Bereft without technology

Candice: I’ve just moved house and even though I am really organised, things have gone missing and I’m still playing catch up on letting people know- be they friends or gas suppliers. The thing that I have noticed the most is the lack of having Internet access and how this hampers you.

Luckily I changed my iPad at Christmas and bought a SIM card enabled one so we so have some access. But, there are lots of things you need to do on a laptop or PC. At least on line shopping isn’t hampered by a lack of Internet access, I’ve been doing a lot of that!

The house we have bought needs a lot of work on it, I’ve been describing it as 1955 house with 1970’s decor. It’s the house that time stood still as far as bathrooms and kitchens are concerned. However, we decided we wanted a project, and we need the room. Why, you cry? Well come January next year there will be an extra person in the Nolan household, and I don’t mean another cat.

Going back to that lack of Internet and TV,  part of me wonders if this is not a bad thing. Richard and I have been down to the pub, been to see friends, actually watched some of the DVDs we own in the last few days, along side the constant need for unpacking. Tonight might actually be the first night we sit down for more than half and hour as I’ve finally unpacked most of it, he has been to work today.

I could do some reading too but seem to be without books, so a trip to the charity shop in Stratford is called for. Hey, maybe we’ll save the extortionate amount we pay to Virgin and stay off the grid. Somehow I don’t think so.

A rant on house buying

Candice: I’m going to go slightly off piste with today’s post, only because this subject has been occupying me for the last three months and it all came to a rather abrupt end last week.

August – put house on market, October – accept offer on house, November – have offer accepted on another house,December – apply for mortgage.  This is when things started to go somewhat awry.

I’m self employed, and in the current world of risk averse banking, that means I am a risk that some mortgage providers don’t want to take.  Fine, so I’ll find someone who will.

December 19 – apply for another mortgage via IFA.

Enjoy Christmas break….

January – spend whole month going back and forth with mortgage company and accountant. “Can we have your books in triplicate, signed by the Queen, and from 1787 onwards.”  Eventually supply everything after many phonecalls and lots of swearing.

Mid January – “You must complete by Jan 31st else we wont buy your house.”  OK, ultimatum from buyers as looks like we are dragging our feet.  However, house we want to buy is going through Probate and they have been late applying.  “You must sort Probate before Jan 31st, else we want compensation.”

January 21st, “Bugger off we’ll sort Probate out when we feel like it.”  Mad dash of trying to find a rental property so we don’t lose our sale.  “Sorry, we don’t take cats.”

Finally, we gave up after many tears and heart break, and me feeling like the world was falling apart as we tried to keep it all together to maintain the chain.

Is it me or if the English house buying process a bit f*cked up.  Where else can you spend thousands on searches and surveys and then it fall apart at the last hurdle?

I’m sure I’ll find a story in here somewhere but at the moment it is all too raw.