22nd April 2014 - Neighbours update

Well all the worrying was in the end for nothing. The new owner put his property up for let, it went within 3 days and over the Easter Weekend the new tenants moved in.

We had a chat to them on Saturday and they seemed very nice. Mark is a postman in the area, Alex works at the hospital and they have a son Edward who is in year 7 at Springwood. Helen actually taught him a couple of times when he was at St Martha's.

They moved out of their last place after 7 years as the owner wanted to sell it, so hopefully they will be here for a while as well.

I know we are detached now but I still think it is important to have good neighbours who you can get on well with. 

Not so that you can be in each others houses all the time, no I would not want that, but just to be able to chat to when you see them, know their names and know that whenever they do something they are considerate to other people around them. By this I mean, noise, parking etc. Consider other people, unfortunately not everyone does, as I found out when in Enfield, but so far and from chatting to them I think they are considerate people.

Also its not just immediate neighbours either. I think it is nice that we know the names of those a few doors down either way and those across the road. That does not seem to happen much these days. Some I talk to more than others but a wave if you see them in the the car or a hello if you pass them in the street or see them in the garden, is just as good.

Over the road is Sally and Doreen, I talk to them a lot, as I do John who is just to the side of us, others like Ray I have never spoken to, but he smiles and waves if he see us. The young couple Tracy and Daniel, also over the road, are not around much, but will always acknowledge you if you see them.

We have Dave and Sheila beyond our fence at the bottom of the garden. Due to losing a few fence panels during the winter winds I have now got to know them, I had not previously seen or spoken to them in the year and half previous. So that is nice.

Some people may not agree with me but I think that is how it should be, I like where we live, and  I like the people around us.

17th March 2014 - Neighbours

Our neighbours are moving tomorrow and it is all a bit worrying because of my past experience in Enfield. 

They had been looking to move to a village for a while now since their children had left home and they found a place around Xmas which they mentioned to us. My problem is not with that, although they are nice neighbours and it would have been nice if they were not moving, my problem is who is buying the property.

When we lived in Enfield, our lovely old neighbour Jean passed away, and her house was brought by someone who was not going to live there but rent it out. This can of course be Ok, we rented for a time and consider ourselves to be nice people to live next to, however it does mean that you can also quickly have different people renting who may be worse or better. There is of course the other problem that we encountered where we had a family move in who both did not work. The rent was paid by the council, they had no interest in looking after the house or garden and soon fences were broken down, the garden not kept well, noise from the occupants including loud music whilst I was trying to work next door, very strange people calling to the house at all hours and those same very strange people sitting and making noise in the back garden, during the day and night. It got to a situation where I did not want to use our garden as much. We went from a quiet neighbour who we could hardly tell if she was in or not, to a horrible situation.

I am envious of my Mum and Dad, who for many years have had the same people next door, who give them no problem and with whom they get on fine with. When I say many years, one side must have been there over 30 years and the other over 50 years.

So with that bad experience in mind I am wary of what might be arriving next door now. We are in a better position than the time in Enfield. Our property is detached, we have a nice 6 foot fence separating our garden, something we did not have in Enfield.

So why I am so worried. Well when we have been chatting to our neighbours about them moving it turns out that the buyer is a friend of a friend. That is Ok no problem there, but from conversations I picked up that they have not actually met them. If they have not met them and there is no estate agent involved the buyer must have purchased it without seeing it, possibly from photos only. So would you buy somewhere to live in without seeing it, sounds to me like it is being brought to rent out.

We were chatting to them the other day and I tried to broach the subject again. “have the new people got any kids for Kirsty to play with?” I asked. They both looked strangely at each other as if they were not sure what to say, eventually they replied that there children were in their 20’s.

Then over the last weekend they started moving all the garden stuff, it turns out the place they are buying is vacant and the owner said it would be OK to move garden stuff in before completion. Completion day is 18^th March, tomorrow as I write this. However although they are moving out tomorrow into their new place, they still have the keys on their old home next door to us for a few more days. That seems strange, to complete on a Purchase and I assume on the sale and the new owners not taking possession immediately. Again to me that sounds like the new owners are not moving from their current location and are buying the house to rent.

Whenever we have spoken to them, it has been a bit cagey about the new buyers. I find it strange, I would never have a problem with them if they have sold to bad people, criminals or people who were going to let it out. I know when I was selling I would never have considered who was buying mine and what my old neighbours would be inheriting, at the end of the day you just want to sell and move, so why not just say who is buying it, and why be cagey about it.

I love the peace and quiet here, I really hope the people who live next door, whether it be the new owners or tenants, are nice and we get on with them and they are as quiet as our previous ones. It is a worry but something out of my control so we just have to wait and see. 

24th Feb 2014 - Migraines

I have had migraines from ever since I can remember. Well at least from 7 when I first remember coming home from a Cubs football match and just lying on my Mums silky bed cover trying to cool down and remembering the feeling sick and pain in the head.

People just say a migraine is a bad headache, anyone who suffers then knows this is not the case and I bet that most migraine sufferers can probably put up with a bad headache which would have others reaching for the pain killers.

I have different levels of migraine, a mild one will leave me not being able to look at anything and a sharp pain across the bone above my eyes, a bad one will have me going hot and cold, feeling sick (although I am hardly ever sick), pain across most of the front head and having to be in the dark or at least have my eyes shut. I also find pacing around better than lying or sitting down.

Painkillers do nothing and for years I had no remedy but to see it out. However one visit to the Doctor found me with someone who listened to my symptoms and prescribed me with Almotriptan. This really works and within an hour or two of taking one the migraine usually passes. This is fine but what I would love is a migraine table which prevents them happening at all.

I have looked at triggers and never found one, apart from if I get too hot, this one is a given, but I thought once it was fatty food, I cut this out are better and I had a good spell, but then they came back. Sleep might also be one, and other good types. I just cannot work it out.

I even had the idea that men had a time of the month like women as for some time I got a cluster of them and then nothing for 3-4 weeks.

The reason I am blogging this now is because I am so fed up. The last month I have had so many. In fact there have only been 6 days in the last 30 days where I have not had one. I admit they have been mostly mild, but it is getting me down now.

I cannot be diet I gave been eating well as we are on Weight watchers again, so plenty of veg, lean meat and very little butter or margarine. Dairy products also have been much lower. We started 1st Jan and all was fine but then around the end of Jan the regular migraines started. 

I have no stress at all, life is good relaxed.

If anyone has any ideas or can share experiences I would love to hear.

7th Feb 2014 - Our Friday days out.

I love our Fridays. Both Helen and I do not work on Fridays. It's great time to spend with each other, and we try and make sure we go out somewhere for the day, well at least until it's time to pick Kirsty up.

Since moving to King's Lynn we have many new places to visit and we travel distances we probably would not consider in and around London. Simply put an hours drive is an hour, unlike around London where it could be an hour  one day, and two hours the next. Also an hours drive up here covers quite an area, in London it might only get you a few miles.

We have visited various beaches and coastal towns, as well as some bigger towns and villages. The main criteria is somewhere nice for Lunch.

We always have a nice drive, good music playing, time to chat and enjoy the views on the way.

Norfolk is a beautiful place, we are making the most of it and really enjoy living up here.

3rd Feb 2014 - Oops

Like most I missed a while of blogging. Probably worst than most as it is getting on for a year since my last blog.

Generally last year has been great, one thing of bad note is Helen and my weight. Basically we have been enjoying ourselves too much and at start of New Year we started Weightwatchers again, this time we have stuck with it. 4 weeks in and a stone lighter but only now back to where I was last year. I would like to lose another 1.5 stone.

Apart from that all is good, I have been working back at Swift since last April, after a chance phone call asking for a reference, got me a weeks credit control and I am still there now. I work 9am to 1pm Mon to Fri, my choice. Helen and I have Fridays off. Helen has regular supply 4 days a week at Greyfriers, and has just been told she is needed next year as well and there might be a contract.

Kids are doing fine, Kirsty loves her school, she goes to Brownies and had moved up 3 classes at Swimming, she really is quite good.

Craig studying for his A-Levels, and had just done his mocks. He had hot really friendly with a girl called Kim, nothing romantic, just very good friends and I am pleased he had someone to do things with in King's Lynn.

So life is great, enjoy watching the birds feed at our table, we have loads of Dunnocks, a couple of Blue Tits, Greenfinches and Gold finches, a Robin and some Doves.

Looking forward to Spring again, it stays light till 5pm now and that just seems to make things better.

3rd Feb 2014 - Seed Time

After last years success with the seed growing, oh yes forgot to post how well they did, it is time to start again.

Last year, for very little outlay I had a brilliant front bed display of Marigolds, Salvias, Antirrhinum's and Cosmos, as well as giving many plants to friends. 

Mid Summer I planted some wallflower seeds, grew them on and planted out in between the summer bedding. Once the summer bedding was lifted the wall flowers were already growing nicely and providing some nice greenery over winter and hopefully nice Spring colour.

Anyhow, last year I started a bit late and ended up with window sills full of plants all at the same time.

This year the plan is to stagger the seed growing and potting on process.

At the start of January I planted some Salvias, and antirrhinum in one tray. They are growing and are in the pop up green house in the conservatory, I am waiting for 2nd leaves to appear, before pricking out. Once again the antirrhinum are very small and fiddly.

 I am hoping not to lose as many plants this year as I did last time being a bit in experienced. 

21st April 2013 - Seed Growing

Earlier this month our allotment co-ordinator took me to the council nursery to sow some seeds for our allotment.

I was quite amazed how little there seemed to it and how cheap it was compared to buying plants ready to plant out.

I had a large bed out the front which needed filling and decided this would be a good way to get some colour on the cheap.

Off I went to Wilkinson'scand £15later I had trays, pots, compost and seeds. Let the fun begin.

I plant Marigolds, Salvias, Antirrhinum, Cosmos and Foxglove.

That part was easy, some were big seed which was easy to put in seed tray but foxglove was like pepper. We could not see where it had gone on the compost. Anyhow all trays were done and now came the next problem.

Where to put them. At first they need heat. I had the thermometer all over the house trying to find the place which kept the best and most constant heat. Window sills were ok but cold at night. In the end the top of the fridge/freezer in the kitchen seemed to keep a good constant temperature , especially as the nights were cold.

As it turns out this was perfect, green shoots appeared with 4 days. First the cosmos, then marigolds, salvias, antirrhinum and lastly the foxgloves. Once the green shoots showed it was then about light and plenty of it. The conservatory would have been ideal but it was still too cold in there. So the kitchen window sill was now filled with trays of green shoots.

The cosmos ran away and grew quick, however they were getting too tall and had not got their second leaves yet. The process is that once shoots have their second leaves they are ready to be pricked out and put into larger pots with more space. Anyhow they had to be pricked out, now I was either too early or did not firm them in properly. Of 27 plants pricked out only 4 survived.

Next to be pricked out were the Marigolds. These seem much stronger, mum says they are quite hardy and she never has problems with them. Indeed she is right, this time I firmed them in as I transferred them. Of 86 plants I have over 50 doing really well. They look less like seedlings and more like actually plants now. Really pleased with them.

Salvias were next, my favourite, I love the deep red flowers. I got 24 plants pricked and so far I reckon I will have 15 to plant out. They still do not look like plants but are growing.

Next we're the antirrhinum. To kinds, Monarch and Circus Clown. These were really small and fiddly but I have pricked out 166 of these and although it has only been a few days, most of them seem to have survived the process into the pots and trays. They are still very small but do look healthy.

Just today it was time for the foxgloves. I pricked out 59 and there are more in the seed trays but I have run out of compost and pots and trays to put them. I will keep them in the tray for now.

So I have loads of potential plants and for £15 have 329 plants at the moment. For the time and effort it is certainly worthwhile doing and I may have too many so some will be passed onto others.

3rd April 2013

Signs at last that Spring is on the way. It has still been cold with a chilly easterly wind but it has even sunny and dry. Next week the temperature is expected to increase to about 9 or 10 so hopefully soon things will start to bloom in the garden.

Kirsty and me have planted some seeds to save some money on bedding plants. It is the first time that I have attempted this but so far the results look good. The marigolds and cosmos appeared after about 4 days, a few days later the antirrhinum sprouted through and just today there are signs that the foxgloves and salvias are on their way.

We have been chitting potatoes for the community allotment but despite being in a bright position they made no progress. The one I put in the dark has performed much better, maybe it is because it is in warmer conditions. The others are now in and on the window sill on the stairs, lets see how they get on there.

This morning Kirsty and I went Swimming. The pool was reasonably empty and we had good fun for over an hour and half. Trouble is today is a fasting day, part of a new diet where we fast for two days a week, and after swimming I was starving hungry, and in fact I still am. Does not help during the holidays having to prepare lunches for the children.

Craig has been going into school to work on his music tech and today Helen as gone to meet a friend in Cambridge for lunch, which is nice that they came upto meet her.

After today we have visitors descending. Carolyn and Matthew are up Thursday and Friday, then we have Kara and Evie on Saturday and Sunday, and then Marion and Bethan the following Tuesday and Wednesday, so plenty of baking to be done.

23rd March 2013

Still so very cold and no sign of any change. Really frustrating as we cannot get anything done on the allotment until the ground temperature picks up. Over the next week it will feel like -7, many parts of the country are covered with snow so we are at least lucky to survive that.

Last weekend we went to our first function up here since moving. It was a St Patricks Day event and was with Andy and Janet Moyle. I met Andy at a school event and it turned out that Helen works with his wife Janet, at Greyfriers Primary School.

Anyway we went along, a little unsure what to expect, as it was a large gathering. At first I thought it would be difficult, Kirsty was a bit whingy and it was like a party with people standing around drinking.

However once the food was served we all went and sat down in a large room and stayed there, playing games, singing songs ( I mimed of course ), and just chatting. It was really comfortable and before we knew it 4 hours had passed.

It would be nice to think that we have now made some friends up here and in fact we have been invited back for a BBQ in May.

I was over the allotment the other day. I had divided a fuschia and was taking half of it over on my bike, when I turned up I found a massive tire mark in one of our turfs. I stood looking at it for a few minutes and must have looked suspicious as I was approached by 2 policemen who were patrolling the park. Obviously I explained who I was and we chatted for a few minutes and it was nice that they investigated.

Earlier this week I was not well at all. The rest of the family have had a sick bug and I thought it had finally got me. I went to bed Monday night and was so cold that I was shaking. The night was disturbed, hot and cold, aches and pains. For the next few days this continued but I was not sick. I had no energy so house work took a back seat, but it did not last long and by Thursday I was back to normal.

The old owner of our house, Graham, was in the area Thursday and it was good to see him and hand over the post which had accumulated. We chatted for quite a while and I finally asked him how much they would have sold for. He said lowest would have been 180k, but that would have been a push. He said they had a buyer the year before but they mucked them around for 17 weeks, so took it off the market and put it back on when we were looking. Before us they had someone interested but they had not sold their house, so we timed it just right.

Whilst he was here I asked him how to get the top of the toilet off, when he asked why I mentioned the slight leak in the pipe work and without hesitation he offered to repair it free of charge. I will of course pay him something but that just shows what nice man he is.

We are off to Downham Market today to buy some dining chairs off our friend Sarah as the ones we have are just too uncomfortable.

3rd March 2013

What a lovely day I had today. Not a great day weather wise, we woke to an overcast day but not too cold for the time of year.

We had toast for breakfast which we had in the conservatory. There was no rush we had nothing planned, so we took our time and watched the birds feeding on the bird feeder.

We then got the washing out onto the line and I then went off to the community allotment. It is starting to get to the busy time of the year, loads of digging to do but so much easier than last year when it had not been touched for a while.

I was joined by Felicity and her dog Dickens. She kept me company and we chatted whilst I dug over one of the vegetable plots. Just before I was due to leave and return for my roast dinner which Helen was cooking, Herbert arrived from church with his dog Hugo. Further chat took place and Felicity left us, Herbert went home to change and I began to tidy up.

At this point Simon and his son Sam came over and we had a brief chat before Herbert arrived again. At which point I had to go as my dinner would be ready.

I got home 5 mins late, but dinner was nice and after this we took ourselves off to Brancaster beach. It's a lovely drive up there and so relaxing. There was no car park attendant so that was a bonus. When we got to the beach we noticed the sea was a long way out. Equipped with our wellies we started walking towards it. We got halfway but the little estuaries were getting deeper. We walked for abut an hour before returning home for tea and cakes and a play in the garden.

So nice now the weather is getting warmer, I love it up here, everything is so accessible, calm and peaceful. Wish we had been able to move earlier but we are here now.

1st March 2013

It's exactly a year ago today that we met our buyer of our house in Enfield. 12 months ago they came round for their first viewing and on the 2nd March came back for second look and then put in an offer on 3rd March.

We are getting ready for Kirsty's 9th Birthday. She is very excited already and we have booked a party for her at Frankie and Benny's next Friday. She has 6 friends definitely coming, although as normal we have had to do some chasing.

On Saturday the family and Marion are coming up for the day and we are going to have fish and chips.

Have stripped the gloss paint from the hall, sanded down and waxed the wood. It looks really good and was helped by the purchase of a sander. Only found out later that I had a sander in the shed which still works.

17th Feb 2013

Weather has turned a bit milder at last. Today is a lovely sunny day and we have brought some bedding plants which Helen planted in the front garden.

The trees are budding now and Spring cannot be far away.

It has been warm enough to sit in the conservatory for the first time since about October.

Yesterday Kirsty and I planted a cherry tree in the back garden. There was two reasons for this.

Firstly we need some shade at the front fence. It is very open there and nothing to block the sun in the summer.

The second reason is that Kirsty and I planted a cherry tree at our old house in 2009. We had to leave it behind and only saw it grow for 3 years. The blossom on them is lovely and we all liked the other one.

Yesterday will also be remembered for a lovely afternoon with old friends. Kelly, Sam, Max and Pearl got the train up and we had lunch at Prezzo followed by tea and cake back at the house.

The weather was nice enough for me to give them a tour of Kings Lynn, through the park and town and use some of recently gained knowledge of the history of the town.

Looking forward this week to mire visitors. Caroline and Matthew are up Monday and Tuesday, and then on Thursday and Friday we entertain Julie and Ellen, before a weekend in London so Kirsty can see Kara and Helen can go to book club.

A busy week ahead but should be good.

11th Feb 2013

I normally don't mind the cold but today I just could not get warm. I don't know if the wind chill is more severe here in Norfolk but just doing the school run I could feel it through my jeans. Surely milder weather is on its way, the cold seems to have been with us for ages.

Helped out at Kirsty's school today. The reception children had a trip to town to see the Chinese dragon dancing to celebrate the New Year. They needed helpers and I had nothing else planned for the day.

The children and staff went on the coach and the helpers went in 2 taxis. We got there quite quick but had to wait for the coach. When it arrived the helpers with children on the trip were given their kids to look after. I had Alfie and Jessica. Lovely children they chatted away to me and seemed quite excited by the trip, Alfie particularly liked the Bus Station.

The dragon dancing scared some of the children, others loved it. It must be tough teaching that age group. They are so young and seeing some of them crying made me realise how difficult it is for teachers.

Some of those who did not like it, did have their picture taken so they could not have been that scared.

Once we got the children back in the coach the helpers then had to wait for the taxis to pick us up.

At this point I made a wording issue with a tweet. I had mentioned the trip and also stated we had been left waiting for a taxi.

The school head saw this and asked why we had been left in town. By the time we'd got back to school the office mentioned he was on the phone to them. It seems that he did not know we were getting taxis and thought we had been left in town.

It has taught me to word my tweets better in future and I sent a message to him and an email to the office to apologise for any confusion I may have caused.

Other than that it was a good trip and I enjoyed helping.

Looking forward to the next week. Half Term will bring many visitors including on Saturday my old work colleagues - Kelly, Max, Sam and Pearl. We also have Caroline and Matthew up for a couple of days and then Julie and El at the end of the week.

5th Feb 2013

It's 12 months since we put our house up for sale in London. This time a year ago the blog really took off and reading it back I can see what stress I put myself through, for at least 3 months.

In the end everything has worked out well. Helen had regular work, whilst still having some time off a week and not having all that awful planning and marking to do which took up so much of her free time.

The kids are settled into their schools, both have a group of friends, have joined clubs of various descriptions and both love their new bedrooms.

Me, well I could not be happier. I think I am more relaxed, less short tempered with the kids, have much more time for them and I really love the new area, the beautiful places and the quiet way of life up here.

Having lived in the house for a while it has become apparent that it had not been decorated as well as we thought.

It looks like a quick job was done to spruce it up. So I am finding little things to do.

Upstairs I have replaced all architraves and removed the gloss from door frames. The wood is now a wax finish and this will make future decorating easier.

The walls in the landing and stair well are now yellow, I hated the brown which was there.

I have put a patio in the garden to take trampoline and swimming pool, put coping stones on top of brick wall to stop any further damage.

I lost my job end of Nov 2012 so looking for something but not going back into Corporate world. Will keep looking for something appropriate.

The community allotment should take off again soon as the weather improves. I have done some work on the Compost bins though in the cold.

Otherwise I keep myself busy cleaning the house, washing, ironing and shopping. I get to do little jobs round the house when needed and when weather is good I get to explore this lovely place on my bike.

How different it was this time 12 months ago.

12th September 2012

So we have been in Kings Lynn now for a while and our new house for a few weeks and what are my likes a dislikes so far.

Likes are in no particular order:

Sitting in the conservatory.

Having so much space

Kids having nice bedrooms.

The quiet

No problem parking

Watching the birds feed

Helen less tired and much more happy

Schools are close

Traffic is less

Get to places easy

Beach is 20 minutes away

Shopping is good

House is lovely and nicely decorated

Not having to worry about noise we or kids are making as we are detached.

Not having to worry about who might move in next door because we are detached

Slower pace of life

Kids are happy

Dislikes are in no particular order

Being away from friends and family

Noise of music from garden over the back when they are in pool – too far away to hear music but all we get is the thud of the base.

Not knowing anyone yet.

So as you can see the likes far out way the dislikes.

Helen has had all sorts of problems registering with agencies to get supply work. Lets go through the issue. A few months ago she contacted Key Education Services and Norfolk Council.

She provided them with details and then met them in early August so we would be registered by September.

Key would provide her some work but not much, the council was important as once registered there she could go round herself to local schools.

Key worked quickly and got both references needed and all was good.

Norfolk Council however were not so efficient. They received one reference back but the email to Helen’s last Head teacher bounced back. They did not tell us this but instead posted a reference to the school. Only on us chasing did we find this out, obviously the head did not get this until they returned to school in September. Had they contacted us we could have checked the address. It was also not helped by the person dealing with it being away on holiday until start of September and no one else had access to his emails.

Anyhow last week the head confirmed he had dealt with it. This week we ring to see if they have it back and they still have not got it. They rung the school and emailed the reference request. School confirmed they had it. We emailed the head asking if he could turn this email round quickly, he then replied strangely – “this should have been faxed I will check”. So now we do not know if he will email it, or fax it and if faxing does it go back to head office or to the people we are dealing with.

So at this time the Council registration is in limbo and we just do not know when it will be cleared and so much time has been wasted.

Back to Key. We rung last week to check to see how that was going but they had forgotten to request the CRB from Norfolk Council. They said they would do this. Today finally we have confirmation that Helen is registered with them.

During all this time another Agency Ranstad were pestering Helen to register with them, as they had loads of work in Kings Lynn but few staff. We did not want to pay for another CRB but they were so desperate they agreed to pay it. Last week Helen went for interview and filled in forms.

Yesterday we rung to find out how it was progressing and the rep there said they were waiting for Helen to return application, she told them she filled this in on the day. After checking it seems she did and they had mis filed it. The apologised and said they would email out reference requests immediately. Helen spoke to one of the people she put down for a reference that night and they confirmed nothing had been received. We will be chasing this to find out why.

So at the moment Helen is registered with one out of three of the Agencies. The one is the last one on the list of importance and once again it has been a painful process.

I think Helen has learned what I already knew. You need to chase, chase and chase with these things. Treat everyone as being incompetent and you will not be disappointed and you will not waste days and weeks when thinking things are progressing when in fact they are not.

26th July 2012

A couple of weeks now since my last entry. Well there was really not much to say. Last Sunday we moved our final belongings and ourselves up to King's Lynn. We managed to get everything in the two cars and roof box, including the two rabbits who we picked up from our friend on the way.

We had a lovely drive up, Kirsty was with me and Craig went with Helen. We stopped a few times because of Helen's knee but still made it in a little over 2 hours. I will not miss having to pack up on a Sunday evening to drive back to London.

This week has been quiet, I have been working and Helen relaxing from work but picking up the shopping and cooking chores. We have had our 3 things break, first Craig's guitar tuning key broke off, easy to fix once the new set arrived. The second thing was the lawn mower, whilst cutting the grass, it just started to smoke and died. I had planned to buy a strimmer anyway and got one with a new qualcast mower. The last thing was the ironing boards which collapsed whilst I was using it, the welding had finally given up, it was very old, so a new one has been brought to replace.

We have, because of this, hunted down our recycling centre. Quite a drive it is as well, right on the outskirts of the town, it did not take too long to get to but I would say it was about 3 miles aways at least.

It dawned on me yesterday that we have no secure income coming in anymore. Of course I was aware of this before but it finally hit home yesterday and it did give me a little panic. Helen gets her full salary which covers August and September so we have nothing to concern ourselves immediately, I just think it was the realisation that for the first time we would not have an a guaranteed income at the end of the month.

It also means I have to adjust the way I do the finances. My complex system revolves around a fixed income coming in, it covers bills first, then allocates an amount to various buckets, like Birthdays, Car repairs, Christmas etc, after all that we then know how much money we have spare each month. When we have a birthday present to buy it is paid out of the birthday bucket. So I have now had to look at what we have to pay each month without fail. I have x this by 3 and moved that amount into a holding fund so we have at least 3 months money. That amount will be put back into the main account each month to cover the bills. Anything we earn during the month we go into the holding fund. At the end of the month whatever we have in there over the 3 months worth will be allocated to the bucket accounts. These have been prioritised so the important ones get topped up first. Everyone has a system, mine is complex ( I think it is ) and overkill but I like to know exactly how much money we have when we need to buy something.

Of course it may not be a problem and fingers crossed Helen finds enough work to cover what we need to live as we do now. If i knew how long I had in my job it would help, but even yesterday they have cut my hours down. Instead of 5 days I now only have 2.5 days a week. So whilst it is something, it is not as good as it was, but even if that continued for the foreseeable future it would be large chunk of our monthly required total, with no mortgage now.

Anyhow the one thing we do know is regardless of how much money we have we will have a house which is ours and a roof over our heads.

Tomorrow is completion day, and once we have the keys we plan to assemble the wardrobes in each of the bedrooms and finally get all of our clothes hung up and out of the suitcases and boxes they have been in for the last 10 weeks. 

On Saturday we have the family up for my birthday, and on Sunday we plan to take over the beds and assemble them and get the kitchen stuff over and put away. They are leaving us a fridge freezer so that will help and we can then sleep in new house on Sunday night.

On Monday we have electrician coming to put on new fuse panel and we will spend the day taking over boxes and all of the other stuff we can fit in the car.

Once the rented house is clear of all the stuff we can move ourselves, we will hire a man and van to take the things like sofas, washing machine, fridge and freezer and rabbit hutch. Until then we will have to do washing at the rented house.

The broadband is due to be cut off from Rented on Tuesday 31st and turned on in new house sometime the same day. I hope that goes smoothly.

Then that should be that. Check back in a few days to see how it all went.

11th July 2012

Well we are nearly there. Just over a week and half now and we will be moving to King's Lynn. We are travelling up again this weekend and taking up some more stuff. Then there is another week of work for Helen and school for Kirsty, then my cousin Marks wedding on the Saturday and we move up on the Sunday.

During next week we have various things going on, Helen has a leaving do at school, I am having a meal with my old work mates and we are planning a curry with my Mum and Dad. Craig has organised a get together with his mates on the Friday before we move, so it will be quite busy.

Kirsty visited her new school, we had a tour around and it looked really nice. We met the head teacher as well and they have some great things going on there. The school have just released a single on itunes called We Say - download it if you can, they are pushing for a top 40 place. The song involves every child at the school and is a great idea. The schools website is great too, it has a forum for discussion, praise areas and each class puts up things they have done. Very impressesd. Kirsty loves her school uniform, and her new school bag and is quite excited. She also met her new teacher who has also just arrived at the school.

So onto more sorting out, and deciding what to take up this weekend. I handed in the final forms to the solicitor yesterday, that should be all now on the Purchase of our new house, now it is just completion day 27th July 2012 and move in the following week, after the electrics have been sorted out.

We started this move process in February and 6 months on we are nearly at the end. It has all fit into place really well but getting to each of the milestones has been stressful and taken a lot of hard work.

Nearly there now.

2nd July 2012

So we are into July and in 18 days time we move to Kings Lynn. It will be so nice to be finally settled in one place. Helen will have finished work and we can start our life again.

We had the weekend up here which was unplanned. Originally just Craig and I were coming up Sunday night as he has two inductions days at Springwood Monday and Tuesday.

However my need for a bed proved too strong, so we all came up Friday night and I then drove Helen and Kirsty back down on Sunday evening before driving back up to be with Craig.

Next week we have a weekend in London. The following weekend we will be up again to Kings Lynn, starting to move some stuff up. Then the weekend after that we have my cousins wedding on the Saturday and then finally make the move up on the Sunday 22nd July 2012.

We have just found out the Kirsty has got her place at the school we wanted. It is two minutes walk from the house and she met a girl in Tesco's on Saturday who goes there. I had a walk up at school time this morning to see how busy the road got. I am pleased we got that school as I would not have looked forward having to drive anywhere at school time. Getting out of our road would not have been easy.

There is not much more to do really, completion day is set for 27th July 2012, just waiting now for our statement from the Solicitor to see how much money we have left from our savings so we can plan what we can buy when we move in.

26th June 2012

One more piece of the jigsaw is now in place. Yesterday at 3pm we exchange contracts to buy or new home. The only thing really outstanding now in the overall plan is a school place for Kirsty. That is in process and we hope to hear in a couple of weeks time.

The exchange yesterday took ages and I was in contact with our seller quite regularly as we were getting different messages from our solicitors. Basically one of them was lying because we knew exactly what both of them were telling us. In the end though it got done and we will have the house on 27th July 2012.

The saga of the drainage DVD still goes on. It has still not arrived so I asked them again. I got an email reply, they have now sent 3 DVD's out and just do not know why they are not getting here. They said that the engineer would do another copy and drive it down to hand deliver today. I phoned them back and said not to bother, the report was Ok and we will be in King's Lynn in a few weeks and he could deliver it then. The supervisor was insistant that he would hand deliver it, I tried arguing but he would have none of it. So we will see if it turns up today.

19th June 2012

5 weeks now until we move to King's Lynn and as each day passes I grow more tired and exhausted. We are also now half way through our stay with mum and dad having moved in 5 weeks ago, and although 5 weeks does not seem that long, to know we have only done half the time here makes it seems a long way away.

I am now getting fed up of my blow up bed, have to make it up each night and put it away each morning. I wake up have slept all night but my body feels like it has not slept in weeks.The constant trips across Enfield to get Kirsty and Craig to and from school or brownies is tiring whilst all along I am having to work and keep an eye on jobs that need doing.

It is harder than I thought it would be but I guess from my piont of view better than trying to complete and sale and purchase on a house at the same time. However I am very tired and a little bit short with the kids when they continue to expect me to fetch everything they need or want.

No more news on the Purcase of our property, we are all ready and I have no reason to chase it. We took Marion to see it last weekend and she loved it. We noticed the pointing outside had been done. Hopefully we will exchange contractes in a few weeks time with completetion near to end of July, that would be perfect.

Other than that it is work, kids, shopping, cooking etc but in more difficult circumstances than normal, shopping daily because there is not enough room to store a weeks shop, cooking meals around when my parents are having theirs, which changes every day. Cant wait to have a wardrobe again, living out of a suitcase is no fun, it seems I am just wearing the same clothes, recycling them as they get washed/dirty but as each day goes past it is a day nearer to moving and it will be really nice to be settled in one place once again.