Typical

It appears that we won't be completing last Monday. The estate agents have cocked up and nothing has been done. We are still in the same position as we were six weeks ago.
I could rant about this forever, but I'm moving on because I have to.
We went to Norfolk today having arranged with Mr and Mrs Vendor to meet us at the house so we could measure up supposedly for curtains, but really we need exact measurements so we can plan the bathroom.  It's really strange going round someone else's house making plans but having to whisper because you think they will be offended.
I feel bad for Mrs Vendor (that's not their real name you know), I think she really would have loved the house to have been nice and well looked after and...homey. I think they just didn't have the time, the inclination or the money. He kept apologising for the rubbish and stuff everywhere but she knew that we knew that it is what it is, and that there was no point apologising for it.
Anyway, even though the house was freezing, filthy, full of stuff, has plants growing in the gutters but not in the garden, it's going to be ours sooner or later. I did know a moment of panic when I first went in and thought God, what are we doing? But once again the lounge amazed me and I could almost see the Christmas tree in the bay window.
Watch this space...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Have been sitting around in a state of agitation, waiting for news. It was suggested that we exchange on the 21st October, but that's only a bit over a week away and looks very unlikely now. So far I've been working on the principle of 'no news is good news' but today I'm thinking that if you just sit back and wait, nothing will ever happen.
The vendors obviously feel the same because the estate agent rang today prompted by the vendors, asking if we know what's happening. So it's obvious. You have to get on the phone and pester the hell out of the solicitors. If there's only us and the vendors in this chain and it's taking forever, how long would it take if there were three or four parties in the chain?
Hugh said I shouldn't email Mrs vendor, but I did anyway.  She was really nice, I liked her a lot when I met her a while ago, and she emailed back, obviously relieved that we still want Crossways, but frustrated like us, at the lack of communication. I might suggest she get on the phone and pester the hell out of her solicitor...

Introducing Vinny V

I have a cunning plan!
As we will be living in Weston until we sell the house, once we officially own Crossways, we will be going up on a Monday and staying until Thursday or Friday to project manage work, decorate, sort the garden etc and coming back to Weston for the weekend for a rest! My cunning plan was to buy a van and take stuff up to Norfolk every week until we have finally moved in. Good eh? And so we've bought a van.

This is Vinny V, a Renault Trafic, 10 years old, an ex-plumbers workhorse. Well used but with loads of years of use left in her, absolutely filthy inside but basically sound with hardly any knocks or scratches. BUT...hundreds of stickers. Talk about sticker overkill. This photo was taken after some were removed but you get the gist. It took about three days to remove them. 

Anyway, she's been de-stickered, the cab's been cleaned - I think the plumber liked sausage rolls - CoCo got a free meal from all the pastry crumbs on the floor, the seats have been cleaned and new covers ordered, and the back has been hoovered and cleaned. Two new tyres, a service this week and she should be good as new.
She's already been put to good use - took a load of stuff including a sofa to the dump for our good friend Jo who is clearing a house left to Labrador Rescue. We managed to sell a good solid desk to a nice man for a fiver at the dump but had to do the deal in a car park down the road. It felt a bit odd and I did suspect that they might rob us and leave us for dead, but no, the nice man handed over the fiver for Lab rescue and went on his way with his new desk, happy as Larry!

Cesspit v mains sewerage?

If you've been house hunting, you may have noticed that the estate agents details tell you everything and nothing.  You get to be very adept at reading between the lines. But we missed this one by a mile!  

This house is not on mains sewerage but has three cesspits. Not one, but three. Something the estate agents failed to point out and I consider to be quite important. 

Having met the vendors, and having seen the negligence inflicted on this poor house over the last ten years, you can bet your bottom dollar, the cesspit has not been emptied recently, if at all. 

Whilst I quite like the idea of not paying sewerage charges to the water provider, I don't relish the thought of the cesspit overflowing in the middle of the night either, or permanently smelling of boiled cabbage like the one in a house we stayed in in France once. 

So mains sewerage is the way to go. 

I emailed Anglian Water to find out if there is main sewerage in the road and got an automated response that said I would be contacted in 10 working days. We don't have 10 working days. 

Whilst on the phone to my Mum this morning, she asked if the nearly new (that's another story) bungalow next door is on the mains which made me think 'Eureka!' These days, with the internet, you have the world at your fingertips and so I checked the planning application for said bungalow and sure enough, it's on the mains...and more importantly, there's a spur off actually on the drive of our house! Or should be...mmmmmm. We'll see. Watch this space.