It's only taken 19 months but we have finally left our lovely little (cramped) flat and moved into our new house.  I'm still at that stage when i get excited about walking up the drive ... And the stairs (we have stairs!) ... And into the garden.
What i'm not so thrilled about is the mess some people leave their homes in, not to mention what they do to them while they live in them.   Things i have noticed so far...

1) the tight buggers took every curtain pole with them when they moved . £300k for a house and you don't even get anywhere to hang your feckin' curtains.

2) there are no drawers in the kitchen. Not one. Where does one put the cutlery ? Or all the spare keys to which the locks they fit are a mystery? Surely every home needs a 'man-drawer'?
Actually, I found one drawer ... In the dining room. Bit of a pain to get stuff quickly if you have to go to another room.

3) the cooker was installed illegally....from a health & safety perspective. As they took the cooker with them, we discovered this when ours was delivered and the chaps wouldn't install it as the points were not on the right place. Day 7 of ping meals/soup/takeaway looms.

4) all the radiators are in odd places meaning they don't really do the job they were designed to!

5) why is there a howling wind coming from the understairs cupboard?  I have looked in said cupboard and cannot find any holes, gaps or wind machines. 

6) why would one design their bathroom with a sink so large is hangs over into the bath?

6a) why would one design their bathroom with a large window next to the shower so that one can wave to bus passengers whilst performing their ablutions?  Plus if means you have to wipe away the flood of shower water from the window sill after every use.

7) why are there dimmer switches on every light except the dining room?  Perhaps the one room that might benefit from some soft lighting occasionally.

8) the kitchen cupboards are so high up that even when using steps I can barely reach the top shelf.  I met the previous owners - they were not that tall.

9) They took the loft hook with them too (you know, that bit of curved metal that you use to pull down the hatch and ladder).  Why!?? 

I'm sure I could thing of other foibles in the place but it will make me sound like a Moaning Myrtle  and really I love being in the new house.  Now all i need is a reasonable lottery win so that I can 'make it my own'... in the words of Pete Waterman.

Very bad day.....

Yesterday the people buying our flat pulled out of the deal.  The day before we were due to exchange contracts. Merry flippin' Christmas.
As you can imagine, I'm not happy.

Only 5 days ago I was at the house we're buying measuring up for curtain poles, new kitchen appliances and nursery furniture.  Let's face it, at this point would you expect it all to fall flat on it's backside!?  We were looking forward to spending an obscene amount of cash in the January sales but alas, we're back to square one.

I will be honest, I spent most of yesterday afternoon in tears.  Perhaps there was a touch of petulant child in the there with the whole 'why me?' mentality but at the same time I think it was a little justified.  I'm under no illusion that these guys have been stalling for about a week and the fact they didn't even tell the estate agent that they were withdrawing is a little galling.  To find out via my solicitor who received a letter posted a few days previously was not very nice at all.

I'm swinging between cross and upset.  I'm almost 5 months pregnant, having an awful time at work and was looking forward to getting out of a tiny flat.  I know I should be grateful that I have my own flat but it's getting terribly cramped after 9 years of collecting junk  - not to mention a husband who brought his own stack of junk.  Trying to fit everything in without the pending small person is a nightmare so when we have to try to put in more furniture to house the small person it could just tip us over the edge. 
So the choice it, get back on the horse and try to resell again and hope we manage it in time to get our house back or sit tight and live in a flat I'm beginning to really dislike and be as cramped as hell.  What a nightmare!

It makes me so cross that our system of house purchasing is so namby-pamby.  Short of there being a very good legal reason not to purchase, I find it amazing that it is perfectly acceptable to just change your mind at any time without any recourse.  It's simply not on.

Apparently they may be in a position to change their mind in January  - well BULLY FOR THEM!  I hope they have a lovely relaxed Christmas with no worries whilst I'm crying into my turkey gravy with not even the possibility of drinking myself into oblivion.  Thanks so much.