Mary's house

My dear friend Mary Corneliussen's charismatic little house in Princeton NJ

MMIL21

Its back to square one with the move but not the whole way back. The bung has been sold, a chapter closes. There have been 3 new viewings of the old house, optimism is maintained yet there has to be a rethink; nothing stays the same.
The past 3 months has taught us all a great deal. Though trusting in our actions to archive an outcome we all thought was for the best, it turns out that MMIL is now of a different mind. Having got so close to a new life she now realises what she has, she wants to hold. Sell the house yes, but she wants to stay local, attached to the familiar; enough to suffer the upheaval of moving to a new house, but not a whole new landscape and orientation, to hear a different tongue, speak new place names, embrace the UNfamiliar.

Now MMIL has her own energy, she's scouting near at hand for what she wants. Her phone is hot from enquiring of agents. In her little blue car she's measuring distance in time from her doctor dentist and doughnut shop, assessing the gradients for using her scooter, looking for views, 22mm double glazing and minimum maintenance. MMIL's remarkable once again.

MMIL has outlived this BLOG; it too must move on.
If you have been, thanks for reading.

Birmingham School of Art

Birmingham School of Art, by Chamberlain and Martin, built in 1985 and extended in 1892.
Red brick Victorian Gothic.

MMIL20

Twenty is a good round wholesome number: 20 friends is adequate, 20 pounds is a goodly amount, 20's a good age to be,  20 tunes would be better than 8 on Desert Island Discs, 20 is a score!
MMIL20 turns out to be  propitious.
Two positions revelled themselves: pressure was asserted on the buyer with the veiled threat of taking the property off the market, giving him until Friday 3rd Feb as the date for exchange of contract thereby enabling us to secure the bung and generate momentum. At the same time we realised that our constant intervention over the past month had achieved nothing tangible - if we had done nothing, we would be exactly where we are now, with nothing.
Portentous....mmmm.
Throughout the week we tried not to think of the move. We had done all we could. We need to let go; carry-on with the things we do, cast off the yoke, free to be ourselves.
On Friday, yesterday, we expected the call after 4 months of grind and it duly arrived but not how we expected.
The buyer informed us he's pulling out; he's been diagnosed with cancer.

Obelisk at Chase End Malvern commemorating the first Earl of Somers, Eastnor Castle

MMIL19

Isn't It just so true: if you stir things up, change the established order of things, agitate a bit, you bring out the worst in things (people) No hornets nest will remain benign if you hit it with a shovel; you'll get stung! Mr B, the attached neighbour of MMIL occupies that hornets nest! Pillar of local society is Mr B, comfortably off, owns shops you know, and his arse has graced many a local committee, making decisions on behalf of others, altruistic to a fault. Mmmmm Since he got wind of the sale he's been busy, not as you might expect, making sure MMIL interests are being served. No, he's been doing his level best to get anything he can out of her before she leaves. After countless years of peaceful coexistence he's become Mr B!- read, Hornet. I grant him instant Kama. The sale of MMIL's house has agitated the status quo, disturbed the peace and angered Mr Bee. Already he's had the shared chimney repointed at MMIL's expense blaming recent stormy weather, now the garden party-wall is suddenly in a dangerous condition and a bill of £1700 has appeared, being half the cost of the work. Not such a nice man as MMIL thought. The demand, not discussed with MMIL but delivered by hand to her solicitor. Not hard for him to find out which local legal MMIL was instructing! He's clearly intent upon screwing as much out of MMIL as he can before the sale is completed. Hopefully, it won't be long now....the long awaited boiler certificates have arrived and we're asking that this coming Friday should be the day everything can be stitched up.....do I sound optimistic? We'll see; I seem to have aged since lasts we met!

MMIL ( My Mother-In-Law)18

We feel like we're in the middle of a train wreck with The Move. MMIL's being shielded from the anxiety that besets us. The Bung has been put back on the market while the selling of the big house grinds ever slower as suspicions proliferate. We'll be upset to lose the bung while the legal boys fail to react to the sense of concern, tossing irrelevant questions to and fro and not responding to communications.
An in-law discovered quite by accident that the purchaser has submitted a planning permission for major extensions and a swimming pool; we suspect they might be on a go-slow while they test the water.
'Bit sad really since so much careful work is being done to make sure MMIL survives the courageous decision she's made to move away from home and hearth in good spirit and good health.
We are at the mercy of circumstance, but hang on dearly to a sliver of optimism.

MMIL is keeping up her spirits by visiting the TIP every day! I suspect very soon, she'll be lifting the floorboards.