What are you all up to

Hope you've had a really good time Nellie.... it sounds like it...  Lovely ohoto of Clapper Bridge 

David

Spent the day driving around Fife looking at properties (from the outside) looked at 6 all in different towns/villages.

Only 1 fitted what we are looking for, photos are very deceptive. What looks like a nice long flat driveway is in fact short and not flat, trees behind a property appear further away than they actually are. Big gardens have shrunk into small gardens 😒 1 fits the bill but it's advertised through Purple Bricks which are a nightmare to get a hold of.

We have seen another place that is perfect not far outside Perth but can we afford it 🤔 and it's on a road. 

Whatever we do OH just has to sort out his shed because there is no way we are packing up and moving all his junk, sorry his fine collection of interesting bits and bobs 🤣

Someone coming to give us a valuation on Friday 🤞🤞 it's a good one.

Going on holiday next week isn't perfect timing but hey ho it has to be done. 

Today was supposed to be sunny, it was in Fife but when we got home the SP meter had not moved so guess it didn't make it to Perth. The hills had the sun on them on our drive back which looked stunning as they are snow covered. All glowing pink and white with blue skies above 😊

It was great having a day out even if we didn't do much but cross off properties. 

Hope everyone else's day was productive or at least enjoyable. 

Baker's, the thought of moving again after staying put for 32 years is both terrifying and exciting. We've already crossed off properties that need too much doing to them, happy to do something but not about to tackle a full on refurb. We've also discussed what we could do here if we decide to stay, I think it will be the bedrooms getting a complete makeover. Oh for the good weather so we can get away and stop planning, winter always makes us think too much 🤣

Not too bad a day here, cold, but at least not wet, even a bit of sun.

Our first day back looking after the little  people, at least  Mummy  did not need us to shop for her.

OH has had Nathan's cold, I have a sore throat, and DD is in a bad way,  coughing, crackly chest, and has been suffering from bad headaches the last few weeks.  She has an appointment next week with her GP regarding the headaches as it is not something she usually has a problem with.

Callum was also coughing a lot overnight, but seemed better today.

OH has a knee problem, started a few of months back, only one works reasonably well now. She also has neck problems, but, after an X-ray, apparently only "wear and tear".    

As we have all our living rooms upstairs, and most bedrooms downstairs, we may need to look at getting a stair lift if she gets any worse.  We can move into the upstairs bedroom and bathroom, but she would still need to use the stairs for getting up here and using the utility room.  Walking around is mainly OK, but she is getting quite slow now.

Like you, TG, we have considered moving, but we really do not want to.  We like where we are, we are near family, and we know the house, having had it built back in 1988.  We have renewed a few things, white goods of course, plus hob, oven, extractor fans, some lights, some additions in the kitchen, and 2 new bathrooms, but that is as much as we intend to do, other than anything that might need repaired.

It is quite quiet here, the neighbours on one side were noisy 35 years back, but they are long gone, the new neighbours now have teenagers, but we never hear them.   Very few of the houses in our street have changed hands in the last 35 years, so we are now all getting "elderly",  On the other side, our neighbour lost her husband about 5 years back, and 3 doors down  the husband died suddenly last year.  Plus....we are allowed to have our caravan on the driveway, no restrictions.

Fife has many nice areas, we lived there for 5 years, in Dalgety Bay, and OH has a school friend in Aberdour who we visit every year if possible.    Good luck with your search!

Thanks David. You should have no problem getting into Meathop, there are few large twin axle vans and a large 5-wheeler this week, and the pitches are large.

Not as sunny as yesterday but felt warmer although we did have a little rain. We had an easy journey home this morning. Van cleared out and most of the washing done, and drying around the house. Trip to Tesco etc tonight to restock on foodstuffs.

Sounds good Nellie.  We'll give it a go, when we can get some dates.... 👍👍

David

Don’t even want to think about the moving thing. We have been here for 39 years this year. We have built on 3 times over those years. The year after covid lockdown we put our house on the market and had two offers in the first two weeks. The one we accepted bought it online! They didn’t actually come to see it for many weeks after, like most they were moving here from away. We put offers in on 5 different houses, each time being outbid by many people and by many, many thousands over the asking price but not being told we were unsuccessful until weeks later. On the last house we offered way over the asking price but found out later that the successful purchasers had offered £45,000 over the asking price. So fed up and disappointed at this time we took ours off the market. A year later, when things had settled we tried again, 3 local people were interested but couldn’t sell theirs and still haven’t, 9 months later and we have decided to stop where we are, it’s all just too much hassle. The market has swung in completely the other direction, with prices dropping like stones, few houses locally seem to be selling. One of our neighbours has had to put theirs on the market, 18 months and nothing. Two years ago everyone was moving from away to here, recently an estate agent we know told us that quite a few are now moving back as they have now been called back to the office and commuting is harder than they imagined. Our siting room is now being completely redecorated, new fireplace and carpet. Then a new kitchen. Hopefully less hassle and disappointment. Good luck TG, maybe it’s different in Scotland.

"but when we got home the SP meter had not moved "

2 cracking days, on both we never used any grid lecce between 1100 hrs and 1530 hrs, so SP's working hard, and front lounge, that has many windows is south facing so very little gas also, there are some benefits from living south of Watford gap, although temp never got above freezing yesterday, some puddles still frozen when i went out on my bike, very frosty this morning, conservatory roof frozen over.

OH off for xrays on foot today but she has done some good walking this week so hopefully with some physio she will improve further, we have booked our first trip away to Peranporth beginning of May, cant book sooner as Spanish daughter coming home for Easter and to go before April kicks in is generally too cold for us, getting soft in our dotage.

Did some work on the caravan yesterday in preparation nothing major took covers of motor mover and gave them a squirt of oil and put some grease round some of the moving parts of the hitch, not going to have the mobile svc mechanic this year as we only did approx 1k miles with the van last year,

We've got a viewing today of the property outside Perth, it's on the other side of the Tay river to us. 

Looks to have everything we are after, did a drive by yesterday but need to see inside and get a feel for the place. 

Our ever thoughtful neighbours (not) let their dog out early this morning then left her barking to get in for ages 😡 so wide awake and up hours ago. OH can sleep through most things and if woken turns over and goes back off again. I can't, wish I could. I hear everything, doors banging, dog barking, kids shouting to each other, even drawers being banged shut. They are up early and late to bed, can't see that changing anytime soon.

Sun's out so will get the washing machine on, think we will get a good day on the SPs the sky is clear 😊

Have a good day. 

On our estate of 35 houses two are for sale, both a bit over priced in my view? One couple at the back of us are looking for a bungalow. The strange thing is that about two years ago they extended and built a downstairs toilet/shower room. 

The thought of moving horrifies me, especially as it would require a major de-cluttering exercise! Going forward one potential issue is not having a downstairs toilet, two upstairs but non down. The upside is we get plenty of exercise! I am not quite sure what we would do if we felt the house was getting too much for us? Perhaps book ourselves into the Extra Care Village over looking Willen Lake which I romantically refer to as Colditz 

David