No phone call comes, so that’s it. We don’t have a home except Agy, but that’s OK. She’s a great home and we will be OK. I have got through many a scary moment of uncertainty using my preferred technique of denial. Major surgery, unexpected life changes, job uncertainty, it works for me. Deal with it when it comes, for now just breathe.. I can do it again.
My fabulous staff team colleagues gave me a gift when I left my job, they knew we were selling up, embarking on a new adventure and it was the perfect gift to keep me safe; it’s done a great job so far and I love it. I’m confident we will be just fine on whatever journey life takes us on next.
About 7pm Ian’s phone pings…. my heart is in my mouth, who is emailing now? At times like this Ian focuses on what he is reading, not telling me what it says. I’m a quick scan, blurt it out, then read properly person. Ian, no. He reads carefully, absorbs, then speaks. I am holding my breath, his face give nothing away, absolutely nothing! I’m about to pass out from hypoxia and palpitations when he smiles………. his fabulous twinkly eyed smile I fell in love with all those years ago and am still lucky enough to see most days. It’s from our solicitor. She’s had a response! Everyone is ready to exchange tomorrow and keep the same completion date! I don’t think Ian has ever replied so quickly. YES! Just do it!
Our solicitor is amazing, they have been fabulous for both sale and purchase, and here she is at 7pm emailing us, making our day.
We need to call at 9am tomorrow to confirm we are both still happy to proceed, and we are up by 7am (a first in recent months) ready, coffee in hand, waiting for the time to tick by. We make the call and it is set in motion. About an hour later the seller calls, her *&^$#^&(please add an appropriate expletive of your choice here) solicitor has rung for her confirmation too. She told them in no uncertain terms, that they needed to get it sorted quickly and she had spoken to us (this always comes as a surprise to solicitors) and we all need this dealt with quickly to ensure all our sanity.
When the call comes, we miss it! We are in a shop with a metal roof, no phone signal is getting through that panelling. We are back food shopping, as we actually do need something for meals not just crisps and doughnuts. So another email reading heart stopping moment, and then he smiles……. I can’t quite believe it, we’ve done it! We will be living on the Island. We have a few days to completion and lots to do! We head to our new home Sandown for a last hurrah before the hard work begins.
I haven’t said much about the bungalow, because I was never sure it would absolutely happen, but now, it is real, so this is what we are heading into.
The biggest DIY project we have ever undertaken, that’s what we are heading to. The location is perfect, the size and structure great. The inside…. to say it needs work is an understatement. The current owner is a fabulous woman, we really like her, she is sharp, witty and house proud, but she has lived there many years and is a smoker, a very heavy smoker, there is no getting away from it, it is going to take a lot to get this to a state we can actually live in it and if we are (possibly) going to be back to bare brick, replacing everything, we may as well make it exactly as we would want it. We are planning for walls down, plumbing moved, possibly doors and windows changed, and where we can we will do it all ourselves (unless legally we can’t). We are on a budget, we can’t just throw money at it, so we have been researching, planning and I have been in total denial! We can build a kitchen from ply sheets, of course we can. I can rout out a cupboard door handle, knock down a wall, move a radiator, rewire. Can’t I? Ian, he’s a whizz at these things, he renovated our little boat, plastered bits of our house, installed our kitchen several houses ago, and I’m fairly nifty with a tile/saw/screwdriver. Dad wouldn’t let me leave home without a tool kit and knowing how to use it. Thanks dad! For those who remember my very first home and the tiling catastrophe… I have significantly improved!
However, we need tools, we have some and they are currently in storage, but not on the scale we will need, and until we remove all traces of the smoke, PPE of a robust nature. We won’t be moving in for a while. This is shopping in a whole different realm. What have we done?
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