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.

Common Sense

I am constantly astounded by our friends and acquaintances.   From the minute we got married, we were asked almost weekly if I was 'pregnant yet'.  At that point we hadn't expressed any desire to get down to business with that anyway so why should it be assumed that marriage = babies?

I actually spent around 4 months drinking fairly heavily just to prove that i wasn't pregnant!  I wouldn't mind, but I'm not generally a big drinker and often drive to events but i just couldn't take the questions anymore.

Some of our closer friends knew when we had started trying and knew that we weren't having much luck and were sympathetic to our plight but without making it a big deal or common knowledge.

However in the last few weeks we have sold our flat and are in the process of buying a new house.  When we made this decision I was not pregnant, we just wanted to move anyway into something bigger.  During that process we discovered that I was pregnant and we were pretty chuffed  with our timing - hoping that we can be all finished and moved well before i get too enormous.

But apparently we can't just be moving house.  We must be moving house for a reason.   People at work keep telling me the new place is big enough for babies, our friends are actually coming outright and asking if there is something I want to share with them? (erm, no.  If i did then I would volunteer the information without the need for you to ask).
Even one of our neighbours asked Hubby on Saturday if I was 'expecting'.  I think we may need to speak more quietly when the windows are open in the flat....

Went to a birthday party on Saturday night and told nobody that i wasn't drinking (Hubby kept putting 'vodka' lime and sodas in front of me  - minus the vodka) nor that I was driving, yet still 3 people hinted at 'my condition' and one of Hubby's friends took him to one side and came right out and asked him.  At that point (ie: several pints into the evening) he couldn't even deny it and just swore him to secrecy.

Some may think that it's lovely our friends are so interested and happy for us etc, but I can't help feeling that some people are being terribly insensitive and downright rude.  Most of these people already have children and know how uncertain the first 12 weeks are.

I'm 38 years old  - hardly in the first flush of youth - so any risks of the first trimester are more than doubled for an old bird like me.  It will be bad enough if we get to the 12 week scan to be told bad news without having to then share and explain it to half of South East London.

I successfully managed to guess  2 friends' pregnancies in the last year but I said nothing to them (or to anyone else except my Hubby) until they called me to give me the news  - strangely enough - after their 12 week scan....And funnily enough, they are the two people  who haven't asked any questions at all and have kept quiet, even though I know they are suspicious.

Is it too much to ask for a little tact and sensitivity over these things?