The money pit – episode 1

Ideally, I should have written this in real time. I managed to upload brief updates to Facebook but, as you’ll discover, events prevented any lengthy submissions.

The first week was mixed. My tablet and our main TV had both broken in the week before the move: not a good omen.

Due to horrendous traffic jams on the A303 we were very late arriving here. Too late for the removal lorry and too late to collect the keys from the Estate Agents. Luckily, our contact there was good enough to drive out here and leave the keys in the unlocked hot tub cabin.

On entering we immediately noticed the kitchen sink had several inches of murky water, trapped by some slices of bread in the plug hole; another bad omen. We unpacked some essentials from the car: kettle, tea, milk, etc and the new electrically inflatable air bed. We switched on the immersion heater as the owner had not left the Rayburn lit, as earlier promised. The night was uncomfortable but uneventful. The morning began with discovering that the shower couldn’t cope with the low water pressure and kept oscillating between very hot and very cold.

It had taken four guys to load the removal van but only two were there to unload. It took a long time but at least most things were in the right rooms. Most, but not all. The freezer (half full of food) had been left in the middle of the dining room, instead of in the kitchen next to a mains socket. Cue our wonderful next door neighbour, Mike. Not only did he help me move the freezer, he tested the shower then drove into town, bought us a better one (he is a builder), came back and fitted it.

Only when we started some unpacking did we discover the big lie in the Estate Agent’s brochure: “fastidiously maintained”. Remember that phrase as you read the rest of this saga.

Advertisement