It really was a trauma but we finally got there.

Over the last few weeks we finally got to the point of completing on the new build we have been after. It has been depressing at every stage, just because of how awful the process of buying a property is, and because the seller (a major national house builder) made things difficult with their slow and often inaccurate process… but anyway, it’s now done.

We completed at the end of October, but due to the usual whirlwind of nonsense that is life, we had several events already happening that weekend. We therefore lost all of the first weekend. All we managed was a few non-used items of furniture, and had a look around and measure up.

The thing that stressed me the most was (and still is) the fact that the new house has no window furnishings. I have never moved into anywhere with neither blinds or curtains, and consequently I have had to learn about something I have no interest in. The process has been shockingly bad, including trying to get a local firm to quote for the business. After three visits, the quote was so much higher than buying the items and getting someone else to fit (because, of course, neither of us want to drill into new walls when we haven’t a clue what we’re doing) that we have had to take matters into our own hands. We hoped the difference might be a few hundred or maybe £500 or something, and then we could think… well, at least we’re supporting a local business like ourselves, but it’s nearly £1200 more. So we have to learn…

Moving around a house completely exposed presents its own problems. Thankfully the bathroom has privacy glass, so it’s been possible to at least wash and get dressed in privacy. But otherwise just moving around the house puts you on full view. Never have I felt so uncomfortable sitting next to my partner in the living room.

The second weekend was a little better… though it was delayed by my parents visiting. They wanted to help, and tried their best, but they were a bit of a hindrance. Since we’re moving ourselves, as the old property is going to “stay in the family” we were somewhat glad of having an extra car to fill up. But each filling up of the car – with more and more crap – made me also stressed about how much rubbish we have. Years of crap, most of it never touched. The kitchen took an age to empty, despite being a tiny room. But mum and dad asked too many questions and delayed things with family things. Then they disappeared after a few hours anyway. It was sad when they had to go so soon, but the attraction of their neighbour daughter (my sister) and grandson was too much to bear.

We did exhaust ourselves though at the end of the second weekend. It was two days of back of forth, car load after car load, with also having to think about getting food and somewhere to sleep. The attempt to move the bed ended in disaster when J was just totally exhausted. I said if we could squash the heavy and unyielding mattress in at least we can sleep on the floor. Which we did.

The first night, the Sunday at the end of the second weekend, was terrible. The light streamed in from a nearby street light, and kept both of us awake almost all night. We moved the mattress to a different room for the rest of the week. We couldn’t move the rest of the bed, or our stuff, until the weekend. We just don’t have the time. Other people can book days off work. Some of our customers say “oh just tell everyone you’re closed!” We can’t. We would miss so much business, and piss off so many people who rely on us being there. Then the catch up process is horrendous and dull, calling people as new calls are constantly coming in.

So we braved it out to the weekend… and somehow basically managed to finish everything on the Saturday. This was important as we really wanted a day off to celebrate J’s birthday on the Sunday (perhaps more on that another time). We think we counted a total of 18 car loads. Maybe we could have packed better. Maybe we could have done it very differently… we tended to unpack each box at each arrival, which slowed things down but I think helped us get to use the new house straight away.

But now it’s all over. Now we have to make this house feel more homely. We are failing on this at the moment. I had taken for granted that houses always have towel rails and places to hang pictures, let alone curtains/blinds. We have nothing, except artfully hung towels over bath edges, and other sillyness. It all looks a bit boring.

I keep saying I won’t like it around here. My feeling is that it’s just not the type of area that I will enjoy. It feels too exposed, and the street design isn’t particularly nice either. They haven’t bothered building a proper footpath connecting this estate to the neighbouring one, so there’s just a mud track. We’re also 30 minutes walk from the office, a problem that has been escalated by shocking weather on almost every moving day.

And thinking of that, I almost got to the end of this without mentioning that on our 4 big moving days, it rained heavily on all of them. All of them. OK, maybe the last one had a bit of sun too, but there was still a downpour. Coming off the back of nearly four dry months, that was quite disappointing.

So maybe we have to stay here for a while. Neither of us wants to move ever again, and certainly not under our own steam. We shall see…