eBay Snakes And Ladders

If you've been following this blog lately you'll know that, after being inspired by shows like Antiques Road Trip and Bargain Hunt we've been seeing if we can do any better than the people on the telly.  After my first week when I managed to make about £100 profit (not taking the cost of fuel and admissions to antique fairs into account), I was sufficiently upbeat to give it another try and I am now selling another seven bits and pieces. Four were bought on eBay for a total of £43 and the other three are from my own collection and cost me £110 which means a total outlay of £153. At the moment bidding is up to £78 so I am technically £80 down but I am confident that with the numbers watching the items I should move into profit by next weekend when the sales end.

But it really is like a game of snakes and ladders. Last week I found this beautiful Stilton Dish made by Dudson in around 1890 and worth two or three hundred pounds. The eBay seller made a mistake in the listing and I managed to buy it for £31 including carriage. I was pleased with the buy as we do a bit of entertaining and I thought that we might actually keep this for serving cheese to guests. So fortunes were heading up the ladder.

But then it arrived and it was onto a snake. Okay the seller refunded me immediately but why didn't he put FRAGILE on the box and wrap it carefully? 

Then there was this interesting little figurine. I am not sure if it is anything or not but it was worth a punt at £14. Now the seller tells me that she is so busy that she can't post it so she has refunded me. Marvellous! It's not as if finding these things takes a couple of minutes - I've probably looked at over a thousand items for every one that I have made a bid on. So that's another snake.

Then this little cream boat arrived. It cost £76 but I think it's rather special and dates from about 1760. I've got high hopes for this one. I will wait and see how the other bits and pieces sell before I put it up for sale but perhaps I'm back on a ladder.

I don't think that I will be doing this Lovejoy stuff for long but I have enjoyed it immensely. It's a bit like a treasure hunt. We've driven to a few antique fairs and visited antique centres as far afield as Long Melford and Clare. The problem is that, if I start making profits, I'm running a business and I'm retired now and I really can't be bothered with all the tax returns etc.

All that driving around is thirsty work so we've become coffee shop aficionados and few days are complete without a visit to one. So a special mention to Tiffins in Long Melford for some excellent coffee and cake.

And, again, to the wonderful Pump St Bakery in Orford where we went yesterday. 

And not forgetting Framlingham's finest The Dancing Goat where they kindly tolerate my hogging a table until I've finished the crossword (although we would always leave if there were no seats available for other customers).

Today we've been spoiling ourselves a bit. Leo's Deli opened at ten this morning and we bought some fabulous Pump St Bakery pastries for breakfast and then we enjoyed some excellent Orford lobster from Pinney's washed down with a very fine bottle of white wine from our old friends at Whalley Wine shop. This retirement's not such a bad idea you know.

Say It With Showers

I was going to walk down with Marion to The Dancing Goat this afternoon for a coffee and a cake. We've been there a lot lately as we find it very cosy and the coffee's very good too.But I'm afraid that, even the thought of The Dancing Goat's delicious home made cakes and their new wood burner couldn't get me out of the house this afternoon. I'm as upbeat and optimistic a person as you could ever meet and I know that most of the country is in the same boat (no pun intended) but even I am running out of positive spin to put on the situation other than "at least we're not flooded".  We've got dinner booked at The Crown for Valentine's night so we'll have to go out later but instead of a nice dress I think that Marion will be kitted out in wellies and a sou'wester. 

For a (rather unusual) Valentine's gift I bought Marion this lovely little driftwood art sculpture of the owl and the pussycat from Theatre antiques in Framlingham. It's a delightful little item and both owl and puss are beautifully painted and full of character. I've been trying to work out who the artist is but despite manipulating in photoshop (see below) I haven't been able to decipher it.

If you can read it please get in touch as I would love to see other work by the artist.

I also bought two tickets to see King Lear at The National Theatre as another Valentine gift. Now if you know how much I love King Lear you will appreciate what a selfless and loving gift this is.

Once the weekend is over it's going to be all systems go in preparation for seeing our Scottish granddaughters. This new buggy arrived from Amazon yesterday along with various other baby and toddler necessities. We're meeting Sarah in London on Thursday and staying with her to babysit while she completes her Baby And Toddler Yoga instructors' course  in Brixton. She's then going to join us and see Framlingham for the first time so we're looking forward to showing her around - Marion's on Amazon now looking for a canoe.

I had planned to go and watch the big match here in Framlingham tomorrow.It's the quarter final of the Bob Coleman Cup and the Castlemen are playing Ipswich Valley Rangers. I somehow doubt that the match will be on. My neighbour Bernard keeps the pitch in fantastic condition but I somehow doubt that even he could pull this one off.

Fed Up In Framlingham

Don't get me wrong, we love it here in our new home town but we've been in the house for five weeks tomorrow and we've still got an endless stream of workers and delivery people beating their path to the door. We pity the neighbours who have had to put up with over seven months of this now. It would be good if we could see the light at the end of the tunnel but things don't seem to move as quickly as we're used to and I can't see us actually being settled until the end of April.

Marion's having a potting shed built in the garden. It's a really nice little shed designed in the style of a Southwold beach hut. The men from Anson Timberworks started to erect it on Friday and returned on Saturday but then asked if they could come back on Sunday. We didn't think that we should put our neighbours through another day of hammering and sawing so we politely declined - a decision which we now discover means that they can't come back to finish it until Saturday.

Today was the turn of the curtain fitters who came and fitted Roman Blinds in the dining area, hall and two bathrooms, voiles in our bedroom and curtains in the spare bedroom They also fitted curtain track in the kitchen but now have to go back and make the curtains and blinds for that area so that's another visit next week. We've got Orwells coming on Wednesday to fit the splash back which will mean that the kitchen will finally be finished after starting on 8 December (not quite there are still those curtains I just mentioned).

On Thursday we've got a dressing table and bedside cabinets coming for the spare bedroom.

Meanwhile landscape gardener Tony continues to slog away in the garden. He reckons that we'll see good progress next week after weeks of groundwork. The decking is coming on Friday and paths should be in place later this week. We've still got two fences, the whole of the front garden and resurfacing of the drive to be done in March and then, when all that is done, the garden has to be planted and the exterior of the house has to be decorated.

We did lots of work on our last house and had the similar experience of dust, noise and a house full of workers but in those days we had the luxury of going to work and leaving them to it. Now, retired and not wanting to be at home, we find ourselves escaping by making regular trips to The Dancing Goat, The Crown, The Station and the gym at Ufford Park to keep ourselves out of the chaos.

The new garden office was scheduled to arrive today - it didn't.

On a positive note, we're finally getting the hang of the wood burning stove.

We Made It

With all the weather scares on the TV and radio on Sunday we were really worried about the five hundred (and seven) mile drive from St Andrews yesterday but it actually ran pretty smoothly and it was only towards the end of the journey when Marion was driving (typical of her luck) that the blizzard conditions arrived. But we managed to get through the heavy snow in Cambridgeshire quite easily and it only started snowing in Framlingham as we arrived - was this some sort of omen?

After unpacking I walked down to the Co-Op to find something to eat. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground and big snowflakes were falling. The church looked quite beautiful in the snow and, despite the cold, the town centre felt very welcoming. We went back to the Co-Op this morning to stock up on cleaning supplies. I said that I didn't expect the builder's definition of clean to meet our own and I wasn't wrong and Marion's forty quid's worth of supplies were probably only just enough.

We got to work on the upstairs. The shower screen from Majestic Showers supplied by the excellent Boundary Bathrooms (of whom more in a future blog when I get around to handing out praise for those involved in the project) had been fitted but had enough fingerprints to keep a team of detectives in work for a month. Although we had been promised that the whole of the upstairs would be complete the electrician still hadn't finished off the extractor - it's only a five minute job to put on a grille he says. (So why didn't he do it in the last two weeks?).

The Sylka carpet in our bedroom is in place and looks fantastic. I've never known a carpet with such a luxurious feel. The curtains are going up tomorrow so that room will be finished. We cleaned all the upstairs rooms today and, apart from a few bits of touching up needed with the decorating and that grille, upstairs is all ready for us to move in.

I wish I could say the same for the downstairs. Although the kitchen fitters have made plenty of progress, the kitchen/dining room still looks like a building site.

As does the lounge. Tomorrow there are curtains going up, the wallpapering is being finished and there's cladding to go on the corner pillar and then we have to clean the floor as, believe it or not, the removal van arrives on Thursday and they have somehow got to deliver everything around this.

The view from the back of the house is still beautiful and remains the main reason for buying the house. No doubt there will be a planning application for a housing estate as soon as we're finished.

The landscape gardener was busy all day with a digger in the garden. He's concerned about the non-arrival of the office. We've finally given up on the supplier and have demanded our money back. While we are waiting for it we have to find the same sum again to pay someone else to do it. 

After all the hard work we had a well earned rest at The Dancing Goat, the lovely little cafe in the heart of the town. We had a couple of delicious paninis and some hot drinks in front of the fire - an excellent end to a very busy day. As I write, glutton for punishment Marion has gone to try a couple of exercise classes held in the local school sports centre - as she says, the sooner she gets to know people and her way around, the better.

Decisions Decisions

As our relocation week in Suffolk draws to a close I want to start today's blog with a word of thanks to David and Lyn, owners of the lovely little Barn Cottage in Framlingham where we've been based. It's a great little self-catering cottage that has been designed with every attention to detail and is equipped to a very high standard. It's perfectly located for Framlingham and nearby attractions and we would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a break in the area. You can find details of the cottage on their website BY CLICKING HERE

After five days of research we had a well earned day off yesterday and went for a walk in the surrounding countryside. The local council provides a pack of cards printed with ten different walks each of about five miles and, with the sun cracking the flags, it felt like an early summer's day rather than mid February. It was a relaxing stroll after what had been, both physically and mentally, a strenuous six days. 

Our walk ended in the lovely market square where we've enjoyed regular coffee and cakes throughout the week at the Dancing Goat Cafe which has a really nice buzz to it. 


It hasn't been a wasted week. We've decided that Framlingham is a perfect place to relocate to and it's little surprise that it has scored highly on a number of lifestyle surveys being friendly, attractive, well located for both coast and country and close enough to London for us to be able to visit Paul and Josephine more often  (sorry kids).  


The negatives are that old properties within easy walking distance of the town centre have no parking (if any were for sale) whereas the rooms in brand new properties seemed extremely small. We found a house about thirty years old that is in a perfect location with extensive views across fields. It completely lacks the character of our house in Southport and needs a new kitchen, bathroom, en suite, downstairs toilet and windows but the garden is south facing and, with Marion's brilliant eye for home improvements, we shouldn't rule it out completely. Even with massive (and I mean massive) improvements we could possibly have change from the sale of our house. 


We've certainly got plenty to talk about on the long drive home.