Home Sweet Home

It turns out its November. How did that happen? And how is it that I failed to post a single thing on here during October?! Well largely it’s down to being ridiculously busy. Work is demanding as ever, despite the birds having now left on migration. Hockey keeps me entertained several days a week, with training and matches coming thick and fast. And I’ve had another wedding to attend, including taking a few snaps on the big day and the necessary editing afterwards. But mostly it’s because I bought a house.

Housebuying has been an interesting experience. When I started looking into it, way back in spring, I felt totally ignorant and naïve of the process. I looked at my finances and spoke to a mortgage advisor and determined what sort of thing I was looking for, but I expected that to be the start of a long and tedious wait for the perfect property to emerge. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. I thought I was just dipping my toe into the complex waters of real estate, only to be sucked under and pulled along for a few months, struggling to come up for air, until finally I washed up on a distant shore with a house. I’m not really sure how it happened.

Without sharing all of the dull details (of which there were many), the process made me excited and nervous in equal measure. Having seen a place that I liked and put in an offer, things moved quickly and reams of paperwork would arrive with my name on, asking for signatures and agreements for things that I had no comprehension of. Commitments came thick and fast, and frankly I could have been signing up to anything, parting with vast quantities of money in the process. As is customary the solicitors were not fantastic, but they got the job done, as did the estate agent, and suddenly I was given a completion date. This was sooner than I had expected, and I was faced with the prospect of having to organise everything in a very short space of time. So instead I decided to continue renting for another month and make the transition as relaxed as possible.

There have been many highlights that spring to mind when contemplating the move. I hired a huge van to collect my stored goods from family in Devon, and had to learn how to reverse parallel park in it. It also had to be packed and unpacked several times. Since the new house is on a main road, any deliveries need to be made by holding up the traffic and dashing assorted boxes, bags and furniture as quickly as possible into the house. In some cases the easiest way in is through the front window. I’ve discovered plumbing that I never had a clue about. Extension pipes, y-shaped splitters and jubilee clips have become the norm. Most of all there’s just so much space. Space for clothes, space for food in the fridge and freezer, space for books, CDs and DVDs. Sadly this means that instead of throwing out all my useless rubbish I will now store it indefinitely. Tequila roulette finally has a home!

I am now living in my house, as I had indeed intended to when I purchased it. It’s delightful being able to sit at the dining table to eat, to clean the kitchen knowing that it will still be clean when I next visit, and to leave my stuff lying around if I’m feeling lazy because nobody else will suffer as a consequence. The best thing is being able to sing. Nobody is listening!!

But in case any of you are listening, I will apologise now if the next few posts are slightly swayed towards housing, moving, plumbing or meeting the neighbours. There’ll be stories to tell!