Phew

I'm sitting with a small glass of brandy beside me as I write this. I think we deserve to wind down after what has been an exhausting week.

We've spent most of it, clearing out  Marion's mum's flat. I snapped this just before closing the door on it for the last time. We've left it very clean and tidy (not difficult as Flo always kept things immaculate). The last job was helping the men from The British Heart Foundation to take away the items of furniture that the purchasers don't want. There were a few display cabinets and a bookcase in fabulous condition and the manager of the charity shop phoned this evening to say how pleased they are with the donation.


I hired a van to take Flo's bed to the care home. Although I only drove it for three or four miles I had to put diesel in as the hire firm left the vehicle virtually empty - so much for picking the bargain hire price. We also enlisted the help of an odd job man, Ian, who has done a few jobs for us recently getting our house shipshape for selling. He put up four shelves in Flo's care home room and, after four hours of fitting the room out with her favourite photos, nick nacks and  ornaments we were ready for the grand unveiling.  Flo hasn't been very well this week; she's been very grumpy, miserable and even uncharacteristically angry. So we weren't expecting an enthusiastic response. However, we were wrong and she was the happiest she's been for ages and delighted to be reunited with her possessions and photos - we gave ourselves a pat on the back.


We're off to Framlingham on Sunday. We've got to discuss the surveyor's findings with the architect and run through the plans we've got for the property we're buying. It should be a pleasant break after a week of stress that's taught us a lot about clutter and how to handle it.

Our next big job is to sell our house. It's supposed to be pretty hard in the property market at the moment so I was surprised when we phoned a highly recommended local estate agent and asked if they would be interested in selling it only to be told that 'yes they would be interested' but they 'can't come to see the house until April 12th'. April 12th! That's almost three weeks. So much for hard times if an estate agent can be so nonchalant about a potential commission of over £4,000. I phoned a couple more agents who can come much sooner. When we were in business our sales team would have leapt at the chance to get a lead like this.


Oh well. We'll wait and see what the other agents come up with. I'll leave you today with a couple of videos. I haven't posted many lately so I've chosen one to amuse our lovely American daughter in law Josephine and another for our equally lovely son Paul.

Back Home. And Preparing To Sell It

We're back home from our Suffolk house hunt. The biggest worry while were away last week was how Marion 's mum Flo was managing without us. Fortunately she had a couple of visitors and she seemed pretty good when we visited her on Saturday and Sunday. We arranged for three of her old friends to come round to our house yesterday for some sausage rolls, cakes, a cup of tea and a glass of sherry. And things went extremely well until Flo needed to use the bathroom. Instead of asking any of us for help she opened the door, slipped and fell with a mighty thud and a nerve shattering scream. To say that we panicked is an understatement; Marion rushed for the phone whilst I, along with Flo's friends and a man who was working on some jobs around the house ran to her aid. Although her dignity and her pride were badly damaged, her head didn't hit any of the bathroom ceramics and, luckily, it simply brushed a wooden floor. Her knees took a nasty knock. Marion didn't call an ambulance as one of Flo's friends was a nurse for donkeys' years and was happy that the injuries didn't warrant a hospital visit. After an hour she was well enough to return to her care home in good enough spirits to be able to share a joke about her tumble. We smiled with her but our stomachs were in knots. Frailty, Alzheimer's and old age are a deadly combination. We visited her again this morning and the nurse from the Memory Clinic joined us. The nurse is pleased with her progress - she has started to settle well in the home.

I mentioned that we had a man at the house to finish off the small jobs that we want tidying up before we put it on the market. Yesterday he repaired the front door, fitted new brassware to it, re-grouted the bathroom and cleaned the conservatory gutters. He's already put new taps in the kitchen and cloakroom and fitted new lights by the front door so, when the decorator has finished repainting a couple of rooms  and we've done our last few jobs of blacking the grate and cleaning the driveway, we'll be ready to put it up for sale. I'm not sure that the £122 to fit a new seal to the washing machine door because it looked a bit manky was taking it a step too far (would you open the washing machine on a house viewing?). I've been taking a few photos in case we decide to try and sell without an agent. I'm tempted by Sarah Beaney's super site Tepilo ( CLICK HERE ) but, having gone through the Zoopla sales figures for Southport for the last twelve months it doesn't look like much is moving so I'm not anticipating a fast sale. Our three previous houses all sold on the day they went on the market (honest truth) but I'm not sure that we're in the same conditions today. We aren't desperate - if we get the house we are interested in it will take a good six months to renovate and we're in the fortunate position of our purchase not being dependent on the sale. 

It's very tempting to try Tepilo - nothing ventured nothing gained. But where does absolutely everyone look before looking anywhere else? That's right, RIGHT MOVE and, so as to avoid upsetting their estate agent customers, they won't accept private sellers (can't blame them really). According to Right Move we have to concentrate on the 3ps Price, Presentation and Promotion. We've got the presentation right so now we need to fix the price and sort the promotion. I reckon that, without an agent, we could ask a price that is a fraction below a very important price break but, with an agent. we would need to go over that important price band in the maximum price menus. Oh well, let's see what happens. Tepilo is happy to allow you to promote through an agent as well. 


They do say that moving is one of the most stressful times of your life and "they" are definitely right.


We're going to get a big water bill. While I've been writing this I left the hose topping up the pond (no we aren't on a ban here) and I forgot about it. If we had any viewings today we'd have to explain that the back is an experimental Japanese water garden or, being green, that we've decided on our own paddy field. Apologies for lack of photo due to slight exaggeration. 

So That's Christmas Over

Well not quite. We've still got all these unopened presents and tomorrow we're off to St Andrews to play Father Christmas and deliver them to our super daughter Sarah, her partner Duncan and our lovely little Granddaughter Rose.

It's difficult to celebrate the big day as one big family now that our kids have their own partners and live at opposite ends of the country. And that's sad in one way but on the positive side we've been able to celebrate twice as we spent Boxing Day and Tuesday visiting Paul and Josephine in London when Josephine's mum Jenny cooked us a fantastic Boxing Day dinner. Although we only had a few days in E14 we crammed a lot into our time and managed to walk from the East End to the South Bank along the Thames Path on Tuesday morning and we enjoyed a meal at Gordon Ramsay's Limehouse pub in the evening.

We had some super Christmas presents. We've got a gift token that will let us see ten films in 2012 before we start paying again and we've a nice selection of wines and some great books too. Perhaps the most fascinating gift is Josephine's. She has treated Paul and me to a weekend of golf tuition in Sussex. It includes an overnight stay and it will be great to spend some time with my son as, living so far apart, I miss him very much. I'm sure that the world of golf will have seen nothing like it before as, other than a few school summer holidays working on the Arnold Palmer crazy golf in Southport I have never picked up a golf club in my life. I'm pretty sure that Paul is equally inexperienced although I doubt that he will be quite as inept as his dad. Fortunately I think that we are only going to be let loose on the golf course for a couple of hours so we won't be able to do too much damage to the immaculate greens and fairways. Who knows, if I find a hidden talent I may be able to book a round next time I'm in Fife.

Marion and I went to Peacehaven on Roe Lane for Christmas dinner. We ate in the dining room with Flo and about forty other old people. We thought that other non-residents might be there but we were the only ones. The staff put in a huge effort and dressed as elves and snowmen and we enjoyed a pleasant meal. It's the first time since our daughter arrived 31 years ago that Marion has not cooked a Christmas dinner and it was certainly a very different Christmas day.

We're not going to stay in the caravan in Scotland this time as we've only got three days in St Andrews and it's not worth setting up the heating and reconnecting the water, gas and electricity for such a short time but we do hope to get back there again before the site closes for February.

Shirley No Mates

I'm sure that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be turning in his grave if he knew that's how his classic detective is referred to in the latest Guy Ritchie interpretation of his work. Along with all sorts of modern anachronisms such as a parkouring Cossack, a tribute to Liu Bolin and a Victorian stag party, this is a film that makes no attempt at creating any semblance of a Victorian atmosphere although, unlike Benedict Cumberbatch's current TV offering, the story is notionally set in 1891. As long as you go to see it forewarned and don't expect any brilliant deduction or hope to guess whodunnit , sit back and enjoy a very enjoyable couple of hours escapism. Jude Law plays straight man Watson to Robert Downey Jnr's manic Holmes in a plot that echoes some of the wilder Bond movies with megalomaniac Professor Moriarty planning to take over the world's weapons supply. It's daft, but visually stunning, with great use of stop motion sequences and a performance from Downey Jnr (with a twinkle in his eye reminiscent of Lovejoy in his prime) that oozes charm. If you've been reading this blog recently, you will know that we've had a fair few problems of late. This piece of pure escapism was the perfect antidote. One negative; the stereotypical depiction of gypsies may have been done for laughs but it was cheap laughs like these that got Jimmy Carr in trouble a couple of years ago and I could have done without it.

It's things like that that get people in trouble nowadays as Liverpool's Luis Suarez found out yesterday. I still have two season tickets at Anfield although my disillusionment with the game is such that I no longer go to matches. I'm divided on the Suarez case. I'm glad that the Football Association took his alleged racism seriously and imposed a swingeing penalty to go with their verdict.  If John Terry is also found guilty, I assume that he will get the same sort of punishment. Was he guilty? Suarez and his supporters argue that  calling someone Negrito is commonplace in Uruguay where it is just a bit of friendly banter. But we are not in Uruguay and it's pretty obvious that when he and Evra were arguing they were not exactly being pally so it's clear that when Suarez used the term he wasn't intending it as a term of endearment. Perhaps an expensive lesson for Liverpool and the role of sacrificial lamb for their player but hopefully a warning for every footballer in the country. Now they just have to sort out the fans who make going to football such a pleasurable event.

I hope you followed my advice and watched the Christmas edition of Rev. It surpassed all expectations with a beautiful study of the trials and tribulations that were Reverend Adam Smallbone's Christmas. This is one of the few comedies that can bring as many tears as it can laughs and, like my other favorite, Modern Family, has a fabulous cast and no weak links. If you missed this make sure that you catch it on BBC iplayer while you can  click here . Adam's Twelve Days Of Christmas should become a future Christmas staple.    

We've just booked our Christmas dinner. For the first time since we can remember, Marion's not going to be cooking a turkey this year and we're off to join Flo at her care home. The food there is very good. It will certainly be different.