Light and sound

Something that I really enjoyed during our first few months in the house, especially as the seasons changed from late spring to summer, was the way in which the light changed in the main room. There were two windows in the east wall and one facing south. So for most of the day there was sun light shining directly into the room.

 I also loved the sound of the wind under the bedroom door if the windows were open. When I was a child, the house I grew up in had the same noise; like a chorus of women’s voices. Some people would find it quite frightening. I loved the noise. When I was ill I would always sleep in my parents bed during the day and listen feeling safe and secure

Friday 13th

It could only happen on Friday 13th.

I got up in the night to go to the toilet. Fortunately it’s next door to our bedroom. I went back to bed and dozed for a while then suddenly woke up. The water tank was still filling up. The button on the toilet was stuck so water was just running through the system and down the toilet. There is nothing like working out how to take a toilet apart at three in the morning. Fortunately we could turn the water off easily.

It took several visits from plumbers and replaced parts before it was fixed. We flushed the toilet using buckets of water for a month. I still check that the button goes back properly today.

Finding our way around

The end of the first week was marked by the closure of the sale of our old house. It was a very strange sensation to lock the front door and hand over the keys which had been with us for the last 25 years. I didn’t feel sad at all.

As I said; “the last 25 years”, which meant that there was a lot of getting used to routines and finding things to go before we really felt settled in. Everything seemed to take longer than usual. One of the pleasures was shopping for new curtains, lamps and odds and ends. It took a few weeks to get everything just as I liked it.

Even going out in the car had its problems. There were lots of new village names to get used to (and some of them very similar). We even decided that a certain roundabout near to where we live was a second Bermuda triangle. Still it was fun exploring the beautiful countryside around us, either in the car or on foot.

Settling in

The rest of the day was taken up with unpacking and putting things away. Although we had been well organized it seemed very chaotic at first. For a moment I didn’t think that we’d ever get settled in to my liking. It was so nice to snuggle down to sleep in our new bedroom on that first night.

On the third day we had to go back to our old home to clean the walls and windows and sweep up ready for the new owner. I really didn’t want to leave our new home, least of all spend a couple of days cleaning up there. It was very strange – there was nowhere to put anything when we arrived armed with all of our cleaning things.

 The loft on moving day

Moving day

We woke up early on moving day to almost an empty house. Anything that was small enough to be boxed up had been packed and taken over to our new home. Our old bed was beyond the move so we took it apart and it went to the tip. Our final nights there were spent on a mattress on the floor.

After breakfast we packed our last bowls, mugs and spoons, odd food, bedding, towels and a suitcase into the back of the car.  The removal men arrived on time at 7.30 in the morning. The weather was good; warm and sunny and no wind, ideal for having windows and doors open for the removal of furniture. I spent my time moving from room to room trying not to get in the way. Empty rooms were a bit difficult as I went round for a last look. Eventually I ended up sat on the edge of the bath and shed a few tears. Many years ago when I painted our daughter’s bedroom I painted hearts in the corners near to the ceiling. I remembered how excited I had been putting the finishing touches to her room. Once the room was empty my attention was drawn to those hearts. That really was the only time I felt sad.

Once we arrived at our new home I was really busy. I’d made plans of all the rooms and knew exactly where the furniture had to go. I guided the removal men and everything fit into place as it should! It was almost lunch time when the removal men finished by building our new bed for us as arranged. We had arrived at last.

The keys are handed over to us

The day finally arrived when we were to officially check over the house. We packed the car with some boxes of things to put in the loft and everything we needed to make a cup of tea. I also had a measuring tape to measure the rooms so that I could make a plan for moving day. The former tenants were to be there too. It was only our second visit to the house and this time it was empty and spotlessly clean.

As we went over the house we asked a lot of questions about electricity and water consumption, how things worked. We made sure that the papers were marked with any problems and things like cracked tiling. The whole visit, handing over the keys and printing out of papers to be signed took 4 hours.

 Once we were alone, I made our very first cup of tea in our new home and then Mr. Sosie and I set about putting the first boxes into the loft and measuring the rooms. We shut the house up with heavy hearts and went back to continue sorting out and packing the other end.

The big clear out

This time a year ago I was busy trying to sort out 25 years worth of accumulated junk. To start off I was pretty strict, but as soon as we knew that we would have a large loft to store things in I started to keep more and more. It was a mistake really and I know that one day I’ll be cursing myself for keeping so much.

 I discovered that a local charity would collect furniture in reasonable condition and electrical equipment in any state to be stripped down and renovated or used for spare parts. I had to let my electric cooker go and the freezer in the garage needed throwing out anyway. There was also a chair that was too big for out new home. I took apart some of the furniture which was past its best and we took it to the local tip.

Despite all of my hard work there seemed to be so much to take with us and so much to do. I’m not fond of housework so there was 25 years of dust and memories to clear away and clean. I found one missing earring and wondered what happened to the other.

The home we were leaving suddenly seemed to grow in size as the time went on and it was de-cluttered.

Paperwork

As arranged, the following week we went to the agent’s office armed with all of the paper work we thought would be needed. Everything was fine as regards renting the house.

We also had some questions. Was there a supply of electricity to the garage - in the loft? What were the dimensions of the rooms? How was water heated? …and so on. Everything we could think of. The meeting passed well. All we needed to do now was await confirmation of the viewing of the house with a solicitor so that any problems and faults with the house could be noted.

It made sense to check the house with the out-going tenants present. A date was arranged for the end of April.

The visit: Upstairs

The staircase was pine, a beautiful honey colour. At the top of the stairs were 5 doors. The bathroom, a cupboard for hanging clothes and two bedrooms. The ceilings were high and followed the roofspace. Both bedrooms were a good size and looked out over the farm across the road. There were hens roaming in the farmyard and all of a sudden I was at my grandmother’s house as a child looking out into the garden. The house was nothing like my Grandmother’s home, but I just had an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia. The bathroom, or rather shower room was beautiful. Tastefully tiled and very recent, with a huge mirror above the washbasin. The fifth door led into the loft. What a loft! It was as large as the bedroom below it. It couldn’t be used as a room because of the low slope of the roof. There was also the ventilator and the exit pipe for the gas boiler passed through. For us for storage it was perfect. The tenants assured us that it was perfectly dry and weather proof. Reluctantly we had to leave the inside to look at the small garden and the garage. The garden was small, but there was room for a small vegetable patch and there was an old well which added interest. There wasn’t much else as non of the previous tenants had stayed very long and had not invested time planting flowers or shrubs. The garage was built from stone and was very old. It was very large, perhaps two small cars would fit inside. I was fascinated by the stones and old beams. It had been a workshop in the past. I wondered who had worked there. It was obvious early on in the visit that we wanted to live there. The agent explained to us that she had another couple who were coming to look at the house immediately after us. She didn’t want to put them off as they had travelled a long distance. She was going to show them around anyway, letting them know that normally the house was let. I was walking on air as we left, but Mr Sosie, was worried by this information. We also had to submit details of our salaries to make sure that we could afford to rent the house and the cost of running it. We had an appointment at the agent’s office the following week.

The visit: Downstairs

The house was spotlessly clean and had recently been renovated. All of the walls throughout were painted white. All of the rooms were full of light from the windows which faced east and south The main room was smaller than we would have liked. There was a huge fireplace. It was blocked off as the laws are strict on certificates for insurance of the sweeping of chimneys in use once a year. The kitchen was small too, but very well designed. It would mean that I would have to have a new cooker (I didn’t mind!). Above the sink, there was a large opening with sliding doors into the main room. So the kitchen could be part of the main living area or not. The first bedroom was on the ground floor, it was large and narrow – would we have to go back to a standard sized bed? Everything I saw just seemed to get better and better. Under the stairs was a small cupboard just the right size for the washing machine!

March 26th 2011

Can you imagine how the time dragged until the time we could visit ‘our house’?

On the morning of the 26th March 2011 we woke up bright and early. During the drive we decided that we should be prepared to be disappointed with the inside of the house. It still seemed too good to be true.

Needless to say, we parked our car beside the church half an hour before the arranged meeting time. We went for a short walk to pass the time, even walking past the house. The agent was on time thank goodness. I think I might have burst if she’d have been late. She was very friendly and put us at ease straight away. As soon as we walked through the front door I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed. The agent and the tenants who would be leaving shortly showed us around.

Just like a dream

I was beginning to worry if we’d find somewhere in time. We didn’t really want to live in the house we had seen, so the following morning saw me back online searching for somewhere to live again. Suddenly my heart began to thump. There was ‘our house’. The agency had put it back on line as the tenant-to-be had dropped out. Within 6 minutes I’d phoned the agency and made an appointment for Saturday morning. I wanted nine o’clock but settled for 9.30. I had to keep pinching myself to make sure that I was awake.

Could this be the one?

As I said in my previous post, the agency with the apartment and another house were next on our list. I was due to visit the apartment on a Tuesday morning but never got to see it. The owner, who was having the apartment completely re-decorated, decided to let to one of her friends.

We went to visit the house during the afternoon. It had been built in the 80s and was quite small, there was no garage and it was reached by a small driveway behind a pharmacy. There was no kitchen as such, just a hob and sink a little off the main room. The bedrooms were large with fitted cupboards and the main room had big windows which slid open to go into a little walled courtyard. I rather liked the courtyard and could see it as an extra room during the summer months. Unfortunately the windows looked south and would have turned the main room into a hot house very quickly. Mr. Sosie didn’t like there not being a garage. There was a storage space behind, It was secure, but rather small.

 We decided to go home and think about it.

The house by the road - and a flight path!

We went to see the outside of the house next to the main road before the appointment because we were given the address. Not a wise move by the agency. It was in a sad and sorry state, looked as if it needed new window frames and there was a tiny shed in the garden which would fall down next time the wind blew. Mr Sosie thought that perhaps we should wait to see the inside later in the week before turning it down. Just at that moment a plane flew over. We were right in the flight path to the nearby airport! There was a post office nearby, a bus stop and shops. They would have been very useful.

When we got home, I phoned the agency  to explain that it wasn’t really what we were looking for. I asked about another house near to the first on their list. The lady on the phone was honest, we wouldn’t like it for the same reasons.

The search continues

It was with heavy hearts that we went into town the following week to see more agencies about renting. The first agency we went to were very snooty. All of the houses we asked about had been let, even the ones in the window! It was obvious that we weren't good enough for them. The second agency gave us the details a house. It was small, but close to the main road and near to shops and a post office. So we made an appointment to view a few days later. We went into a third agency and we had details and appointments for two more visits. One for an apartment that was being renovated and the second for a house in a nearby village that looked reasonably promising. Non seemed to be anything as good as the house that we really wanted.

Gone!

I was so happy on the Sunday morning that followed. I was online again straight away to see if I could find out more about the house. It was gone. There was nothing about it on the website where I'd seen it first. Needless to say, on the Monday morning following our trip out to see the house I was on the phone to the agency. The house had been let. I was so upset and disappointed. Mr Sosie didn't say much about it. He encouraged me to contact agencies about other houses.