An offer you can't refuse.

Well, what a difference a week makes!  After many fruitless weeks of zero activity on the house front, we've finally found a way forward.  It's not the route we originally had in mind, but it is a route.  As you know, on Saturday we saw a house we both loved but we initially couldn't afford it however, after making use of some very handy family contacts, today we were in a position to make a more sensible offer and it was accepted.  It does mean going down the "buy to let" route in Fleet and although that's a scary thought at least it means we can describe ourselves as having a property portfolio.  And for those of you who are concerned about how we raised the additional cash can I just say that no rich elderly relatives were harmed in the making of this offer.

It's a sign!

So now we enter a brave new world.  We now face six weeks or so of dealing with estate agents, solicitors and removals firms, but I'm remaining focused on the fact that I will spend Easter sat on my new balcony (yes it's a house and yes it has a balcony!) sipping chilled wine and admiring our new garden - which is substantially larger than the one we've left behind in Fleet.  We're not sharing any more details of the property with anyone other than our immediate family as we don't want to jinx things, or have someone zoom in and steal it from under our noses.  And for those of you hoping for a few free nights accomodation in the Lakes then I'm sorry but that won't really be an option for at least another couple of years, so you're going to have to keep being nice to me for a little while longer!

Much as I love life on Delores, after nearly six weeks some things are begining to wear a little thin - mainly the 100 yard trek to the loo block each morning - not so bad when it's fine but somewhat challenging when it's pouring with rain and you have to get back into bed in soggy pyjamas.  I know we spent this long on board over the summer but when you're living on board and working full time in the middle of winter, it takes on a whole new dimension.  If it wasn't for the fact that we're pitched up on a fabulous campsite I think we'd have killed each other long ago.  Plus the fact my clothes supply is somewhat limited and I only have 4 work skirts with me.  I'm waiting for someone to notice, but luckily I work at a different venue each day and no-one seems to have noticed yet, or at least if they have, they're too polite to say anything.

I really do hope things work out this time.  It's been an interesting couple of years and it will be lovely to finally draw a big red line under it all and move on.  I'm also itching to put down some roots and dive into the local community, which is a problem when you've no idea where you'll be living and which community you should be diving into.  Which is maybe another reason for not telling you all where we're moving too - I don't want you warning them all off, I think we all know it's better if they can relax in blissful ignorance for just a few weeks longer.