Thoughts from the front of the back of my mind

So this Friday I moved from The Island to my new house! The new place is on a cul-de-sac in Greater Leys, a quiet suburb of Oxford so it’s a very pleasant part of the world. It’s a middle-of-3 terrace, with a kitchen and lounge downstairs and a bedroom and bathroom upstairs. It’s also got 2 good sized cupboards to store things in and a coat/shoe cupboard which is very much appreciated after 2 years of throwing coats wherever we can find!

The move started on the 23rd, when the contracts were exchanged and we’d been boxing things up ever since. On the evening of Thursday 29th, Jonty brought the van round and we spent the night loading everything on, finishing the job on Friday morning. On Friday morning we packed the bed and sofa bed and all the other bits and pieces that weren’t boxed up yet. I got a call about 12:30 explaining the sale had completed but the seller had not dropped the keys off which was a bit worrying. We pushed on, finished the packing and started to clean the place up when I got a phone call telling me the keys had been dropped off and we could come pick them up and move in!

We decided to leave at 2 to beat the traffic but ended up getting snarled in the school run and a 30 minute journey took nearly an hour! I collected the keys and we made the final push to the new house, arriving about 4. We started to unpack quickly, just putting boxes and furniture in the lounge. As part of the deal, I’d agreed to help Jonty collect a piano from Wiltshire and bring it back to his place in Bedfordshire, quite a big part of the day still lay ahead of us! I was able to introduce myself to the neighbours and we found out one of them wanted to leave about 5 so that gave us all the incentive we needed and by 5:20 the van was unloaded, Una had been cuddled and told to get some sleep (she came down with a nasty bout of sickness that morning and had spent most of the day napping) and me and Jonty were on the road again. Both of us were impressed how quickly and well that had gone! We’d even loaded up the washing machine that the owner had asked me to dispose of as a trade for the bedroom cabinet and a leather two seater in the lounge. Disposing ended up being completely free as Jonty wanted one so that was that!

The journey to Wiltshire was amazing. We passed through the Ridgeway (a Neolithic highway, containing stone circles and Stonehenge) as the sun was setting, creating a brilliant mix of colours in the sky and a low, bright, thin crescent moon to our left gave a real feeling of magic to the incredible landscape. We arrived and collected the piano (which became over an hour of pushing and pulling and lifting and pivoting) and set off back to Bedfordshire, arriving at some time past midnight. When we found the piano wouldn’t get between the door and the balustrade of the stairs, Jonty demonstrated one of the joys of home ownership and took a saw to the balustrade.

We put the piano in it’s room, dropped the van off and I was brought home for about 2am (2 hours ahead of schedule!) where I promptly cuddled up with Una on our bed in our cluttered new house, still a bit excited so we chatted for about 30 minutes before the adrenaline and excitement wore off and I finally fell asleep.

On Saturday, we had the gorgeous Indian Summer to welcome us in which was a marvellous start to the new place. We needed to get something in for breakfast as well as needing to do some exploring of the nearby furniture shops so we took a gentle stroll to the nearby Spar for breakfast pastries and then onto the bus into town. We priced up a few things and looked around for ideas as well as exploring the big retail park near us which has an Asda Home, TK Maxx and B&Q so plenty of shops to get the new house furnished if needed.

When we got home we prioritised and after a bit of worrying about the space we ended up getting the kitchen unpacked and in a state where we could at least make pasta carbonara! As we still hadn’t got anywhere to sit we sat out in the garden, with a good drink each, and enjoyed the cool of the evening. It was nice. It’s been ages since I’ve had a garden I want to actually sit in. Having realised we had nothing to sit on the next big task was building some things!

We discussed how the lounge was going to be laid out, only to realise we’d put the wrong table (the small one) upstairs and we needed to by a TV stand! We swapped the tables around and I built the big table which now houses Una’s Mac. Thankfully the alcove in the bedroom was big enough, but only by a few inches. We’d have been a bit stuck otherwise! The table built, I was ready to tackle the sofa bed and, with Una’s help, I was able to get it built. We’ve set it up as an actual sofa rather than the bed it used to be in. With the leather sofa left by the previous resident we now have 5 places to sit in the lounge which means no more faffing around when we have friends over. We can still drop it into a bed easily enough so the offer of crash space in Oxford still stands!

One thing we did realise was there was nowhere near enough space for the dining table as well so, as it hadn’t been used for eating on in well over a year, it was kept dismantled and stored in the cupboard. When we have company over we can move the lounge around and set it up in the centre for a dinner party, but otherwise we’re eating on a fold up table in front of the telly like philistines, which is just marvellous! We cuddled for a bit on our new sofa before heading to bed for an early night in front of QI episodes on the Mac, an excellent test passed with flying colours. The remote control is a real boon!

On Sunday we awoke early, neither of us sleeping too well owing to us still learning the new sounds. The main sound that kept confusing me is a low humming that I assume comes from the nearby power relay. It sounds like something is on downstairs or the heating is on and is quite disorienting whilst in that half-awake/half-asleep stage. After cuddles and realising we were quite hungry we treated ourselves to bacon and pancakes on the new cooker. The whole thing is gas but must be lit by a flame, a set up I’ve never encountered before and not really chuffed with. I’ll be talking to OCHA (our landlord organisation) about getting this improved.

Full of tasty noms we planned to head out early to avoid the worst of the sun but after going up and down the stairs only a few times I realised it had been nearly 3 days since my last shower and in this heat it was well beyond tolerable. The bathroom leaves a lot to be desired, the main offender being the shower. It is neither wall mounted nor, indeed, works. Again, a chat with OCHA today should get this sorted out. We both had a bath we thoroughly needed and then headed off to the shops.

We spent the worst of the heat in Templar Square (our nearby big shopping centre) and we eventually got the only TV stand that was both small enough to not be hit by the back door and in our budget. It was quite a bit heavy so after a few stops and rest we eventually got it home and built up. The telly looks lovely on it and with that built and rigged up, turns out I need a signal booster, I moved on to my PC. That has been set up in the back of the lounge, with the leather sofa at a right angle against it creating a nice second space in the room.

With the PC rigged up and only a few boxes left in the lounge we called it a day and sat down for some cheese and crackers. Me and Una chatted, since we couldn’t watch anything, worked out what still needed doing and cuddled for a bit before heading upstairs for a game of Gloom and then cuddling up for sleeps, feeling like the new house was slowly becoming a home.

Originally posted at Contradiction In Terms. Please leave a comment there.