GO GO GO

After the false start yesterday and phone calls from solicitors left right and centre ... today went off without so much as a hitch. We awoke and had a substantial breakfast which was relaxed and leisurely. Ezio and I then got started on the guest bedroom for his parents - which will soon be his bedroom. It looks groovy n stuff. I then received phone calls to tell me that orders were arriving from Argos - the new Fridge and mattress.
Going around to the new apartment to meet the deliveries John and Susie were still madly moving and loading up their truck - something that I was going to have to do, I know. I left them to it for half an hour or so and headed to the storage facility and loaded up Ezio's car with the furniture that I thought was going to help my journey that little bit more. Lorna then joined me at the house and we emptied her car of the television, couch and other goodies. Lorna was more excited than me - that is for sure. I was relieved more than anything that things can be sorted.
After clearing the cars - we headed back to the storage centre and took another 2 car's worth of stuff and put it in the flat only to then receive a phone call from Stuart to tell me that he was on his way back over to help me move all my stuff from Ezio's to The Garden Flat (TGF). After walking into Ezio's and finding all of my stuff everywhere -- it did look like I had been hoarding like a Squirrel going into Winter. Ezio has decided that I had more stuff in his house than he did -- well -- ok he may be right - just a little bit. Anyhows ... with patience and the muscle power of 3 men - we moved everything over to the flat in little to no time.
First dinner was Penne with tomato based sauce - Ezio scoffed his and mine - he has worked hard today. I was settign up my new transporter bike (more of that in www.majoradventures.blogspot.com) and decided that it is going to take a long time to get used to not living with Ezio nor being at his place. I had made it my home, and really love his company and friendship. I so much looked forward to coming home and having something cooked for him, got excited when he walked through the door. Times of change are here - so be it - I will embrace it and go with the flow.
The fruit trees have started blossoming so tomorrow I will head to buy a spade and start digging holes and finding more soils and stuff to help fill in the nice big barrels for the herbs --- it is rather exciting really. Froggie arrives tomorrow with Harry and I am soooo happy to have my puppy back -- it's been far too long.
OK I am buggered and need to sleep -- see what we can get done - We both slept really well last night. OK from now on these pages will be about the befores and the afters - hopefully there will be more to report on. Good night.



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On Your Marks - Get Set

Ohhh so this process was supposed to close and be ready for Tuesday this week --- like tomorrow. I had phone calls on Friday from the solicitors explaining the process of what is going on and where and how etc. She has the mortgage in her little hot hands because all the banks in England are pulling the 100% mortgages. Luckily I got in when I did as the final bank to pull out was on Friday. So, at the moment in the UK, due to the credit crunch, there are no 100% mortgages left. Interest rates dropped again this month -- this can only make me happier as I am on a tracker mortgage which is always just above the Bank of England's base rate.
Stuart the best builder in the world is coming over tomorrow to help me move out of Ezio's place and give him the peace and space that he has been longing for for the past 12 months. Whilst delivering my stuff to the house, Stuart will come up with quotes and time lines for some minor and major works that i would like to have done, depending on budgets. We'll see.
All the white goods are arriving on Wednesday and Thursday, the internet and phone will appear next Tuesday - i go back to work on Monday. Harry arrives on Thursday being accompanied by his master chauffeur, Froggie. It is all happening and I am already exhausted with the thought of it and trying to get tomorrow all sorted.

Sign in again later and update some more. ~CIAO CIAO

Exchange & Completion Date Agreed

FINALLY - after 6 months or a little bit over now, we have agreed that next Tuesday will see me taking possession of a life time of debt - well 25 years --- it can't be too long really, can it? surely? Oh well -- we will see what happens in this great life that we have.
So permission has been granted by the free-holders for Harry to come and live in the flat - with the provisional agreement of the management company. This will of course include the fact that he is a quiet, a well behaved dog, not dangerous etc. In order to have a letter of permission to be written for Harry to live at the apartment - £75.00 - how rude and ridiculous is that!
So now the final of the clean ups and sorting outs of my things in the land of Ezio to then be transferred to 'our other residence'. It's now time to get all the services connected over there and see where to go from there to get my Harry back with me. It's mixed bag of emotions now with all of this. CIAO.

April 6 Update

The date negotiated for settlement - exchange etc was the 3rd of April - this was all going to be possible until I discovered a clause in the lease that in order to have an animal on site, permission from the free-holders needed to be sought. Seeing that I am buying the flat with the back yard for the purpose of Harry coming back and roaming in his own kingdom - it would be a little daft to buy a property where they would not let me have him.

The letter through to the freeholders went through some 10 or 11 days ago now, and still no news. so here I am still sitting on the couch at Ezio's waiting with my boxes at the door, services being ready to be installed and connected - for Monday and I will have to go back and reschedule them. I am a little pissed off cos I am on holiday now and it would have been great to be able to spent the full two weeks just getting used to the new place - have time with Harry but it doesn't look like much more will happen with in the next week. If the freeholders say no to Harry --- you guess is as good as mine as to what I will do. Scream and cry will be the first step then sort something else out.

CIAO

Harry's New Lounge Bag

Well it is only fair that if I have new things that my puppy has some new belongings too. He will be coming back to Daddy after a looooong holiday in France with Uncle Froggie. Ohh did I tell you that completion is anticipated to be the 3 April. YAY

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It's Getting Closer

So this morning, the postman delivered the inventory of the house of what is and what is not included with the sale of the house - this can only mean one thing - that settlement is on it's way (or exchange for the British readers).
It's both exciting and nerve wracking as I am looking at the pre and post mortgage budget --- boo hoo --- it's time to pull the belt in some what.
I spent the morning trying to prioritise the order of works for the flat - then we can see what is left to do and not left to do. This is how I think I will do it:

• Studio room
• Carpets up
• Aqua-Loc+ flooring laid
• Wallbed installed.
• Wardrobe arranged / fitted including extra storage.
• Kitchen Set Up
• As outlined in the kitchen blog - nice galley kitchen which will allow for the wall to be opened up when/if the bathroom is moved.
• Open French door to garden
  
• Knock wall out into 'ex' bathroom space.
  
• Bathroom
  
• Build bathroom as per bathroom blog
• build in window / sky light & fan
• Clear out old bathroom, knocking down joining wall to kitchen and to use full floor to ceiling french style windows out to garden.
• Flooring
• Aqua-Loc+ the new areas so that it is uniform in colour & presentation.
  
• Garden (this plan if the extension plans are not approved)
  
• Build decking or pave outside new area at kitchen.
  
• Building BBQ area
• Hanging pots for strawberries
• Room for developing fruit trees and shrubs.
• Outside office/shed - which has to be be built 5 metres from the current dwelling IF the application to build a conservatory is denied. It will be nicely connected to the new decking or paved area.
  

Kitchen Seating Area - Options

The joys of home buying and having lots of time on your hands before settlement is that you can shop around and see all the different options that are available for the spaces you think that you will have available. The whole kitchen and seating area will have Aqua-loc+ laminate wooden flooring which will compliment the chosen kitchen suites as outlined in the previous posts.
I envisage that the kitchen will be a galley kitchen thus allowing for a nice seating area of about 2.5 meters in depth which should fit in a nice 2 seater sofa and a groovy coffee table which converts into a dining table, as pictured here too. There convertible tables are stupidly expensive  ranging from £300 up to over £1000, for a coffee table and  dining table - I will just wait and use the  great extend-a-table I picked up for free from Croydon Free-Cycles. I am still looking at the Danish convertible table on e-Bay. We'll see.

For the walls, they will all be white painted and I will have the Beatles picture as shown here, mounted then put up on the wall above the sofa. (it's clearer in my head than it is to show you here ... but the photos will be the proof after moving in.

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