Pre-Christmas Activities
Friday 13th December
Just received keys to flat at Park Court and took van load of furniture and bits there, and to the plot.
Got home and packed even more boxes
Saturday 14th December
Dianne and Mike (our daughter and son-in-law) packed their car and ours to the brim and we set off to unload at the plot and also at Park Court. Spent the afternoon stacking and re-stacking boxes and furniture to make the best use of cabin space.
Went back and packed even more boxes.
Sunday 15th
Went to Church in morning. Official goodbye and also 2 baptisms - wonderful service. Christine and Martin came for a roast beef lunch (Dave went over to allotment to show Heather where everything was as she is hoping to take it over from us) and then we went back to church in evening for a wonderful carol service with great orchestra and drama etc. Our final day at the church was a day to remember. Lots of hugs and promises of visits.
Monday 16th
Last day at Scrabble Club and last day at Riverside Primary for Dave.
Tuesday 17th
Spent most of day taking down and putting up lights for Heather (our purchaser) then more packing.
Wednesday 18th
Wednesday Club Buffet (Christine came to help). Met up with Jeni for exchange of presents, then friend Sandy and finally home for (yes you've guessed it) more packing.
Thursday 19th
Quick trip into Leominster to pick up knitting wool for Jean (Dave's mum) and hand in allotment key.
Sorted out the garage - one side for the flat and one side for the plot ready for loading onto the van.
More packing - how many cupboards??? Brian Carr came over and we finally got the hire van at 8pm and immediately starting loading. It was soon obvious that there was no way that everything was going to fit in it and so Brian kindly offered to load his van and offered to bring it over as and when he could. We worked solidly until the early hours (we just snatched at a chocolate bar and crisps) and then gave up.
Finally got to bed after 2am.
Friday 20th - final moving day
Up at 6 am to start cleaning and carry on loading. It was relentless and it seemed every cupboard we opened still had stuff in it! It was all in all a logistical nightmare.
11.30 am van for our purchaser arrived; we still hadn't finished loading and had run out of space - car and van stacked to the gunnels.
We got permission to leave three boxes and a few bits for Brian to collect and bring over.
Drove to plot and Peter (our eldest son) met us to unpack, armed with sandwiches and snacks for us. He opened the van door and there was an avalanche of stuff and a loud smashing noise. Amazingly nothing was broken - it was a stone jar that we keep for loose change that had fallen and we were then scrabbling about in the gravel retrieving £1 coins and smaller denominations. We carried on to Park Court to offload furniture etc. that we are storing there, put up curtain pole and curtains in the bedroom and then we just had to leave it all.
Back to Leominster to return the van, pick up our car and then back to Whitchurch, via "The Squirrel" in Ludlow for a bite to eat. Arrived about 11.30 pm and the wind was howling and the rain lashing down. As Dave opened the boot of the car clothes that we had stuffed in at the last minute took off and he was chasing off to catch them. So, we opened the lounge window and he passed things in to me and I literally threw them on the floor in a heap for speed. What a mess. What a day!
Collapsed into bed.
Saturday 21st
Early start - went about sorting flat into something like organised chaos rather than just chaos.
Popped over to the Bargain store and bought a couple of cheap curtain poles and blinds to put up, that's the downside of renting a brand new flat.
Phone call from Peter - "we appear to have got some of your presents and Nan's mixed in with ours. We'll bring them over". As he arrived at the flat, so Brian arrived at the plot, so we decamped there, offloaded and literally bundled stuff into the cabin and caravan (including Dave's bike). Then we went back to flat and got fish and chips. I loaded dishwasher but it didn't seem to work even though I had put it a short cycle early on to rinse (its new, as is the flat).
More sorting and tidying and by the end of strictly (which we caught just a bit of) the flat was looking quite presentable, you could see the worktops in the kitchen and most of the lounge carpet! Had a glass of bubbly to celebrate and then another late night.
Sunday 22nd
Up early and packed a suitcase ready for the journey to Essex to stay with Dave's Mum for Christmas.
Tried the dishwasher again and discovered it was pumping water all over the floor and the bottom of the cupboard we had filled with cleaning materials. Mopped it all up and sent a text to the landlord to see what to do.
In the meantime Dave had a look at the plumbing and discovered that the moron who had plumbed it in had left the stopper in the outlet pipe causing a blockage. A great start to the day!
We rushed to plot to put up post box and garden planter that Christine and Martin had bought us to identify the plot as Rainbow Cottage.
Then we raced off to Oxford and met up with Dianne and Mike, Sam and Alex before going off to the Lord Mayor's carol concert in the Town Hall where Sam was singing in the choir. Bought new hats and gloves as we couldn't find ours. Had a quick bite at the Pizza Hut and then drove to Essex.
Phew! - Exhausted.
Monday 23rd
Trip to Morrison's for Christmas Food. Lazy day spent showing Dave's Mum (Jean) how to use her new tablet or biscuit as she loves calling it! She's finding the keys very small and keeps pressing the back button or home button without realising and is getting confused but I'm sure she'll soon get used to using it.
Received an e-mail from the architects telling us their progress; hopefully we will be ready to present the plans to the Planning Department in January, but will need to check on the regulations regarding Section 106 and CIL payments for self-builders before we do, otherwise it could cost us considerably more than we are hoping to pay and therefore restrict some of our eco-measures. Hopefully we will get the balancing act right and avoid paying twice whilst still getting the plans through in a reasonable time.
December 24th-28th
Spent Christmas quietly with Dave's mum
29th December
Went to the plot and after working there for about 2 hours discovered that some kind person had made off with a pile of logs Dave had stacked behind the cabin. We were a little miffed!
30th December
Spent day sorting out flat. Made cake for Matthew for his birthday.
31st December
Another day sorting. Discovered cake was a disaster. Went to Sainsburys to buy fresh ingredients and made a chocolate one this time. Dave went to plot and put up some security lights.
We were invited to meet the neighbours for a drink. Very pleasant hour or so chatting.
1st January 2014
Went to Peter and Pamela's and met up with Dianne and Mike and boys. Lovely day. Matthew loved the cake.
2nd January
More work at plot trying to clear site ready for moving the shed.
3rd January
Travelled to Essex to celebrate my sister Jean's birthday.
6th January
Another day trying to clear site and Dave was trying to trace electricity cable that runs underground. Rain stopped play.
7th January
More clearing and tracing cables. This time Dave found where it runs.
We have to move distribution board before we can move shed.
Went to see architect. Plans are looking good but property will be too big for the site. We are now looking at ways to shave a foot or so off length and width. It now looks like the cabin will be in the way so we have to give some serious thought as to how we proceed. Also looks very likely we are liable for the CIL (community infrascructure levy) that amounts to a lot - possibly £16,000 ! Ouch!!! Obviously we will fight this but it is looking more and more doubtful we can get out of it. Dave has contacted North Shropshire MP, but we doubt there is much chance of avoiding the extra expense.
