By the time you read this post, we will hopefully nearly have internet in the house, even if it is just a temporary solution. Crossing my fingers that nothing else goes wrong!
Never moving again…
…well, at least until we have to leave Newcastle, if/when that ever happens.
The last week has been completely insane, with everything that could get complicated getting complicated. The snow just hasn’t let up all week, meaning that various workmen have had trouble getting to us and we’ve had to reorganise things. A particularly dopey delivery driver tried to deliver my new Pandora charm (a treat to myself for getting the move done) to the wrong address, meaning I had to go trekking out in the snow to try and find the tiny corner shop two miles away where UPS leave undelivered parcels.
Meanwhile, our phone, TV and internet, which was scheduled to be reconnected today, now can’t be, because the previous residents never bothered to inform their phone company that they were leaving the property, and so BT are having to do complicated legal stuff before they can get us connected (and didn’t bother to inform us of this prior to Geth calling them up today). As a result, we’re now having to buy a temporary internet hub for the house to last us for the 10 days it apparently could take for this to get sorted out.
In more positive news, the carpet cleaning guy was at least able to show up on Wednesday, so our upstairs carpets are now clean, and we’ll hopefully be able to get the walls painted next week with help from my dad and his knowledge of house paint. After that, I can get the furniture finalised in the upstairs bedrooms and finally start getting stuff unpacked. It will all be okay – I just need to stick to the steps of my plan.
Also, I really hope this snow disappears soon, preferably until next winter.
2018 Ciders #11: M&S Devon Farmhouse Cider Medium Dry
As the last week has been so insane with the move, I’ve been drinking a bit more cider than I really should. This was another of my birthday ciders, which I had on Saturday night after a few glasses of prosecco.
I was a little out of it (moving day had been a long day and the prosecco went straight to my head), but I do remember it having a vaguely similar taste to Breton cider, which is no bad thing.
Phone Box Thursday: Front Street, Tynemouth
I have a few pictures of this phone box, which I consider one of my ‘local’ red phone boxes as I can get there on the Metro; Newcastle itself doesn’t have any red phone boxes (other than the mystery derelict one in Gosforth that I have never managed to find), but there are plenty in other areas of Tyneside and Wearside. The first photo I have of it was taken by my dad when my parents were out exploring the area on their first visit to see us here:
(Coordinates 55°01’75.1″N, 1°42’47.0″W.)
The phone box has since been taken over by BT’s Adopt-a-Kiosk scheme, and is now an art installation. Good to see it getting some love.
Update February 2022: coordinates added. This box was still standing as of April 2018 – hope to visit it again soon! (Updated post here.)
Goodbye old house
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.
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
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.
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
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…
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
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.