Elfstone
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Some of you will know that I put my house here on the East side of the Highlands (my home for the last 20 years) on the market at the beginning of June. Well, here I am all these months later and not a single soul has been to see my beautiful home!! That being the case - and of course the financial strain of supporting 2 properties on a pension is really beginning to bite - I have decided to let it. In this part of the world apparently lots of people are now being offered 6 month contracts and I can understand why no one would want to commit to buying in those circumstances. When I spoke to the estate agent just over a week ago she was hopeful about letting and so I set the whole process in motion. Yesterday afternoon I had a phone call from her to say that a couple from further North are wanting to rent it, with a view to buying it when they have raised the deposit!! (He has just been given a permanent contract locally.) They want to come south to see it and she is hoping to arrange that next week, while I am here.

Meanwhile, I had in any case decided - quite suddenly 3 weeks ago - to make the big move to the cottage. I want to have all my own belongings and furniture and so on over there, and I really want to live there - not be divided between 2 sides of the country! So the removal is booked for 25th/26th November - that's 2 weeks on Monday - and I am now living in a guddle of boxes and lists and bubble-wrap and tissue paper! It's sod's law really - I have kept the house pristine for weeks and months now and these people are going to see it in the worst mess it's been in since I moved here 20 years ago!

I will, at some point quite soon, have to switch off this computer and box it for transit. I'm really not sure how long it will take me to unpack it and set it up; I can't say it will be a priority and I have to re-build the computer desk first anyway. So there will be a week, possibly more, when I will be disconnected. I'm hoping that setting up broadband there will be straight forward.

I have heard that moving house is right up there with death and divorce as the most stressful event life can fling at you .....


I think that's probably right!!

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larrymurk
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Thanks for the update Elf. Good luck with your move.

I hope the renting works out and they buy your place eventually.

Elfstone
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larrymurk wrote:
Thanks for the update Elf. Good luck with your move.

I hope the renting works out and they buy your place eventually.

Grateful thanks larry!

I'm up to the eyes in packing at the moment and don't have much time for web sites - just when I'm grabbing a cup of coffee.
I also hope fervently that the renting works - it will make such a difference. Life will be so much better when I am settled across in the West!

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Tim
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Good luck with moving.

With a bit of (bad) luck I should be moving this year too. And I can only agree that it's a lot of work.

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Elfstone
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Tim wrote: Good luck with moving.

thank you - I think I need (good) luck at the moment!

Tim wrote: With a bit of (bad) luck I should be moving this year too. And I can only agree that it's a lot of work.

Oh it certainly is - I'm disappearing under boxes!!!

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Tuttle
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Good luck indeed. I moved out of home and 750km away at the start of September, and while I didn't end up buried in boxes (if it didn't fit in my car, it didn't make the trip), I've been experiencing the joys of setting things up anew. Hopefully it takes BT less than 6 weeks to connect your phone line, for instance. If you haven't already arranged for the broadband connection, I'd definitely make a phone call now since you have a definite moving date.

Elfstone
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Tuttle wrote: Good luck indeed. I moved out of home and 750km away at the start of September, and while I didn't end up buried in boxes (if it didn't fit in my car, it didn't make the trip), I've been experiencing the joys of setting things up anew.

- yes that's the good bit! I'm looking forward to it.

Tuttle wrote: Hopefully it takes BT less than 6 weeks to connect your phone line, for instance. If you haven't already arranged for the broadband connection, I'd definitely make a phone call now since you have a definite moving date.

Aha! thanks for the reminder - something I haven't done yet.

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Elfstone
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Hmmm - they didn't take the house, in fact they didn't get as far as visiting. The following day I had another call from the agent saying that they wanted to rent my home for a year (until they saved for their deposit), but they wanted the house taken off the market meantime! They also did not want anyone viewing while they were here. Not acceptable!

Now the move to Raasay is imminent. The removal men arrive at 8.30 on Monday morning and by 2.30 Tuesday afternoon I should be sitting amongst a large number of boxes in my cottage, wondering where on earth I start to unpack. This past week or so has been exhausting. I had forgotten what it is like to be stressed and my house no longer seems to be my house - boxes everywhere and pictures down off the walls .... ghastly!

Tomorrow morning I will have to switch off this computer and box it up for transit. So no more lurking/posting/chatting for a while. Rebuilding the computer desk will not be a priority over there and until that's done I will not be able to un-pack the computer and re-connect to the web. My ISP tells me that everything is set up (thanks for that reminder Tuttle) and I should be able - when the time comes - to just plug in, switch on and you should all be be exactly where I left you!!

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Elfstone
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*tip-toes in, peers around, takes a big breath..*

I'm back!!

.. and I'm flitted, and I'm exhausted, and I've just unpacked this (computer) and switched it on and - Hey Presto!! - it's working!

It was horribly stressful and hard work in spite of the fact that almost everything went very smoothly. I say "almost" because my wardrobe (my Gran's which my Grandparents bought when they were married in 1919) would not go up and round the corner at the top of the stairs. Cue wobbly moment, but one has to be sensible about these things, so it has gone to Blythswood.

Unfortunately a couple of days later, whilst still unpacking the mountain of boxes, I went down with a really bad cold; the weekend was a wash out, I could do nothing and it was only really yesterday that I felt I had some energy. I still have all of my books to unpack and I can't do that until I have the book shelves up on the wall, but I think I'm seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel.

I can't promise to be in the site much - if you could see this study/dining room you'd understand immediately - but it is good to be connected to the world (and Caravel) again.

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FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

Tim
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Get well soon!

(And no, I guess I won't be moving very soon, at least not this year. But I'm sure I will sometime next year.)

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Elfstone
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Elfstone wrote:
Some of you will know that I put my house here on the East side of the Highlands (my home for the last 20 years) on the market at the beginning of June. Well, here I am all these months later and not a single soul has been to see my beautiful home!!

... and all of a sudden IT'S SOOOOOOOLLLD!!!

I have sold my house!!! It's the best news since .. since .. oh I don't know, but it is wonderful. At the moment it is a verbal agreement and of course I will sleep much easier once the papers are signed, but ...



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larrymurk
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Congrats, that's great news!

mrimer
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Yay! That must be quite a relief. Congratulations!

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I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

Elfstone
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Addendum post scriptum (that's sort of posh for 'sorry for the bump' )

Well ... it's done.

The sale was settled and the house changed hands yesterday morning. I had a frantic 24hours or so, heading back through there on Thursday and overseeing the removal, by a Charity, of everything that was left - furniture, lamps, kitchen equipment, crockery.

Then I had a party! .... in an empty house! I had asked my guests to bring chairs and we used paper plates and cups and a friend brought a dozen wine glasses for the bubbly. It was great fun and I was so glad I had decided to do it. Nobody seemed to mind the lack of furniture. I wasn't away to bed (I had kept a wee folding bed) until well after midnight (very late for an old lady!) and didn't sleep terribly well.

In the morning the last minute cleaning and packing of what was left - including the folding bed. One last check around to make sure that I hadn't left anything, then locked the door and drove away. I took the folding bed to another charity then waited in a carpark close to the Estate Agent - and waited - and eventually at 10.30 my solicitor phoned to say that the money had come through and I could hand the key in.

Driving away I felt .. nothing; neither sad nor elated, just nothing, but by the time I was back here in Raasay I felt pretty dreadful. I was exhausted in that drained, washed out way, to the extent that I didn't empty the car (still haven't) and - unusually - I slumped in front of the TV and watched I know not what.

And that's it done.

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FAPCA - Technical Design Excellence in Layout and Aesthetics

larrymurk
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Congrats, I'm so happy for you that the sale finally went through. Hopefully that'll be one less thing to worry about.

Someone Else
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Yay! Here's to a much more relaxing time.

mrimer
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Congratulations on everything working out!

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.