then he was perfectly entitled to do as he had the keys and the money had been transferred), but literally all he had to say to Michael and Patrick was, 'So when are you going to be out?' No hello, no pleasantaries, just the arrogance and rudeness we've come to expect. So actually it is with some pleasure that Michael and I contemplate the sale: Idiot and his partner (well, actually, his partner since it is her name on the Land Registry deeds!) visited the house during the long vacation when you can actually park outside and there is no noise from the students as they are on holiday. They've come back from their holiday in the Maldives and will now find that it's the start of term: no chance of parking outside the house and lots of noise through the walls.

Also, I sort of feel as if the house is telling us it's time to move on: when we moved in five years ago we had to spend a fortune repairing things and improving things, and now it's clear that more work needs doing. Taking the coats off the coat pegs in the hall en masse rather than singly revealed damp patches in a rather strange place: on the dividing wall between the properties, which suggests to me that there may be a problem with damp coming down from the valley roof - lots of money to fix that one! And there's a sag developing on the floor of the rear bay window, which is supported at ground level by two steel posts - I wonder if they need replacing? Of course our purchasers didn't pay for a full survey so I guess they will just have to find out these things for themselves in the fullness of time. But it's clear to me that if we'd stayed we would have needed to spend a LOT of money again over the next five years, and then probably more money every five years after that - so I do feel that it is the right time for us to leave. I just haven't managed to walk past the house again yet.

Anyway, email and blog posting might be a bit hit-and-miss over the next little while since this is the week in which we are travelling, so although I will post again when I can, you might have to wait a few days! Talk to you soon...