Home, not so sweet home

 

We returned to our home in Lancashire on 1^st June. The tenants had moved out in May and the agent had been in to inspect the house the day afterwards. The law allows only 10 days for landlords to make a claim against the tenants’ deposit so there was a frantic period of email and telephone communication between us and the agent. There were issues to be resolved. This we knew. The house had been empty for a month and we were greeted by a strong smell of something unpleasant, which we assumed to be cat urine, as soon as we entered the hall. A similar smell greeted us at the top of the stairs, on the landing and in the living room. After 6 hours of cleaning, we were able to move into one of the bedrooms.  I went to bed at midnight and Jeremy followed at 2.00am.

Jeremy painting the ceiling on the landing

Since then we have thrown out the smelly carpets and stripped off the wallpaper in the hall, the landing and the stairs. Simon and Erin came down from Edinburgh for a weekend and worked hard sanding down the paintwork. Jeremy repainted our old bedroom and I returned to Suffolk. Emily had mastitis, which came on very suddenly and extremely painfully at 1.30 in the morning on the day before Ben returned to work. By the time I arrived in Suffolk, Emily had started taking antibiotics prescribed by the emergency doctor. I stayed for 4 days helping with Ellie, walking Tess the dog, cooking and shopping.

The strippers

I’d only been back in Lancs for one day when news came from Suffolk that Ben had seen a lump on Ellie’s neck, the GP had referred her to the hospital, an ultrasound scan had been done and the senior registrar had examined Ellie. It is likely that the lump is benign but another scan has been arranged and another appointment in a month’s time. We hope and pray that all will be well.

Meanwhile, Jeremy had talked to two estate agents and had our house valued. We were shocked to learn that house prices in our area had lost 41% of their 2009 value and it was little consolation that prices had risen 4% in the last year. After much discussion we decided not to put the house on the market yet. We are continuing with the decorating and we will put some new carpets down. We have bought a container and had it placed in a well-hidden part of Em and Ben’s garden. Eventually, the furniture and belongings we want to keep will be transported to Suffolk and stored in the container. Perhaps we’ll sell the house,  perhaps we’ll rent it to long term tenants. Watch this space.

Jeremy pushing our container into place

We’ve just taken a weekend off and been down to Bath to see our friends, Dale and Owen and their daughter, Mimi. Even though the wind blew and it rained we enjoyed the BBQ and even danced in the rain to live music from Mimi’s band.

Dale, Mimi and the band

From time to time we think of Sal Darago in Trinidad and feel the call of the warm Caribbean sunshine, the blue skies, azure sea and white sands. Britain is beautiful too with its rolling green countryside and in spite of the hard economic times, it’s a great place to live.