The pressure's up and the wind's been blowing this week. Suddenly the serious side of MMIL's move starts to kick in. MMIL won't make it for christmas, 15 days away, but a signing is expecting 'early in the New Year'. So we'll be trundling up north for the last time (at chrimbo) mostly to affect a MASSIVE sort out - stuff to be chucked, in the garage, 6 beds, 3 wardrobes, comfy armchairs, extending table, countless occasional furnitures, (several sets of drums - oops), crocks and pots, tired white goods and on and on. Stuff to be saved and shifted south emblazoned with red stickers! (read A Moving Story in the blog).
Now here's a thing. Is it advisable to hire a mover from the point of departure, or the point of arrival? (answers on a post card please)
We're looking out for a blind person too!
January will be mental!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
MMIL9
The saga is entering a critical phase. 2 things have happened:
1. The board outside the old house has been reposted indicating the the house is 'Under Offer'
The prospective purchaser has returned from a visit to the Antipdes and the sale is in motion once
more and hopefully to a conclusion before Christmas (2011)
2. MMIL wants to know if the house clearance people will take the unwanted beds made-up, or does she have to ....well you get the picture. MMIL's got the Marigolds on and is in the nitty-gritties!
1. The board outside the old house has been reposted indicating the the house is 'Under Offer'
The prospective purchaser has returned from a visit to the Antipdes and the sale is in motion once
more and hopefully to a conclusion before Christmas (2011)
2. MMIL wants to know if the house clearance people will take the unwanted beds made-up, or does she have to ....well you get the picture. MMIL's got the Marigolds on and is in the nitty-gritties!
Friday, 2 December 2011
MMIL8
MMIL's an extraordinary person.
We often laugh with her (and without her sometimes) about the silly things and mix-ups she gets into. When such things happen to us, we tend to confess and share it with those around us. Apart from the now twice daily (sometimes 4/5) conversation MMIL has with HerIndoors (HI), MMIL has no one to share things with. I expect she talks to herself most of the time. She's alone but for the phone.
How then does she remain so perky, honest and cheerful enough to read out a joke and chortle at the punchline, which she already knows and to take her gaffs with a pinch of salt. ('Oh well you know me!') and move on?
She remains sane because of those phone calls; it's the hook she hangs her life on. To miss the call, to listen to the answer message, to hear the relentless engaged tone, must be hard to bear.
I understand why MMIL has decided to undertake a house move. She wants to near someone, to share her life; she's decided aloneness isn't what she wants. MMIL has said she's ready and willing to leave, not only the house, but her church, the area and her past with all its memories. That's a scary thing to undertake by anyone!
Inspite of these enormous upheavals, she remains cheeful, positive in her thoughts, excited and enthusiastic about present and future challenges.
I think MMIL is a pretty extraordinary person.
We often laugh with her (and without her sometimes) about the silly things and mix-ups she gets into. When such things happen to us, we tend to confess and share it with those around us. Apart from the now twice daily (sometimes 4/5) conversation MMIL has with HerIndoors (HI), MMIL has no one to share things with. I expect she talks to herself most of the time. She's alone but for the phone.
How then does she remain so perky, honest and cheerful enough to read out a joke and chortle at the punchline, which she already knows and to take her gaffs with a pinch of salt. ('Oh well you know me!') and move on?
She remains sane because of those phone calls; it's the hook she hangs her life on. To miss the call, to listen to the answer message, to hear the relentless engaged tone, must be hard to bear.
I understand why MMIL has decided to undertake a house move. She wants to near someone, to share her life; she's decided aloneness isn't what she wants. MMIL has said she's ready and willing to leave, not only the house, but her church, the area and her past with all its memories. That's a scary thing to undertake by anyone!
Inspite of these enormous upheavals, she remains cheeful, positive in her thoughts, excited and enthusiastic about present and future challenges.
I think MMIL is a pretty extraordinary person.
Monday, 28 November 2011
MMIL 7
It's difficult to climb into the mind-set of someone else, at the the best of times. With MMIL it's like a busy railway junction with trains going in every direction. You want to follow a particular train but find the other person's on a train going in the opposite direction - Try to discuss furnishing a house with MMIL on the other end of a telephone line.....
'I thought you meant the other chair, the one by the TV with the photos on top. OK. You mean the one by the desk in the dining room! Right, well that could fit easily in the room I'm calling the dining room, although, on the 'house particulars', it's called the third bedroom. Of course you'll probably want to use it as a bedroom when the time comes when you can't get up the stairs! Yes we can can move that chair when we reach that stage!!!!'.....and so on......
So
'MMIL, I'm working on a scale drawing of the floor layout with elevations of each wall to show windows. There's squares and rectangles of coloured paper (to scale) that you can shunt around to get an idea where BIG THINGS can go.'
'I think I'll miss the ones that you can use to show where pictures can hang - we're nowhere near deciding about pictures!' (Sigh)
'Yes there is a built-in eyelevel cooker and grill, we talked about that on Saturday and last Wednesday! 'No, it's OK, we can get all the kitchen roll in the back of our car. No, there's no need to order more just yet!'
MMIL seems to be OK now after the little hiccup at church on Sunday....thank the lord!
'I thought you meant the other chair, the one by the TV with the photos on top. OK. You mean the one by the desk in the dining room! Right, well that could fit easily in the room I'm calling the dining room, although, on the 'house particulars', it's called the third bedroom. Of course you'll probably want to use it as a bedroom when the time comes when you can't get up the stairs! Yes we can can move that chair when we reach that stage!!!!'.....and so on......
So
'MMIL, I'm working on a scale drawing of the floor layout with elevations of each wall to show windows. There's squares and rectangles of coloured paper (to scale) that you can shunt around to get an idea where BIG THINGS can go.'
'I think I'll miss the ones that you can use to show where pictures can hang - we're nowhere near deciding about pictures!' (Sigh)
'Yes there is a built-in eyelevel cooker and grill, we talked about that on Saturday and last Wednesday! 'No, it's OK, we can get all the kitchen roll in the back of our car. No, there's no need to order more just yet!'
MMIL seems to be OK now after the little hiccup at church on Sunday....thank the lord!
Friday, 25 November 2011
MMIL6 (My Mother In Law)
The Power of Prayer reveals itself once again.
Many years ago McCathy and Stone acquired a plot a few yards up the road and built 'Ocean Spray', 73 flats for the elderly and dependent. In the process they pile drove (drived) the whole street with such gusto that drains collapsed and cracks appearing in walls of neighbouring houses. To cut a long story short, reparations were made and documents deposited to indicate that all had been restored and the neighbours satisfied to receive a detailed document to confirm all the measures that were taken. Now that the old house is infested with viewers, interested to purchase, it has become necessay, nay mandatory, to find The Document referred to earlier since any surveyor worth his/her fee will want to be satisfied that all remains well.
MMIL is certain 'The Document' is not at the old house, not anywhere. ('McCarthy and Stone will have one won't they') She's searched the whole place, 'top to bottom' without finding it. 'It's a mystery.' MMIL claims.
We suspect she's been too busy ferring the odd glass vase, defunct upright hoover, and scores of RD Free Gifts to the tip, in fact doing ANYTHING to avoid the filing cabinets in the dining room. More pressure is applied and eventually........she finds The Document, yes, in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. MMIL claims it was the 'extra' prayers she offered up that did the trick.
The document has to go the solicitor sometime today. A letter from the Estate Agent (EA) arrives this morning confirmating of the first offer, SUBJECT TO CONTRACT. MMIL is convinced she's home-and-dry. 'So they won't need to see 'The document'. 'There's not much point now is there!'
She's right of course, 'subject to contract!
Many years ago McCathy and Stone acquired a plot a few yards up the road and built 'Ocean Spray', 73 flats for the elderly and dependent. In the process they pile drove (drived) the whole street with such gusto that drains collapsed and cracks appearing in walls of neighbouring houses. To cut a long story short, reparations were made and documents deposited to indicate that all had been restored and the neighbours satisfied to receive a detailed document to confirm all the measures that were taken. Now that the old house is infested with viewers, interested to purchase, it has become necessay, nay mandatory, to find The Document referred to earlier since any surveyor worth his/her fee will want to be satisfied that all remains well.
MMIL is certain 'The Document' is not at the old house, not anywhere. ('McCarthy and Stone will have one won't they') She's searched the whole place, 'top to bottom' without finding it. 'It's a mystery.' MMIL claims.
We suspect she's been too busy ferring the odd glass vase, defunct upright hoover, and scores of RD Free Gifts to the tip, in fact doing ANYTHING to avoid the filing cabinets in the dining room. More pressure is applied and eventually........she finds The Document, yes, in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. MMIL claims it was the 'extra' prayers she offered up that did the trick.
The document has to go the solicitor sometime today. A letter from the Estate Agent (EA) arrives this morning confirmating of the first offer, SUBJECT TO CONTRACT. MMIL is convinced she's home-and-dry. 'So they won't need to see 'The document'. 'There's not much point now is there!'
She's right of course, 'subject to contract!
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
MMIL5
Did you hear that bump? Another offer of the asking price for the old home has been deposited.
MMIL's getting very excited, but feeling a little overwhelmed with the amount of sorting to be done.
We're trying to encourage her to do as much as she can BEFORE moving! MMIL's suggesting she would have more time to bring the stuff down here and THEN sort it!
She has a cupboard full of old Christmas/birthday cards, saved from the last 10 years or so, nothing of value. MMIL's worried about all the shredding she has to do; she says she can't put the cards in for re-cycling because they all have names in - they're pesonal!!
MMIL has this vision of rows of people in some huge warehouse hand-sorting items and being unable to recycle 'personal' cards. She's fastidiously removing all traces of her name on everything she's chucking out. She's right to be careful: her bank have written to her this week to confess that some scum-bag has her credit card details and has been spending freely for the past week or so! I warned her she shouldn't have joined that online poker club!
MMIL's getting very excited, but feeling a little overwhelmed with the amount of sorting to be done.
We're trying to encourage her to do as much as she can BEFORE moving! MMIL's suggesting she would have more time to bring the stuff down here and THEN sort it!
She has a cupboard full of old Christmas/birthday cards, saved from the last 10 years or so, nothing of value. MMIL's worried about all the shredding she has to do; she says she can't put the cards in for re-cycling because they all have names in - they're pesonal!!
MMIL has this vision of rows of people in some huge warehouse hand-sorting items and being unable to recycle 'personal' cards. She's fastidiously removing all traces of her name on everything she's chucking out. She's right to be careful: her bank have written to her this week to confess that some scum-bag has her credit card details and has been spending freely for the past week or so! I warned her she shouldn't have joined that online poker club!
Sunday, 20 November 2011
MMIL4
We can hardly keep up!
Today Sunday, we're just 'going out', going to Cheltenham to the 'German Market' for no other reason than we can. The estate agents are all closed and we need to get out; away from phones, bungalows brochures and viewings. We live two lives. The first and most consumimg is as PA's to MMIL and the other,our own lives, slotted in when time allows. We even discussed MMIL during Strickly-come-Dancing last night!
There's no questioning MMIL's committment. 'Looks like she's favouring the new build bungalow with hot-air exhange, and soft-touch kitchen drawers as standard. She's very brave to move without question to another climatic zone (it rains a lot in Cheshire) another culture (Rugby and Choirs)and language (tongue as in sung, not tongue as in song)
Three viewings at the house yesterday. Asked when she might consider moving, MMIL replied Christmas!
God love her!
Today Sunday, we're just 'going out', going to Cheltenham to the 'German Market' for no other reason than we can. The estate agents are all closed and we need to get out; away from phones, bungalows brochures and viewings. We live two lives. The first and most consumimg is as PA's to MMIL and the other,our own lives, slotted in when time allows. We even discussed MMIL during Strickly-come-Dancing last night!
There's no questioning MMIL's committment. 'Looks like she's favouring the new build bungalow with hot-air exhange, and soft-touch kitchen drawers as standard. She's very brave to move without question to another climatic zone (it rains a lot in Cheshire) another culture (Rugby and Choirs)and language (tongue as in sung, not tongue as in song)
Three viewings at the house yesterday. Asked when she might consider moving, MMIL replied Christmas!
God love her!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)