Today’s the day the sale of my flat in Edinburgh should be finalised. Heard from Alastair yesterday and he’s off to sign all the papers for me today, so with any luck, my bank account should receive a substantial injection in the next few days, and I can start cracking the whip with the work on the house.
Speaking of which, some builders did, in fact, turn up last night, and I hope to have a price for the rendering very soon. If they’re going to get it done before winter, they’de better pull their respective fingers out……the change of season is just around the corner and this will be a damned cold house if the various gaps in the brickwork aren’t stopped up before winter comes.
I’ve rediscovered one of the great pleasures in my life. Now, I know I’m grumpy about the fact that I can’t get a decent internet connection and grumpy that the programmes I’m getting on my satellite service are basically a great pile of rubbish..but….the combination of lousy TV and no internet finds me reading again.
I used to love reading and had a voracious appetite for words. Consuming more than a book a week was not unusual for me when I was younger. I actually stopped reading in bed because I would often find myself there at 5.30 am, head stuck in a book and the alarm about to go off as I had to go to work…..so I made my bedroom a no book zone.
Sadly, with TV and internet, in the last 15 years, I’ve let my love of books slip into oblivion…..well, it’s back. And I’d forgotten how much pleasure I get from the written word…mind you, I did find myself propped up on the couch at 3.30 this morning finishing a book I found in one of my boxes. I’ve got boxes of books here to unpack and many of them, I’ve never read. Just about everyone that passed through my flat in Edinburgh would have a book that they were reading while travelling…if they happened to finish the book while in Scotland, they left it with me, rather than carry it all the way back to where they had travelled from. I’ve read none of them…but that’s about to change. Now I’ve started to read again, I don’t think I want to stop. It does mean that anyone visiting will have to bring me a book or two, cos once I’ve read what I’ve got, I wont be able to buy any english language books here. :o)
In fact, I’m heading downstairs today to have a scrounge around in the boxes and see what books I can find……..finished the book I’m reading and need something else to satisfy my newly discovered appetite….
Later in the day…….I’ve got both the downstairs bedrooms finished, with the beds made up, the lamps plugged in, the pillows fluffed…all ready for Kerrys arrival…my first visitor and I’m very excited about having someone in this huge house with me for a while.
While searching for some more books, I came across my champagne flutes, so I can now crack open the bottle of Moet I’ve got in the fridge. I’ve been waiting for someone to drink it with to celebrate being here and with Kerry’s imminent arrival, I now have someone to enjoy it with.
I also came across the box with all the booze in it. When I had my farewell/birthday party in Scotland, I was given a substantial number of bottles of alcohol and it was only today that I had the time to take a good look at everything I’d been given. To everyone in Scotland who gave me these presents, I have to say another big ‘thank you.’ You have given me some incredible bottles of wine, some damned fine malt whiskys and some very good bottles of champagne and now that I’ve taken a good look at them, I feel that I have not thanked you enough….. Thank you…. :o)
I also found the mouse……obviously, when I’ve been downstairs going through boxes looking for stuff, I’ve dropped one (full of books) on the poor old mouse. I picked up a box today and there, underneath, was the flattest mouse I’ve ever seen in my life…..Ooops !! There’s no longer a ‘moose in the hoose’ :o)
Same day..even later…just had a call from Alastair…the flat sale has been finalised….hooray !!! And to Alastair and my solicitor, Alan, I can only send a HUGE thank you. Between them, they have managed to sort out all the paperwork for the sale to go through…and they’ve done it in just over a week. Just goes to show that these long, drawn out settlements are completely unneccessary :o)
At last, everything can now progress without too many financial restrictions…..
