The Countdown Begins

Well it's not just one countdown that's beginning at the moment - there are about four.

Our second grandchild is due in early August but we've been told that there's a good chance that the baby will arrive before then so the clock's starting to tick and we're getting very excited about welcoming her into the world and are looking forward to buying a new pram and lots of the other little bits and pieces that go with newborn babies.

Countdown number two is really Paul and Josephine's; they're buying a new house in beautiful Rochester with it's fabulous Cathedral, super Norman castle and speedy rail links to central London. They haven't exchanged contracts yet but we're hoping it's imminent and, as soon as the paperwork goes through, we're looking forward to going down to see the place and help them to move in. If we could tie the date in with the sale of our own place we'll be able to get all the furniture we're giving them delivered - we won't have room for it in our new home. It will be sad to see it all go but we'll be really delighted to see it stay in the family.

I've been working more on the 3D computer program finalising the layout of the house we've bought in Suffolk and seeing where the furniture we have left will fit. We're now counting down the days to when we can start with the alterations. The engineer has done all the structural drawings and the architect has worked on the plans and submitted them to three builders and to the local planning people for building regulations approval so we just have to wait for the builders to come up with their quotes and the planners to give us the green light. The house is much smaller than where we are now but the layout seems to work well on the computer and we hope that we really can make a silk purse out of what is at the moment something of a sow's ear.


Our final countdown is to leaving Southport. We haven't pressed that button yet but when it starts I expect it to come very quickly. We're going to go and live in the caravan in St Andrews (and hopefully spend some time in Rochester too). Look out for my blogs as trailer park trash.


I had a long chat with Paul this morning. We spoke about his hugely successful creation, Sky1's "A League Of their Own" and I felt guilty for not having watched it recently (must do better as a parent). Anyway I was thinking that I haven't embedded many videos on here for a while so here's one from ALOTO. I'm a very proud Dad.