May 2013
What an incredible month! The house went on sale at the beginning of the
month and within three weeks we had an offer that we have accepted. The new
purchaser would like to move in before the end of August so the clock is
ticking. Jane's mum decided that she is better off in the care home that she
had been staying in and so this is now her permanent residence which means
her house had to be put on the market and cleaned up.
We continue to progress with the house project but it often seems like
two steps forward and one step back. Until we get water onto the site
(awaiting Anglia Water) no progress can be made towards getting the
foundations installed. We continue to clear the trees and shrubs that we
don't want, as agreed with the local tree officer.
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House For Sale
We’ve taken the plunge and put the house on the market.
We took time preparing so that it was freshly painted and clean but we
were not prepared for when the estate agent came in with his assistant,
a photographer and the Energy Performance man. The rooms were “dressed”
for the photos so we had to put loads of stuff out of sight to give an
uncluttered but lived in look – not an easy concept to achieve in our
house.
So it has been advertised! Click here for a preview… We now wait for the
nail biting experience of the first viewings and of course we have to
keep the place neat and tidy.
After only 3 short weeks it seems we have sold the house. We had a
second viewing on Tuesday and the potential buyers seemed very
interested in how they would change the internal rooms to suit their
needs.
The Estate Agent gave us a call on Wednesday to say they had made an
offer and after a brief negotiation we agreed a price that we are all
happy with. Of course there’s a long way to go before we’re in a
position to set a moving date but things are happening and far more
rapidly than we had expected; too fast because it does mean we will have
to move into rented accommodation in Lincolnshire whilst the house build
goes ahead.
So now we have to find a solicitor, get quotes from removal firms and
continue with the packing that we’ve already started. Just as well Jane
retires at the end of the month.
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Work on Site
After getting the go ahead to remove three of the larger trees on the
site we stayed the Bank Holiday weekend at Tealby in a three bedroom
cottage which was only 3 miles from the site.
Two of the trees could be felled with minimal risk to people or property
so they were removed. Nick can be seen up the tree on the right tying on
the rope. He then made the necessary V cut in the base and we pulled on
the rope until the cut was enough for the tree to fall.
Of course cutting the tree down is only the beginning, we then had to
cut off the smaller branches and log it so we could start building piles
of wood ready for them to be chipped next week.
The site looks amazing now that we have started clearing the undergrowth
and the lower growing branches. We also have met some of the neighbours
who all seem very friendly and tolerant of chain saws running for most
of the weekend.
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Project Progress
We travelled up to Market Rasen to meet the builders alongside our
architect. Their quote for the work was slightly less than the other
bidders and they were the most enthusiastic about the work when we
interviewed them however the total build costs were much higher than we
anticipated so we were looking for savings.
It was an interesting morning and we managed to save £12K on the
external render. We’d specified some lightweight render that had a good
thermal efficiency however it turns out that it’s 4 times the price of
normal render so we soon ditched that. We’re also looking at white wood
for skirting and architraves which not only saves us money it also gets
over the problem of different coloured woods throughout the house and it
sets off the oak doors that we have selected.
More delays seem to be creeping into the programme because of getting
water onto the site as it seems the utility companies are not very quick
to react to requests. There is some doubt that we will be in by
November. This was depressing news but I’m sure we’ll get over it.
The four hour round trip was a bit of a struggle and Steve was fighting
off sleep for some of the journey home. Next time we go up we’ll try to
stay overnight.
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Back in the Saddle
Today was the first day that Jane felt confident enough to get out on
her bike. She did a short ride to Kislingbury in the morning and then,
after a lunchtime swim, we went for a ride together into Sue & Graham’s
in Northampton. It is only a seven mile round trip but Jane’s knee held
up well and she cycled up every hill. Her fitness and the strength of
her injured knee is nearly back to normal although it is vulnerable when
walking on uneven ground or when she tries to run.
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House Clearance
And so the house clearance continues. Our lives are full of “stuff”
and very little is essential to our continued happiness so rather than
move house with all this unnecessary stuff we are either selling it, or
trying to, and if that fails we’re giving it away to charity.
The village Table Top sale was too good to miss so we had a table
alongside Graham and Sue. We did ok but we still had two large boxes of
the dreaded “stuff” that will go to charity shops.
There are certain bits of stuff that are a real problem – Vinyl records.
Each one has a memory and someone recently told us that Vinyl sounds so
much better than CDs. What to do? Sell it, store it or keep it? The jury
is still out…
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Mark Knopfler @ The Royal Albert Hall
We’d booked the tickets many months ago and we had worried over which
seats to get because the Albert Hall can be a bit of a lottery, even the
most expensive seats don’t always give a good view.
We travelled down to stay with Jane’s brother and after spending a sunny
afternoon drinking tea we headed off across London arriving at the
Albert Hall in time to eat a snack in the pleasant surroundings of
Kensington Gardens before finding our way into our seats for 7.30pm. For
the first time we were sitting in the arena area about 20 rows from the
front and had a really good view of the stage.
The supporting act was Ruth Moody and her band. She was very good
however it was difficult to hear all the words and most of her songs
seem to be telling a story so a lot was lost in translation. As is usual
with supporting bands the sound system is rarely tuned to their
particular needs and so it was a shame.
Just before 9pm Mark Knopfler came on stage to a
standing ovation and uproar. For the next two hours he kept the audience
in raptures and we loved every second. The set list consisted of the
following tracks:
What It Is; Corned Beef City; Privateering; Father and Son; Hill
Farmer’s Blues; I Dug Up a Diamond (Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
cover) (with Ruth Moody); Seattle (with Ruth Moody); I Used to Could;
(with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Romeo and Juliet (Dire Straits song)
(with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Sultans of Swing (Dire Straits song);
Haul Away; Postcards from Paraguay; Marbletown; Speedway at Nazareth;
Telegraph Road (Dire Straits song);
Encore: Our Shangri-La (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax); Going Home: Theme
from Local Hero (with Nigel Hitchcock on sax)
We walked back to South Kensington tube station with a spring in our
steps, a tear in our eyes and a warm feeling in our hearts. A night to
remember without a doubt.
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Next Month...
- A Trip to Tony & Jude's
- The House Project sees work on the ground
- Further visits to Market Rasen
- Our House Sale progresses towards completion
- Jane and her brother sort out the sale of her mother's
house
- We start to pack our belongings
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