Thur, Aug 31

Does the drama never end? Paul drove to the house for 7am to wait for John Lewis to deliver some appliances, and started pulling up the old carpet, stripping wallpaper off the walls, and tearing out a fitted cupboard. However, within 20 minutes of arriving at the house, he locked himself in one of the bedrooms. He had closed the door so he could get the carpet up, and found that the door would not open. So at 7.30am Paul climbed out of the first floor (second floor - if you’re American) and jumped into the front yard. Then when the appliances arrived, the guys from John Lewis could not get the old freezer out from the shed at the bottom of the garden, or get the new one in. What made this even worse was that Paul was told the shed roof was asbestos. Then, if that was not enough, the guys could not get the old washing machine disconnected because the plastic taps on the water pipes would not close off. Luckily one of them used some ingenuity and got around the problem. Next, they couldn’t get the old fridge out because the power lead was connected under the back of the base cupboards. And, just to round the whole day off, once they did get the fridge disconnected, we found that the new one was too big to fit the space!!

Wed, Aug 30

Today we finally closed on our house. But the drama continued. After being told we could collect our keys at 9am, we were informed that we would have to wait until later in the day because the money had not been received by the seller’s lawyers. In fact, our lawyers said that we had until the end of the day. This was not good, as we had a haircut appointment in Winchmore Hill at 4pm, and Paul had a dentist appointment after that. Fortunately we got the call dead on noon to say we could collect the keys and that the house was ours. Even then there was another surprise. The sellers left behind the fridge, freezer, washing machine and dishwasher. We know that she was being thoughtful. However, we had our own appliances being delivered in the morning.

Tues, Aug 29

Today was another stressful day for the two of us as we waited to close on our house. A day after Paul quit his job he received an eleventh hour call from our lawyers asking whether he had filed bankruptcy. Needless to say, we waited eagerly for 5pm, hoping that something would not come out of the woodwork to ruin our plans. Paul did get another call from the lawyer and our mortgage broker. But, there were no more problems.

Paul woke up for the first time in over four months knowing that he wouldn't be going back to Hertford to work. It was also the first time that he waved from the window as Dawn left for work, instead of the other way around. And how did Paul celebrate this change in lifestyle? He went out for a run, and for the first time ran his whole route without stopping. He knows that running two and a half miles in 23 minutes is not Olympic standard. However, it was a huge step on his quest towards running the Hatfield 10K on October 1st.

Mon, Aug 28

After Paul had called it a day at work, he came home and did some breakfast. We didn't mention that when he went to the office it was for 7am. We then had a ride back over to IKEA to order a sofa and chair for delivery. However, when they said that we would have to pay £10 a night storage we decided to wait until after completion and deal with it then. We did, however, pick up a white wicker chair for Tiny as planned. As you can see in the picture, she may take a little while to get used to it.

Today is a Bank Holiday in England, which means that most people have a day off work. Dawn did and so did Paul. However, Paul made a special trip to the office to hand in his notice. As you will have read in our blog over the last two weeks, Paul has had a pretty stressful time at work. What we haven’t mentioned is that Paul has also had to deal with many other things at the work place that he objects with. These issues, along with the exchange in contracts on our house, led Paul to quit his position as System Support Manager so he can start afresh once we move.

Sun, Aug 27

Today we headed out again in search of furniture and on this occasion we were more successful. We drove over to Edmonton, and paid a visit to IKEA and MFI. The latter was a waste of time. However, at IKEA we found ourselves a three-seater sofa, single chair and ottoman that will suit us. They weren't too expensive, and we'll be able to buy a set of covers so that once Tiny has ruined the original set, we'll have a replacement set to cover the chairs with. We also found a wicker chair for Tiny, too. She used to have a wicker rocking chair in Florida, but it was too big to bring with us. After furniture shopping, we dropped into Alfred Herring for a roast beef dinner, before popping into see Paul's dad and brother.

Sat, Aug 26

Today we spent a great deal of our day on getting ready for the move to our new home. We ordered a dishwasher, fridge and freezer online from John Lewis, a washer dryer from Comet online, and a treadmill from an online discount sports business. We also ran some errands, picking up some stuff for Tiny before ordering a bed at a local furniture store in Enfield. We looked at some sofas and dining tables and chairs, but they were too expensive. We’ll pop out again tomorrow and see if we can get something on sale in a discount furniture store.

Fri, Aug 25

Great news!!! Today, after weeks of constantly chasing the lawyers working on our house purchase, Paul finally got the telephone call late today to inform us that we had exchanged contracts on our new house and that we could finally work on moving to Hertford.

Thu, Aug 24

And we thought Paul’s previous week was a bad one. This work week certainly proved that "nothing is as certain as the unforeseen." On Tuesday, Paul arrived at work to find out that the longest serving controller had handed in his resignation. The next day, the new helpdesk guy that Paul had introduced resigned after two months. On Thursday, things got worse when the controller that works the day shift called in sick (as did the helpdesk guy). This meant that Paul had to cover the control room from 7am until 7pm. Oh yea, if this wasn’t bad enough, there was a full power outage that meant the building was without computers and phones for over three hours. By the way, they did get the file server back working on Tuesday (after 8 days). But their secondary system is still down coming into the weekend.

Sun, Aug 20

Thank heavens we have weekends to recover from the work week. Yesterday, we had a ride over to Islington and indulged in some much overdue pie and mash, before calling in to see Paul’s dad and his brother George. Then, it was back home so Paul could watch his team Spurs on pay-per-view. Unfortunately, they didn’t comply with a win. But, it was the first game of the season, so there is still a long way to go.

Today, like yesterday, Paul went out for a morning jog in preparation for his charity run in a few weeks. Only this time he did twice his regular distance and was pretty pleased to complete five miles in just under three quarters of an hour. However, he will be the first to admit that he is still a long way from completing this distance (not to mention the 6.2 mile race distance) running all the way.

As for the house purchase, the ball is now out of our hands. We have returned all the paperwork to the lawyers (including the deposit and other fees). Now we’re just waiting on the seller’s lawyers to supply the appropriate answers to the questions ours raised the week before last. Should these come back satisfactorily, then we will be able to exchange contracts and schedule a date for completion and our move. Keep your fingers crossed that all our ducks fall into place this week.

Fri, Aug 18

For Paul, this was the week from Hell at work, and it would not be exaggerating to say that it was by far the worst working week of his life. It all started to go wrong about 5pm on Monday evening when he got a call from the office to say that the server that houses the company’s roster system had crashed. He later discovered that this same server also houses the system that is used to manage the helpdesk calls, site meetings, etc. As of Friday evening, the system was still down and they are looking at having it back on Monday (if they're lucky). In addition to this, Paul also came face to face with several things in the office on an accounting and political level that horrified him. So much so that he’s not even able to include it in the blog!!!

Sun, Aug 13

Yesterday Paul drove over and picked up his dad and brother George and brought them back to our place for lunch. After another hectic week at work, and a late night (for us that is) on the town the night before, we just wanted to relax a little. Paul prepared some roast pork, which we had with roasted parsnips, carrots and new potatoes, along with green beans and corn bread (corn bread, which we'll add, that Paul made from scratch using cornmeal and flour, since we can't buy cornbread mix here). Paul's dad and brother seemed to enjoy the "Southern" fare.

Paul has been keeping up with his running this week. He went out for a run Tuesday and Thursday before going to work, and again yesterday and today. Less then two months left for him to build up his stamina and distance so that he can complete the 6.1 mile race comfortably. Don't forget to check out the sponsorship link!!! He has a target of £50 that (with tax-free additions) will be going to Cancer Research.

Fri, Aug 11

Today Dawn took a much deserved rest from commuting by using one of her many vacation days so she could stay at home with Tiny. This was because we had scheduled a night out on the town with some of Paul's old work colleagues from Bowers.

So tonight we caught a train into central London to meet up with the crowd at a pub called Porterhouse (a stone's throw from Covent Garden). We enjoyed catching up with some old friends, as we hadn't seen Trevor, Richard, Pam and Helene since we were here in 2001, while Paul hadn't seen some of the others since his leaving do back in 1999.

We were the first to call it a night around 9pm and promised to meet up again soon, like having a house-warming party once we move, or popping down to see Trevor, Karen and the kids. Oh yea, Richard also did us a favour by witnessing our signatures on our mortgage deed (see picture above).

Wed, Aug 9

Progress (somewhat) with our house purchase this week. Although, to be honest, this is becoming very tiresome and tedious. Today we finally received a mortgage offer from the lender, setting out the details of the mortgage and confirming that they are prepared to loan us the money we need to buy the house. We made the inital offer on July 4th, and were told we should receive the formal mortgage offer within a week of that, at the latest.

We also received the contract on the house from our lawyers that we needed to sign in front of a witness (could be anyone but family). This will be dated when the two sets of lawyers agree that all outstanding issues are resolved, documents received, and monies received, which (based on the way things have gone to date) could be three weeks away yet. Our lawyer is still waiting to hear back from the seller on ten issues that they need answers to. Then contracts will be exchanged (as it is called). A week later, if we are lucky, we can then complete and hopefully move.

Dawn's Diary

Dawn has decided to keep a separate diary of her thoughts, observations and experiences of life here in the UK from an American point of view. Be sure to check out the link on the right side of the screen.

Sun, Aug 6

This morning Paul finally went for a run, in preparation for his race in October. He's aiming to get out four times a week, which will include a setting out around 4.45am on both Tuesday and Thursday for the next few weeks.

Later in the day we headed up to Enfield Town to pick up a coffee maker, because the one we bought in March died on us. While there we noticed a plaque on the wall of the local branch of Barclays Bank that proudly states that the FIRST ever ATM was installed there in 1967. How did we ever survive without them? Although here in England we don't even sign credit card receipts now. All we have to do is enter our pin number.

Sat, Aug 5

Today we picked Paul's dad and brother George up and headed down to Oxford Circus in the West End to do some window shopping for appliances. If we are successful in buying the house we have an offer on, then we are going to need to buy a fridge, freezer, washing machine and dryer. Not to mention a treadmill. Paul has signed up for a 10K charity race in preparation for the London Marathon next year. Check out the link. Sponsorships are welcome!!! SPONSOR PAUL

After checking out the appliances and some prices at John Lewis, we had lunch at a pub around the corner before heading back on the Tube. Despite it being a weekend, there were still plenty of people riding the underground. Here is a photo Paul took showing all the passengers on the platform at Kings Cross Station.

Fri, Aug 4

What a crazy week. We started the week in hope that we would finally see our house purchase take some positive moves. However, by today we were totally exhausted as more and more problems surfaced. On Tuesday we were looking forward to a phonecall from our mortgage broker to tell us the mortgage had finally been approved. Instead he informed us that we needed to supply a letter from our landlord to confirm we had been paying rent. Luckily I was able to get hold of him and get this done. However, this just added another week to the whole mortgage process. Then we were informed by our lawyers that they had still not received a response from the seller's lawyers, despite several chasing letters. Needless to say, any chance of an August move appears to be fading into September (if we're lucky).

At work, Paul had back-to-back meetings. On Wednesday he arrived at work at 7am for a monthly executive meeting. He finally left work at 6pm after an 8 hour meeting. On Thursday he was back in work at 7am for the monthly SDM meeting. This one lasted 7 1/2 hours. Needless to say, we really needed to see the weekend.