Photos and updates of the work we have put in to developing our Victorian home

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

More house related gubbins

I went to Leeds this weekend with my boyfriend to see my sister, but also to view the house i am planning to buy, again. The great news is that my boyfriend likes the property too and can see the great potential in it. There is so much to do but we spoke to the estate agent and know a little more about the other properties in the area now. One opposite has had a loft development and a couple of en suites put in and as a result has increased value to 150,000 (and upto 165,000 in some cases).
Hopefully our plan to get alot of the work done before moving in will work, enabling us to earn what we do for a little longer before jumping in at the deep end.
It's a big change we are facing - buying a house in a city away from where we live currently, finding new jobs and moving in together as a couple. I am certain it is the right thing to do and am a great believer in fate and coincidence, and there have been many on the way, never-the-less i do appreciate the enormity of changes we are about to make.
It's exciting as i feel bored and trapped in my current situation as i can not afford to buy more than a room where i currently live. For at least three years now i have been watching the housing market and felt frustrated by the fact that i haven't been able to afford to continue living where i do now. I am lucky however to have friends and family in other parts of the country and my sister, as i have mentioned before, lives in Leeds. Fortunately I lived in Leeds for a year in the mid-ninetees with her, so i already know some of the area and feel prepared for what is to come. I just hope that my boyfriend will feel as comfortable as i am sure i will there, at least for the time being.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

The world is full of the inept and stupid..

..and i have met 3 of them today.

FFS, i wanna scream!

1) Bad house news - the surveyors decided to call me an hour into the survey to tell me that the price of the survey had gone up £100. I was told i didn't have to agree to pay it, but if i didn't i would have to book another survey through someone else for another day. What makes me angry is that i called the surveyors twice for a quote and on both occasions all they asked me was the number of bedrooms in the property. Now they are telling me that my house is 'bigger than usual'. Derrrrr....!
Because i have had to wait 2 weeks to get this one done, i can't afford to make the vendor wait any longer. I had to say go ahead.

2) I went to the local Peugeot garage to buy a new bulb for the front of my car. Last time i went they fitted it for free so i asked for a fitting. The woman behind the desk was a twit and even had to ask me which model of Peugeot i have....twice! However, despite me asking for a quote and waiting and waiting, the fitting took less ttime than the quote so by the time they had fit it i was still waiting for a quote back. I just got stung £18 for the bulb and fitting. Words fail me, especially as i have been scrimping and saving for so long now i have forgotten what it is like to treat myself.

3) I got back to work after going to the garage. One of the bints from the estate agents over the road had decided to park in the private alleyway that leads to our car park. I just had to go walkies to find out whos car it was and when i found the
woman, she has the audacity to tell me that she wouldn't be long. I had to stop myself screaming at her 'Woman, know your boundaries!'
Estate agents - deal with property and boundaries but conveniently forget all about them when it suits.

THGTTG

To those who know and remember, that acronym isn't the name of a new Chris Evans Friday night show, (thank god). It is of course the 'familiar' way of referring to 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'.
Everyone at our house is very excited about the new film version that will be coming out soon, as directed by Garth Jennings. I have just had a peek at the movie trailer and i have to say that my appetite is whet.
I was concerned, very concerned about how this project would work. I, like everyone, have such strong memories of the series and the books that it seemed that the only possible outcome would be failure. However, it seems to work, more than that, it looks really good!

I was very worried about Mos Def being Ford Prefect as i fondly remember Ford as looking a bit 'Willy Wonka' in a younger, thinner-lipped kind of way. However, Mos seems to embody Ford's 'cool' and fit the part very well indeed.
Marvin looks like a large scale 'Ratchet', (from 'Ratchet and Clank' the computer game), we shall just have to see whether Alan Rickman's voice breathes more life into him.
Martin Freeman also looks great as Arthur Dent, although he seems to lack a bit of the phrenetic energy that Simon Jones offered in the first. Maybe the idea of Earth being demolished for an alien superhighway isn't as scary as it once was which could be the reason for Freeman's 'stoner' attitude.
All this said, i can't wait to see it.

Yippppeeeeeee :)

View Trailer Here

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

:(

Why do periods hurt so much?
I can't believe that childbirth could be any worse.
I was woken up in the middle of the night by pain.
It was so bad i had to get up and take some painkillers. By the time i had climbed back into bed i was wide awake AND in pain. I think i must have laid there until about seven before i fell back to sleep, only for my alarm to go off again twenty minutes later.
I feel like crap, need more painkillers and am really tired.
Sometimes being a woman is rubbish.

Monday, February 14, 2005

It's Valentine's day

I got a very lovely card off my boyfriend today.
He made it himself. (Photo later).
The card has a 'handmade paper' red heart on it, but when you open it, inside there is a pop-up model of Domo Kun holding a card, with a ‘ handmade paper’ heart on it. And, you guessed it, inside his card is Domo-Kun holding another card with a heart on it.
It is very clever and very lovely.
Yay x

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Thursday, February 10, 2005

Pikea

I wasn't surprised to hear this morning that there had been mayhem and a stabbing at the new Edmonton branch of Ikea that opened last night.
I used to visit Walthamstow, which is near to Edmonton, quite frequently a few years back and i always remarked on the number of chavs in the area who dressed their kids in 'Duffer St George' hoodies and wore nothing but designer labels themselves, yet looked like they didn't have two pennies to rub together. I was in no doubt that all their togs were from TK Maxx and they hadn't paid full price for them. They were all 'fur coat and no knickers' types - spoke like fishwives but pertained to be footballers wives.

Which is why the opening offers at Ikea were a very BAD idea. Leather sofas for £45. Did they really expect there not to be blood shed? Ikea bosses obviously hadn't done their market research properly. I mean, come on, how many people would abandon their cars on one of London's busiest roads just to get to a furniture shop??

Now that didn't happen at the Croydon opening of Ikea :)

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Green

One of the most exciting things about the house I am buying is the fact it has a garden. I love gardening, it’s a legacy from my parents. When I go back ‘home’ these days to visit my father, one of the first things we do is go for a ‘turn’ around the garden. He shows me what is in bloom and tells me the name of things. He’s done this for as long as I can remember.
At the moment I live in a block of flats and so have a shared garden that I mostly wouldn’t dream of sitting in. Instead, I make do with going to the park and I have a number of houseplants that I pamper. I love taking cuttings of things and growing them into plants that I can give as gifts as friends, especially when they have remarked on how much they like them beforehand. I love watching plants grow, getting in tune with them and understanding their needs, it’s a really simple thing once you start watching.
Because of all this, something that happened a few years ago really upset me. I was living with a girl in Carshalton Beeches not far from where I live now. She and her boyfriend were prone to arguments and one night, things went a little further. He (who shall remain nameless), decided this night because he was angry, rather than just shout he was going to wreck the place. This didn’t just involve chucking things around but also included tearing all the houseplants apart and kicking the soil EVERYWHERE. This wasn’t restricted to her plants but mine too. As you can imagine, when I woke up the next day and went downstairs, I thought we had been burgled.
I’ve never forgiven him. He still hasn’t replaced them either.

Foot blog

It still hurts :(
But i think it is getting worse. I must go and see the doctor this week.
Ouchiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee!
*Remembers not to get drunk and pogo around the living room to rock*

Moving, just keep moving...part 2

Well, the house news is:

1) Our offer has been accepted
2) Valuation completed by Lender
3) Full structural survey is booked for next week
4) Solicitors have been contacted and are 'ready to go' depending on the results of the survey
5) I'm excited.

I really hope that the survey comes back showing only the work that we already know needs doing on the property. If much more needs doing, we may have to back out of the sale as even if they drop the price we won't have the cash up front to do the repairs with. *Crosses fingers*

Anyway, here is the little beauty:

This week i..

..have been mostly... organising my house buy - so much paperwork!

I'm currently reading... The curious incident of the dog in the night time - i finally found a copy in my local Oxfam.

I am loving listening to... The Futureheads - 'Hounds of love' - now that's how to do a great cover!

I am remembering...don't think about work until i get into work - nuff said!

Things that should be happening... saving as much money as i can - houses are pricey!

I am really looking forward to... readdressing my work life balance after my move - and living with Boyfie :)

This weekend I will be...decorating my boyfriends hall, stairs and landing and that isn't a euphamism - he's selling, i am buying, somewhere we will meet inbetween.



Thursday, February 03, 2005

'The Big I Am'

Not feeling great today. I am suffering from the-day-after-the-night-before alcohol depression :( I didn't drink that much either.
Bugger. Work will be a struggle today.

I went out last night to watch some friends play in Croydon. The bands in question were 'The Big I Am' and 'Flight 16'.
'The Big I Am' haven't been together long but they are a kind of local 'supergroup'. A bit like Croydon's answer to Audio slave. All band members had been gigging for years with their various individual outfits. Sometime last year, they all drifted together and now are producing some of the most exciting sounds i have heard come out of Scream Studios in a while.
Vocally they have a lead vocalist and two backing singers, both of who are up front on the mikes with Paul the lead singer. They sound punchy and have the attack of a prize fighter. I reckon they will do well. Island records came to see them and apparently they likey :)

Only bad thing about the night was jumping around back at my place after the gig, i think i may have twisted/fractures/pulled my big toe :(
Booo!

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

There is tremendous happiness in making other people happy..

..or so i find.

If someone asks me to do something and i am able, then i usually try to do so. Especially if the request will in turn make them happy. Too often these days, people are only interested in helping themselves. I don't like the 'What's in it for me?' attitude.

Living in Greater London as i do, i find i am surrounded by selfish people every day, be it on the roads or in shops or at work. It is terminally boring and i think unintelligent.
I do however appreciate that those people that are unable to give are the ones that are usually victims themselves. They have suffered to the point that they don't feel happy and therefore don't want to contribute to other people's happiness.

We all remember the times as children when we threw ourselves into everything and anything that came our way, unaffected by other peoples opinions. We remember when laughter was like air and sharing with others was our manna. Things only changed because we got hurt somewhere along the way.

If we all could all just 'reframe' our attitudes a little to try and do something small to help someone else every day, i think the benefit would be huge.

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

The luckiest girl in the world

In the last 12 hours, i have been sent the following links, the first from my boyfriend and the second by my sister. My boyfriend added that 'he has one of these' with reference to the subject of his link.

I think i can officially say that i am deeply loved and am extremely lucky.
:D

Boyfie linky

Sissie Linky

Things that go 'bump' in the night

I'm pretty used to things that go 'bump' in the night as i live in Wallington, a small place inbetween Croydon and Sutton, just off the high street. Every night as i am dropping off to sleep i am kept awake by the tourettic-bawls of drunken chavs as they leave the pubs and head home stand at the end of my road.

However, i think we may have a house ghost.
Well, i *say* that, what i mean is there have been some strange happenings in our house.
I live with a close friend in a flat share and have lived there for nearly two years now. During that time, the house has been quiet, that is up until just recently. Over the last couple of weeks, both my flat mate and i have been experiencing 'things' disappearing. However, the most recent occurrence will take some beating. There is a line of fresh candle wax cutting a swathe across our lounge carpet.
This probably wouldn't be out of place in most households, however, neither my flat mate or i have lit a candle since before Christmas and this wax is new.

What makes this all the more strange is the fact that it is not the first time i have experienced such things. My mother died when i was young and shortly after her death, i experienced the disappperance of many items in the house. My mother had been a hairdresser and ironically, my brushes and combs and other items kept disappearing. When i say disappear, what i mean is i would be brushing my hair, put down my brush, spray my hair (it was the eighties), and then go to pick up my brush again and it would be gone. I would find said item in odd places weeks later like under the bed or at the back of a cupboard. I got pretty used to this happening and after speaking with a family friend who had spoken to a spiritualist, believed that it was my mother just reminding me that she was still here.

What makes the discovery of the line of wax even more interesting is the fact that it seems to 'start' from the photograph i have hanging up of my mother.