Monday 17 November 2014

a very, very, very fine house

all our stuff - in a VAN
And having missed out a whole month we're (sort of) in our new house. 

We were lucky enough to be moving into the house of a friend of my wife's family so were able to move out stuff in gradually, even before we'd signed any rental agreement. 

But at the end we seemed to spend a whole lot of time waiting for our buyer to give us any instructions and we kind of took our feet off the pedal. And then all of a sudden they turned round and said that they had to move in at the end of that week. 

We gnashed our teeth and ranted and raved. But with the sure knowledge that people should be careful what they wish for, we steeled ourselves and said, "You want it? You can have it". 

That week was obviously the longest and most demanding week at work that I have ever had, so most of the shifting and planning fell to Mrs. D and our amazing families. And our old house wasn't as clean as we would've liked it to have been when we handed over the keys [not that it was dirty you understand] but at the end of the day it has gone

As I write, we're still at Mrs. D's folks' while we get straight but it's taking shape. And the new house feels more like a home than the other house ever did. 

It's still pretty frustrating that we were forced out of a house which we owned, and the changes in lending coupled with us being a one-wage family mean that we've had to go into a rental property, but it's so nice to know that whole situation is finally over and done with. 

And the further away it gets the less it bothers us. Onwards and upwards. Can't wait to spend Christmas in our lovely new home. 

My previous MS Society-rattling post got a bit of interest, not least from the charity itself. I'd tagged it in a tweet when I first published the article [on September 29th] so I expected a conversation at least. So I was genuinely pleased to get this a couple of days later:


Since then, the silence has been frankly deafening. The most engaged debate was on this very blog - it would've been interesting to get a bit of a discussion happening with the many other MS writers/bloggers/activists I follow on Twitter, most of whom follow the MS Society. 

Even if they think I'm full of sh*t, I'm interested in the logic behind THAT organisation using THAT phrase on THOSE items. 

I know it's popular among some members of our community but for all the reasons I mentioned I still think it's icky. And I stand by them. 

In my (to my mind) righteous fury, I'd forgotten that it's also the title of a blog written by the person who chooses the "blog of the week" on the Shift.MS Facebook group.

So I guess I won't hold my breath before I get picked for that particular accolade again. 

5 comments:

  1. I spotted the name of that Shift MS bod's blog the other day too and it made me chuckle. Her blog choices are quite interesting, I find... and not always in a good way. She seems to pick posts that are several years old and I have to say that I don't really agree with some of the stuff she comes up with. Still, I'm sure people would disagree with the posts I would pick too.
    Congrats on the move, Steve. It must be a huge relief that you can put all the stuff behind you. When I escaped from a horrible, toxic boss last year, it quickly became clear:

    a) you don't realise how toxic the air you have been breathing is until you stop breathing it. It can infect your whole life without you really noticing, and it's an enormous relief to be rid of it

    b) Your troubles quickly shift from being the centre of everything to be being beautifully irrelevant to your life.

    Take a deep breath and enjoy.

    T

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  2. thanks a lot man.

    it's a bit scary to think about how stressed i was living in that house (Mrs. D is the same) - and it really is obvious if we compare it with how we feel now - to better times!

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  3. Steve! So happy to see you're back and learn that you're in a better place. I hope you can find another source for your Compendium of Recent Annoying Activity (because I'm selfish that way) -- but one that doesn't compromise your health (much).

    Ms. C-P

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  4. thanks a lot, CrankyPants - it's going ok so far - and all Annoying Activity is taking place at work - which is as it should be, right?

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  5. Why, I have NO IDEA what you're talking about.

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