Ginger Karate Blog
Friday, May 30, 2003
We went to B&Q last night to try to sort out a nice Garden furniture set. it followed on from the weekend where they had the chairs in stock, but not the table. They wouldn't let us reserve a table, but they told us they'd get some more in this week. When we got there last night we discovered they had the tables in, but not the chairs. We were a little dismayed at this because the offer they have on at the moment sells them as a set. If you buy them separately then you forfeit the £30 saving you can make, which we didn't want to do. In the end we managed to get them to agree that if we bought the table, we could come back when the chairs were in, with our receipt, and get the chairs at the reduced 'set' price. What a palava!
But of course that was just the start of the fun. We went on to buy paint, picture rails and a few other odds and sods, before heading to the car. Jo and I had both cars as she'd come from home and I from work.
Here is an exact isometric projection of the rear of Jo's car (mine is identical, except it's green):
 and here's the table top, to the same scale: 
Now. Do you see the dilemma? Yes. I thought you would.
In the end, and after half an hour, we managed to get it into Jo's car by entering through the passenger seat, over the wound back front seats. We then wound them forward and settled the table over the back seats. I'm sure the A-Team wouldn't have been able to accomplish such a feat of mental agility!
Ok, more details. We have now officially exchanged. It's legal. We now have to buy the house or forfeit the 5% deposit (plus I think we may be liable for 10% - eek!). But enough of that, we have a house! Woohoo! Can't wait to get in there. Completion is set for Friday the 6th June. We plan to pick up the keys after work and spend the evening running around the house naked. (because we can!). May have a takeaway and sit in our new garden :o)
Jo and I spent some time packing at the weekend. Nothing major, just books, videos, dvds and nick 'n' nack and bric a brac! 8 boxes later, and we're a little closer. The van is booked for the 7th for a day. That should give us plenty of time to move everything, as we're leaving half of the bedroom furniture and the lounge furniture for the new tennants. It's mostly my old MFI stuff (which I'm bored with) and the imitation pine TV unit (which we haven't used since we got the new TV with bolted on stand). Also threw a load of old clothes (mainly Jo's) into the recycled clothes bin, which was surprisingly full. Must be a bank holiday thing!
I've spent a big chunk of this morning phoning various people to inform them of the change of address, or to set up utilities. It's all finally coming together! As of the 7th June, our permanent address will be:
5 Buckfast Close
Basingstoke
RG24 9HD
We move in on the 7th. My brother and his girlfriend come to stay the night on the 10th, and Jo's parents come to stay for 4 days on the 12th!! So any urgent DIY/cleaning has to be done.. well... urgently!
I am looking forward to having a garden. That'll be nice.
Saw the Matrix on Saturday. Not bad, but not fantastically good. I won't go into the details. You can find some reviews at Aint It Cool News.
Should he ever gain internet literacy, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Dad. 53 today!
As for this weekend, nothing much planned except for my pre-grading. I'm going for my 2nd KYU exam on the 15th June. That's Brown and 1 stripe. All going well, I should be on course to attempt my black belt by March (all my old school bullies beware, I'll be coming for ya!) ;o)
I would hazard a guess we'll try to get any other packing done that we can. To tell the truth I would guess that most of it will be left until Friday night, as well be using the majority of our belongings in the week leading up to it (i.e. bed, food, clothes etc). May not even go to bed if necessary! ;o)
We've exchanged! :oD
More later.
Ok, so we didn't exchange. What actually happened is we went to visit the solicitor to review all the details and sign the contract. He went over everything, some in far greater detail than necessary, taking up an hour. The plan was then to exchange the following day (i.e. Thursday). The actual exchange is accomplished by the solicitors confirming over the phone that they each have the signed contracts from their clients, and that they wish to exchange. Job done.
Well, not exactly. We'd been expecting the call saying that the exchange had happened and instead Jo recieved one saying that we can't exchange as the vendor hasn't returned his contract to his solicitor. Aaargh! Jo left me with this little gem after I'd been stuck in a dire meeting for 3 hours. I was not pleased. Suffice to say, we had to get the vendor to return his contract (as suggested by the solicitor). I phoned both Mann & Co and their dedicated sales progression department to get them to ring the vendor. They eventually got through to him only to find out that it's at his girlfriends in London, waiting to be returned. It should therefore be with his solicitor by Tuesday. Hopefully this means we can exchange then.
So, we still had high hopes of being in by the 30th, as Andrew our solicitor was working to complete all his outstanding work to have us in by then. Unfortunately the vendor doesn't want to complete until the 6th June, so we don't have much say in the matter. He probably wants the bank holiday weekend to himself, giving him the 31st and 1st to check the house contents and move any remaining stuff.
At least the end's in sight now. I went looking at Homebase's selection of garden furniture. Not bad, if a little pricey at £170 for the semi decent stuff. All going well we'll have a few hundred quid returned from the deposit, so the furniture can come from that money.
We exchange tomorrow!
Jo got a call from the solicitor this morning. We're due to see him at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Completion therefore looks good for the 30th if not before :o)
I made this to celebrate:
The Rottweiler has been let loose!
Jo got fed up of waiting Friday and phoned the solicitor. She eventually got in contact with him this morning and threatened to crush his used her Scottish charms to great effect. She had a little more luck than me in getting some information out of him, but still admitted it would have been easier to set up a lucrative porcine air mail business. Suffice to say it turns out that the enquiries of the vendor's solicitor are being worked upon today (nothing like holding up the conveyancing process to piss the customer off - 2 weeks that's taken) and he should have answers tomorrow. Jo informed him that he would be phoning either herself or I to let us know the outcome (I'd guess he'll phone me, 10% because it's been me dealing with him in the past and 90% because I hope Jo scared him). It is looking very much like we will be able to exchange this week. Hopefully complete next week.
He also wanted to get us down to discuss the enquiry results, separate to exchanging. Jo rightly pointed out that this was a waste of our time, so we should do the two simultaneously.
In other news, we started 'packing'. Ok, it's not the correct term, as we actually just packed some of Jo's clothes (that which she won't use within a fortnight) and threw a load away.
Also went out Saturday evening for George's birthday. Had a meal in the South Hill Park Arts centre in Bracknell (it was a rapid, pre-show meal, but nevertheless but still quite bland) and then had a drink by ourselves, as we'd opted out of seeing the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta (something to do with Yeomen). As we were leaving we saw a Yeoman by the stage door having a cigarette. Very amusing.
Recieved a letter from the solicitor this morning to say he'd recieved our deposit cheque. All that is keeping us from completion now is the reply to his enquires of the seller's solicitor. I don't know what they are, but I wish they'd hurry up!
On a lighter note I have done a major update of the three galleries, with 35 new pictures. Some good, some bad, some groan enducing :o)
Solicitors are like buses. Nothing for a few days, then I get two letters from him, albeit dated 3 days apart. The first says that the local search is complete. Woo hoo! (I think...). The second says that the seller accepts 5% as a deposit. Woo hoo! (That's a definite Woo hoo!). He's requested the deposit, so I've posted the cheque for £6,375 to him via special delivery. He should have it by noon today, which means that they should have it paid in and cleared by next Wednesday. I would hope by then the results of his enquiries are also in, as we could then exchange contracts! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I can almost smell those musty rooms, they're ours I tell ya! Mu wa ha ha!......
Have also agreed that we'll be leaving some of our furniture for the new tennants. It's my old MFI stuff. It's nice enough, but was bought very cheaply (new, I might add) and doesn't really go with anything except itself. That'll save us moving it!
Also had an offer of furniture from Alicia's new pad, but we already have what she's offering, so I've had to turn it down.
I'm restless today. I'm finding it hard to concentrate. I can only blame this on our up in the air exchange/completion dates. As yet though they've not been set. I hope to hear from the solicitor (i.e. I will have to phone him) as to how things are going. Still no word on whether the vendor will accept 5%. I've worked out that 4 letters are needed to accomplish this. My solicitor to vendor's, vendor's to vendor, vendor to vendor's and then vendor's to mine. This will therefore add at least 4 or 5 days, not to mention any extra work added by needing to amend the contract, and that's if the vendor accepts the 5%. If not then there'll be more back and forth :o(
As Jo says we held a car boot sale on Sunday. Stood for 4 hours in total, which probably expalins why my bottom hurts a little. Plus I have sun burn on the back of my neck, an impressive feat considering the sun was hidden by clouds from 8:30 onwards!
Friday night's reunion was very enjoyable with nine of us turning up (with 4 last minute drop outs). The meal was a chinese buffet (so I scoffed obviously) in town. The food selection wasn't that broad, but what was there was bloody fantastic I though. I had seconds and thirds.
Thursday nights shindig was a bit of a let down in the end. It was roughly what I expected with a few differences. 1) The Bluetones where not on until 10pm (which pissed me off as our tickets said 7pm. Turns out the doors, advertised to open at 8, opened at 8:45). 2) We queued at nine to get in and it still took half an hour to get in. 3) The clientelle were a more ignorant and rude than I expected (but not much more). I don't know really why I didn't enjoy it. Perhaps I got tired, perhaps it was because I didn't know their songs. All I know is that after 5 songs I became extremely apathetic. Perhaps it was the alcohol? Anyway, Jo enjoyed herself, so that was a benefit of the evening, plus I enjoyed socialising with Gavin and Paul beforehand, so not a total loss. Oh, and to round the evening off the taxi driver ripped us off for £7 to get home. I didn't argue but Jo and I showed our disgust at him. We should have checked when we got in really, get him to give us an estimate. As it was he saw two pissed people he could rip off.
I've been looking at various moving related web sites today, reading articles on what to do, how to prepare. Common sense stuff really. Also managed to find out that our new house is in council tax band C. Our current flat is in band B, i.e. it was worth less when the scheme was introduced. Having said that we are going from a 2 bed flat to a 3 bed house, and the council tax is only going to increase by £26 to £926. The same propery in Reading would be taxed at above £1000! Just goes to show how much cheaper Basingstoke is! Hopefully this applies to Taxis! I've also cancelled a visit we were due to have tonight by a removal firm. Had a chap coming round to give us a quote, but have decided it's not worth wasting his or Jo's time (I'm out for an hour on IEE business) since we've already decided on doing it ourselves.
I wonder how Jo's getting on with her presentations?
Ben went back to his pikey roots today (and I went with him!). We did a car boot sale. It had 2 purposes. 1. sell stuff we don't want any more so we don't have to move them to Basingstoke. and 2. make money to pay for a van for the move. We exceeded our target of £100 by loads. We made £165!! I think that means we had too many possessions (ie I had too many.) We still came back with 2 boxes full of books and other miscellaneous crap. It was quite scary, hoards decended on us as soon as we had parked demanding prices and I think we lost out on a ton of money at that point cos we paniced.
I have spent the rest of the day preparing 2 presentations for a training course I'm on tomorrow. Basically we give 2 presentations, they tell us how crap they were and how to make them better. I'm so not looking forward to it!
.: posted by Joanne Sunday, May 11, 2003
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
Got the mortgage offer in the post today. Whee!. It's official now. The only problem on the horizon as Jo mentioned is with the solicitor. Firstly he has various 'enquiries' pending which he won't tell me about yet and secondly he (and subsequently the vendor) thought we had a 10% deposit, when it's only 5%! - Not a big problem, touch wood, as the vendor isn't in a chain, and he's practically already moved out (he lives with his girlfriend and is leaving the majority of the furniture).
The problem is that the solicitor seems very apethetic. These people should be taught rudimentary project management skills at Law college. They should realise that conveyancing, although not a big issue for them, is a very big issue to the homebuyers. A phone call now and again would do wonders to calm us. As it is we've had two letters, and every phone call has been initiated by me. The 5/10% issue came up when I suggested that I pay him the deposit now, so as to minimise any possible areas of delay. He didn't want the money yet. What? He's a solicitor for god's sake. Surely they wouldn't turn down that amount of money gaining interest in the coffers!. Does he want to phone me one day, saying "I need the money now", and then have the opportunity to moan at me when the transfer takes 4 days!?! I despair, I really do.
Also got a quote for removal services. 1 days worth of large tattooed men piling our junk in a big lorry, driving to Basingstoke and unloading again comes to the ripe old sum of £681. Is that all? I'm sure I have some spare diamonds down the back of the Dodo skin settee in the Lear jet!
Suffice to say it looks like Jo will be getting the opportunity to flex her muscles. I'm not looking forward to getting that settee down the stairs I tell you. Although it's not that heavy judging from the way the man who delivered it could carry it on his shoulders. It just means we have to get a smaller van (we are only licensed for a C1 - i.e. less than 7.5 tonnes) and may be looking at multiple journeys. Sigh. Still, I bet we'd lose a few pounds of fat that way.
Not much on tonight. Jo is at her new sign language course, so I may watch one of her DVDs. Tomorrow we're off to the Fez club to see the Bluetones, and Friday I'll be out at the Workstation Source reunion. That should be.... er... interesting. After the 10 minute pleasantries, i.e. "I now work here yadda yadda yadda..." it'll degenerate into slagging Workstation off. It's bound to. We all did that while we worked there, so now we're all several thousand out of pocket thanks to them it's bound to be the favourite topic of ridicule/slagging.
Then this weekend we have nothing planned. May start packing. I know it sounds premature, but in a kind of perverse way I'd enjoy it. Plus it means we don't have to rush it nearer the move date, and can easily see what needs cleaning for the inspection and do something about it. Could even take some of it to the car boot sale (like we've been discussing for months now).
GKB signing out!
As an addition to Benji's blog. My bottom is very painful and I don't think I fully appreciated that I had muscles there. Of course, i had to tell everyone at work, which led to people recommending gel filled pants! Sounds interesting, may well have to invest in a pair.
Also, we have now officially had the mortgage offer. Yeeaahhhh! We are now just waiting for our completely fuckwit slow solicitor to get his act in gear, We may in fact exchange next Friday. I'm not actually holding out much hope.
Quite a hefty update today, what with the bank holiday behind us. Jo and I spent Saturday evening at my Mums. Her kitten was very cute and playful, so now we're both undecided as to if we want a cat or a dog (once we eventually decide we're ready for a pet). I'll put a picture of Lillie up soon.
We also paid a visit to Buckfast Close on the way to Portsmouth. The main purpose of the visit was to take a lot of pictures of the house, in order to use my PC to colour walls in differently and mess with the colour scheme. It also provided a very good way to better remember the place. The first time we saw it was at the end of a long day. We'd seen about 15 houses in total, so my memory was a little hazy in places!. I'm getting very excited about moving now. It's gonna be a lot of fun. It's also going to be hard work, and it's damn scary!
Sunday saw me at the cinema watching X2. I've already mentioned the high expectations I had, and I think the movie met them. Therefore I didn't come out going "wow", but I did enjoy it. It was a lot better than the first, and the characters were a lot deeper and fleshed out.
Monday saw Jo and I with nothing planned so we went cycling alongside the river Kennet that runs through south Reading. Thanks to Neil for recommending it. It took about 2 hours in total (mainly thanks to having to double back at one point due to going the wrong way and finding the route blocked), covering approximately 16 kilometres (10 miles). Here's a map of the route for posterity.
I also sold around 15 annuals on ebay. Some for £3, some for a penny! It's made some space in the lounge, but I've now got to post the bastards!. Still, I got slightly more than if I'd sold them at a car boot sale (I think).
No news on the house front today, but then I'm not expecting any.
Phew! That's the last mortgage hurdle now out of the way. The nationwide needed to know about whether we wanted to go with them for the building and contents insurance. I had a quick look around, and decided 'yeah, why not'. Now that that's done the application can be sent to the underwriters for approval. Should now only be a matter of days before we get the written documents through. Hopefully be in by the end of May :o) I just have to get the solicitor to stop being a passive twonk.
Hello to Darryll if you're reading this (as it transpired on Sunday, nb he was the lazy arse I was referring to), and shame on you for telling Alicia about the house, after we told you not to! Jo's gunning for your testicles now boy.
Off to see my Mum on Saturday. She has a new kitten, Lillie (strange spelling), to keep her company since she and Dad are no longer together. Jo and I also hope to get another viewing on the house, so we can take a few photos, and refresh our memory of what we're buying. Recieved some bumf from the solicitor yesterday. Good news: The previous owner is leaving a hell of a lot of furniture, which means we can sell anything we don't need. Woo! Bad news: The field across the road from us has planning permission for 800 homes, to be built over the next 4 years. I say bad news as it 1) Spoils the view, 2) will be noisy for a while and 3) means extra traffic. It will be beneficial hopefully though as 1) Nearby shops 2) Nearby schools 3) Nearby pub? and 4) May push the price of our house up.
Then on Sunday I'm off to the cinema to see X-men 2, which I've been drooling over for months now. After all the glowing reviews I've read my expectations are pretty high, so I hope I don't come out disappointed.
Plus we've Monday off. Yet another bank holiday! Woo hoo!. Hope it's sunny so we can go cycling again. Incidentally I cycled to Weight Watchers last night. I put on a pound and a half (not surprising as I'd binged on Friday night, and not been that bothered about my weght this week after last weeks achievement). It only took 10 minutes, which is probably the same it takes in the car (except the car has to go the long way round). Just have to get Jo prepared and able to cycle there now! :o)
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