Wednesday 29 April 2009

Terrified House Owner reporting for Duty.

It is done! I am now the terrified owner of a house in the middle of nowhere, as of 2.30pm today. At the moment I'm not excited about it. Instead I'm wondering if I have made the worst mistake of my life and will be miserably unhappy there. You know how it is. You get the keys to this empty house and suddenly you see all the damp patches, the exposed pipework, the shell bath (yes, truly, there is a shell bath) in all it's glory and you think. What have I done??? I am hoping that over the next couple of days this feeling will be replaced with excitement.

I know that one of the reasons that I am not that excited yet is that I feel horribly displaced. My current hovel is a fort made of packing boxes with newspaper tumbleweed blowing down the stairs. All of it's Brambly Hedge charm has been packed away and it sounds, smells and feels like a different place. Equally the new house doesn't feel like mine yet either. Nowhere feels like mine.

This will change. It just may take time. I will take photos tomorrow of the new house for you and when I can get on line then you can see for yourselves whether you think I am a lunatic or an inspired interiors genius.

Now accepting that moving is in the top three most stressful things t do, it has been the icing on the cake that my idiotic broadband suppliers cut me off on Friday last week, instead of this coming Friday. Consequently, in between packing and a trip to Dorset and a trip to London, I have spent the last few days shouting and sobbing down premium rate phone lines at indifferent call centres. All to no avail though. It seems that cutting me off is easy, reconnecting me takes millenia. Growing crystals is faster. This is why I have been so quiet on the blogging front. I simply don't understand why it takes 'up to THIRTY FOUR DAYS' to connect me back onto broadband? What are they doing that takes that long? Weaving the lines out of spider silk? How do they expect small businesses to survive if this is their idea of speedy??? On Monday I really did break down on the phone, sobbing with frustration and fury and then slamming the phone down on them. On Tuesday I actually yelled with rage when I had to explain the situation for the SEVENTEENTH TIME. Honestly, the seventeenth. The whole thing has nearly killed me and it has certainly put me off moving ever again. I'd better learn to really love this house.

So, on top of giving up smoking I have had to give up blogging. It's too much to ask of a girl. The smoking quitting thing is going okayish I suppose. I have had the occasional cigarette break but we are talking one every four days, not one ever four minutes, so I am getting somewhere. I don't think the hypnotist can take that much credit for it though. I did have a return match there but left feeling no different (though no worse this time either).

There has been one lone ray of sunshine in the last few days though. On Saturday there dropped through my letterbox a jiffy bag filled to the brim with honest to goodness delicious chocolate. This was from Just Me (who has a link over there on the left) and who has now been elevated to a goddess in my world and is going to have a shrine built to her at the new house. I mean seriously. This is somebody who sent me chocolate because she wanted to cheer me up. Just Me - THANK YOU. You are a kind and lovely person who deserves better neighbours, the lottery numbers and your very own George Clooney. If Karma really works then all these things will be yours. You have been my silver lining this week.

So. I know this is another demented and incoherent rant from the mountainside. I blame moving and no nicotine. It fries the brain, drains the soul and leaves you a crumpled rag with no ability to be coherent. Bear with me - I promise that, Phoenix like, I shall emerge from the ashes a new and lucid Welsh Girl.

Oh BAUBLES! I've just realised I was supposed to organise a date with composer man last night and I forgot. Oops....

15 comments:

Elizabeth Musgrave said...

It will be lovely, in time I am quite sure. Horrible limbo period for you just now and to be cut off from broadband and giving up cigarettes at the same time sounds like a living hell!
I am sending you a virtual hug and my undying admiration.

Jean said...

Listen to me, when I moved into my first home I managed to convince myself that it was haunted. It was a new build flat.

It will feel odd, you will feel displaced. But then one day you will start making your mark on the place and a whole range of options will enter your head. Enjoy your new home, fill it with friends and laughter. I wish you the very best of luck x

p.s. There is a TV series on channel 4 tomorrow night by Kirsty Allsopp where she knits her own aga, it might give you some tips!

Anonymous said...

Thinking of you - it IS scary, but it will be so worth it.

Give the Loyal Hound a cuddle and start dreaming of nesting, cushions and exciting things like new bathroom suites!

Rob-bear said...

"Customer Service" is an oxymoron. Sad, but true.

Hope you an relax and dream in your new "castle." It's an opportunity to have a lot of fun, be creative, do some re-making of your life.

The Singlutionary said...

I SO know how you feel. When I moved into my house I had the worst breakout of zits ever. My zits had zits and as soon as one went down another one popped up. They were the pressure-filled painful ones that are super red and big and made me look like a zombie.

So yes, its stressful. And you most likely have another couple months of stress but its all downhill after that!

And what is a shell tub?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! Go with the flow. You and Loyal Hound will soon make it feel like home. Can't wait to see the pictures.
Wendy (Wales)

justme said...

Worry not! Being in transition is horrid, but once you have settled in and have a new plan, all will be well. I promise! It is actually very exciting! Keep us up to date with the details. Am SURE you have made right decision. ( and I am choc goddesss wot KNOWS these things!)

Anonymous said...

Oh yay, congratulations.

I managed to avoid moving into my new house by just buying the house I was already living in. Then once I closed, I started getting all these "welcome to the neighborhood" letters from local services, even though I'd been living here for six years already. . .

Christina

katyboo1 said...

Am so glad it's finally yours. You will enjoy it eventually, once this traumatic bit is over. Hang in there honey.xx

Home Office Mum said...

Congrats on owning a house. It will soon become a home. Fear not. On the broadband front, I feel your pain. I ran my business from the local library for the first month after we moved home. It was a nightmare.

Milla said...

has this not being terribly quick, or am I just terribly slow. Certainly when we moved house it would have been quicker to do it in say Thailand, you know, dragging the boxes by tardy foot one at a time. Bit alarmed you've not reappeared. Either you've smoked yourself to death (who can blame you) or those broadband spinners have gone on strike. If it's delete both silly options, then let us know when you're back on the cyber planet.

bevchen said...

I'm so excited that you own a house. I want a house! Nothing against my lovely, lovely flat, but an actual house... oooh.

Anyway, hope you're starting to get settled in now and you get your broadband back soon. Typical - just as a get back online you disappear!

Monika said...

Soon it will be your HOME and you will LOVE it and never want to leave. It's always hard to begin with - hang in there :)

Milla said...

I've given you an award, designed to tempt you back into blogging...

Jean said...

Ooh, I've also given you an award - come over to my place and pick it up.....hopefully you will have to do a new post :-)

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