Month: February 2018

Goodbye old house

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By the time you read this, Geth and I will be (finally!) fully moved into our new place, with all of our stuff, and will have gone to the letting agency to hand back the keys to the old house.

Partial solar eclipse
A picture I took of the solar eclipse on 20th March 2015, the first morning we woke up in this house. I remember standing in the front doorway to watch the eclipse.

The chaos of moving the last lot of stuff (still ongoing as I write this) will be over, and I will be firmly focused on the future.  I wrote a 2,000-word document the other night detailing my plans for the new house, and though it will be a lot of work, I am starting to get really excited about it.

I am sad to leave the old place.  It was the first actual house I’d ever lived in (I’d always been in flats previously), and I will miss its spacious Victorian rooms (if not the cleaning that went along with it).  But I know that within a few months, I’ll be fully used to the new place, and will see it as my home and workplace.

I do wonder how long it will take us to stop automatically heading back to our old house when we’ve had a few pints in the pub, though.

The snow is here

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So the snow that put me off hiring a car for today arrived overnight.  Half a foot of it.  It’s very pretty, but a) I’ve been sick of winter for six weeks already and b) it’s very badly timed for us.

Snow-laden garden
A bunch of stuff in my new garden that I hadn’t even looked at until a load of snow fell on it.

We were awake at half past six, which was probably for the best, given that the fridge-freezer delivery guys showed up at seven on the dot.  I had to go back to the old house to wait in for the van man and finish off all my online tasks given that we’re going to be internet-less (shudder) for a couple of days; unfortunately, I soon got a call from the van man to let me know that he wouldn’t be able to make it today because of the snow.  It’s possible that he could manage tomorrow, but it’s looking unlikely, given that tomorrow’s snow is meant to be even worse.

Geth had a bit more luck this morning, as both the washing machine delivery guys and the locksmith apparently showed up without any problems, so we now have a shiny new fridge-freezer and washing machine sitting next to each other in the garage, and new locks for our exterior doors.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of van man and the fact that the carpet cleaning people are coming to the old house tomorrow morning, we’re going to have to spend the rest of today getting our remaining stuff across to the new house, somehow.  Geth is going to walk back and forth with as much of it as possible, and then hopefully we’ll be able to fit the rest in a taxi, even if it takes us a few trips.

I know from bitter experience that moving is never straightforward, but this move really is taking the cake.

Another cleaning update

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Cleaning is done!  Finishing it took all day though.  I’ve also boxed up all our remaining stuff for the van people coming tomorrow.  After that, it’s just a few things to finish off on Wednesday, and then we’ll be fully moved out of our old house.  Scary, exciting and also kind of sad – I am going to miss this place.

I will be throwing myself into the enormous project that is the new house though.  I’m not sure I’ll get much else done this year!

Cleaning the old house…

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The moving process is progressing smoothly!  Even if I am still having occasional panic attacks about OH GOD BUT ALL THE STUFF.

We started the cleaning of our old house today.  It’s amazing how much easier a place is to clean when it’s empty.  We should be done with that by the end of tomorrow and then the carpet cleaning specialist will be arriving on Wednesday to finish off the job.

The original plan was to hire a car to get the rest of our stuff over to the new place, but of course it’s forecast to snow heavily on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Of course it is.  I’m not super confident about driving at the moment as I’m out of practice, and I really don’t want to drive in the snow, so we’ve decided to hire a man with a van and get it all done in one go Tuesday lunchtime before the snow really hits.  After that, it’s just the wi-fi and phone connection stuff to pick up (we can’t get connected at the new place until Friday, so we’re eking out our internet access at the old place for as long as possible).

I’m going to be cooking in the new kitchen for the first time tonight, and then write down my plan for how the storage is all going to work.  The amount of work the new place needs is still pretty daunting, but I’m starting to feel a bit more positive about it.

New house day

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We got the keys to the new house today!

…and it’s going to need a lot of cleaning.  And painting.  And we’re going to have to get rid of a lot of furniture and a lot of stuff because there’s just no room for it in the new place.

It’s going to be a lot of work, and Geth and I are both feeling a bit overwhelmed and deflated.  It’ll be lovely…eventually.  There’s just going to be so much to do.

Phone Box Thursday: Guildhall Road, Northampton

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I did some phone box hunting while in Northampton on Hallowe’en 2015 for a wedding:

Red phone box
Red phone box, Guildhall Road, Northampton, 31st October 2015.

(Coordinates 52°23’69.1″N, 0°89’44.6″W.)

You can’t really see from this picture, but when I was on Google Street View to find out the name of the street, I realised that there’s actually another phone box behind this one.  Next time I’m in Northampton I’ll make sure to take a picture of the both of them!

Update February 2022: added coordinates.  This box and its shy twin were still standing as of November 2020.

Yet another packing update

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No recipe this week, ’cause I’ve been packing boxes all day long and haven’t been very hungry.

There’s still a few areas of the house to pack, but today I really feel like I’ve broken the back of it.  Just a couple of hours more packing after I’ve finished work tomorrow and I think I’ll be mainly done.  There’s a few loose things that we’ll be carrying over to the new place ourselves after we get the keys on Friday, and then we’ll be all set for moving day on Saturday.

A few days ago, I was wondering how on earth we’d ever get it done on time, but between me and Geth we’ve done really well this week.  I’m getting really excited about getting it all unpacked and finding places for it in the new house!

2018 Ciders #10: Friels

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Friels was another of my birthday ciders that I had about a week and a half ago.  I then had a couple of pints of the stuff at my local last Thursday and it knocked me out a bit; it’s pretty strong stuff and having lost a lot of weight my alcohol tolerance is a long way from what it used to be.  It’s nice stuff though.

Friels
Friels.

The taste is perfectly medium in my book, with the apple flavour very strong.  I do enjoy it, but given the aforementioned reduced tolerance I’m going to have to be careful with stronger ciders from now on if I’m having more than just the one.

The day job

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I’ve just finished work for the day, at nearly nine in the evening.  Freelancing can be like that sometimes.

I’ll never complain about it though (well, hardly ever…).  Being in charge of my own time, organising everything myself, liaising with clients on my own terms, being able to work from home – all of that is bliss for me, as I’m a control freak, a hermit, and someone who likes a lie-in.  No, it’s not the best paid job in the world, and I can’t guarantee that heavy work periods will happen at times convenient to me (they almost never do!) but it suits me down to the ground.

Lots of the stuff I read as part of my editing job is absolutely fascinating.  I mainly work for academics, and they all have really interesting niches, usually in history or social science.  I love obscure information about subjects you would never normally think of, and boy oh boy have I learnt a lot of obscure information in the course of my job.

I’m pretty sleepy now after working all day.  But the plus side is that I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  Swings and roundabouts!