Home Sweet Home

Is it good to be back home again?? The answer to that question is yes, it is. Did the moving back in process go smoothly? No of course it didn’t. I’ve moved so many times that you’d think I’d have got it down to a tee by now, but I haven’t. So stressed am I, that aside from our Australian house swap, I’m not moving again (unless it’s to somewhere hot and sunny) for at least 2 years. I am worn out. Phil is tired also but happy as Larry being back home and being able to cook on his gas B-B-Q again. He got me to go so Tesco’s for some sausages and was out there in the garden cooking our breakfast as soon as the dawn broke on the morning after our first night back.

Even though we had let the house with an agent and had it fully managed, I am not totally happy with the state we got the house back in. On the surface everything looked okay (except for the kitchen floor tiles) and bar a little wear and tear here and there we were happy enough to give permission for the deposit to be released. But on closer inspection over the weekend and going through each room, scrubbing and cleaning, polishing and buffing, there are some dilapidations that should have been deducted from the deposit. For example: in the bright sunshine on Saturday afternoon I could see that my lovely natural wood worktops had a couple of saucepan burn marks and had curry stains on by the cooker. This means that I will need to sand them all down and wax to try and bring them back to their former glory. There are also some stains on the walls so after a good does of bleach I’ve decided they still need to be repainted.

The handle has been broken off the shower as has the steam cap at the bottom of the bath. My new dyson hoover was so packed that Phil had to force it open. It took me hours to pick up the leaves in the garden and the beds are in a major need of clearing and weeding which is a job for Phil to sort. We couldn’t work out how to switch on the central heating on Friday evening but Phil finally found out that I’d switched off the control in the airing cupboard. What a pair of idiots we are but 12 months away and you forget how things operate.

Phil’s been pretty cool about moving back home; the only thing that has really upset him was the fact that the tenant had broken his super duper garden umbrella and it took him 2 whole hours plus a lot of fiddling and faffing to put it back together again. Phil wasn’t impressed to find that the glass basin in the downstairs loo was also leaking. On closer inspection it looked like it had had a slow leak for some time which has discoloured the grouting on the new cream tiles. Snake the plumber came out to fix yesterday afternoon and turns out it had never been fitted properly in the first place. Another bodged job done for us by our posh plumber. Never mind, we’ve moved on and Snake fixed it and now it is as good as new.

Jane kindly picked us and we went to The Black Horse in Linford with Ian and Jane on Saturday night for dinner. We were on our hands and knees with tiredness and I’m not sure we were the best of company, but still it made a change to go out and it was really nice to catch up with Ian & Jane. By the way, both the food and service were excellent at The Black Horse, I was very impressed. Jane & Ian are off to Australia for 6 weeks and we are hoping to catch up with each other in Melbourne some time early December. Jane and Ian and moving to their new dream home in a couple of weeks and are already feeling the stress of the move, not helped that their buyer is delaying their exchange. I don’t envy them the stress but knowing Jane, I’ll bet she have everything organised well before they go away. The new house sounds fabulous and I can’t wait to have a look inside once they’ve completed.

We more or less finished the CF on Monday lunchtime and Phil persuaded me to go to the pub for lunch to celebrate. I was reluctant because there is still so much to do. But we had a naughty lunch with chips and wine and then went back home to chill and do nothing. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I feel sick with tiredness and am all done in come mid afternoon. Wine at lunchtime doesn’t help I know, but even so, I hope I feel better soon. At the moment I feel I am living on empty and surviving each day on my reserves.

Yesterday we moved all of our stuff out of the garage at the NH house. It is sad because it is looking so empty in the NH house and I am sorry that we haven’t had an offer of sale. If you ignore the nasty neighbours and try to stay calm about the parking, it’s a good house with a really nice sized garden. But I am glad to be home again. I need to sort out my worktops but I am really happy being back in my kitchen. When Phil’s snoring away in bed and I awake early, I go down to my lovely kitchen, put on my flat screen TV and my fairy lights, switch on the under floor heating if its chilly and the central heating hasn’t kicked in and sip a big mug of tea in front of my laptop, pure bliss. I had a nice surprise this morning, as I logged on I got a message to say the internet is connected. At last!!!! This is a big surprise as we were told we wouldn’t be connected until midnight on the 13th of October so 5 days earlier is just brilliant. I haven’t felt like a whole person without a broadband connection. Sad I know, but that’s me all over.

As I said, we’re just about there with the CF flat. We got our contact in to do the HIP report which you have to have by law now when you rent or sell. It’s a complete rip off load of bullshit and I resent paying the money but we like the lady that does it, she’s also into property developing and is interesting to talk to. We’re back over at the CF this morning as we’ve arranged to meet an electrician who will hopefully climb into the attic and connect up the wires so that the new convection heaters work. Phil also needs to plane the bathroom door, connect up the telly and Free view box and I just need to do a general check and clean up. Phil met our agent on Tuesday for a valuation and he recommended that we rent the flat at a whopping £250 more than we used to rent it for. But Phil said bearing in mind the nutty neighbours next door this was too high, so we’re letting it at £550 pcm, not bad for 1 bed flat. I phoned my contact at Cranfield University and she has agreed to advertise the CF on their intranet, so we are hopeful to secure a new tenant very soon. I can’t tell you how glad I am to finish this refurbishment, it’s been hard work and nothing has been straight forward.

Phil has been just as knackered as me, my back was so bad yesterday I could hardly stand up straight and Phil is getting sharp pains in both his knees. We are self medicating with asprin, paracetamol and codeine and wine. It hasn’t all been work though, Phil again persuaded me to bunk off and on Tuesday afternoon we walked along the canal to the cinema to see the new Ricky Gervais film ‘The Invention of Lying’. It has had crap reviews but we both thought it was brilliant. Phil is very fond of Ricky Gervais and I just love his fat ugliness and squashy nose and its even better seeing it all on a big screen. So, Tuesday afternoon was pleasant. Unfortunately the hour’s walk to the cinema (some uphill) and 2 hours sitting on my bum watching the film, made my back really hurt. It feels easier today and no real pain as yet.

There are still many more jobs to do at home before I can really start to relax. Phil is keen to make a start on the garden and then he really must buckle down and start to revise for his exam which is just next week. In fact, it is next Thursday and I feel nervous for him because he has been so busy at the flat there he hasn’t had time (aside from The Science Revision weekend) to pick up a text book. After his exam, we shall celebrate and then we really must sit down and make plans for our BIG TRIP.