Well, the last time I wrote this was the night before we were due to move - or so we thought. We did not in the end get into the new house into the following day though - Thursday 14th rather than Wednesday 13th. The move itself went very well - the men - three of them were there bright and early, the new sofa was delivered and put straight on the van, and the old one taken away, and we were ready to go by a quarter to 12. The men though went for lunch first, so said there was no need for us to rush there following them. I left around 12.30 then while Coran stayed in the house tidying up and waiting for the new owners to hand over the keys etc and do the meter readings.
When I got there around 1pm, the van had not yet arrived, but the previous owners were there, so we did the meter readings and I went and sat in my car eating the wheat free rolls I had brought with me. It was then that I heard the previous owner on the phone saying there was some sort of problem. It transpired that the solicitor, in their infinite stupidity had put all the money into Coran's account instead of paying the preious owner and Haulfryn, the park owners. Under the law, when you sell a mobile home, the park owner is allowed to take a commission of up to 10 percent of the sale value. Until Haulfryn got their share, they would not sign the papers to say that we were the new owners, and we could not therefore take possession. So there was I stuck at the new house, trying to explain to three removal men why they could not unload the van, while Coran was back at the old one, trying to work out what the solicitor had done and get the money sorted out.
Unfortunately, because the funds had been transferred into a postal account rather than a branch based one, he could not do the transfers required, he also did not have the right ID on him, as it had all gone to the new house. So by 3.30 or so, when it became clear we would not be able to organise anything, he had to go and meet me at the new property. Luckily, the park owners did allow us to put the furniture into the house, but they could not allow us to stay there overnight, so we had to go and find a hotel. What really bugged me about this whole thing though was that the solicitors realised the day BEFORE we moved that they had made this mistake, but did not see fit to tell us. If they had then we would have time to sort things out and get the money transferred into the right accounts.
On top of all this though, we then found that our mobile phones did not work, as about the only network that does work up there is Vodafone. So, we had to then get new mobile phones, which cost us around £80 a piece. Then the Royal Mail did not start the redirect when they should have done. The biggest bigbear though that we were without a landline telephone, email or internet until this afternoon, and it took BT a total of 10 days to get this sorted out.
I do not know what this has all been about - but to say it has been annoying is an understatement of the grandest proportions. Still, it all came out in the end, and we are now finally beginning to settle in and actually feel like we are home. The boxes were collected yesterday, so we have our living room back, and all that now remains to be done is to giobe the place a good clean, get some bedroom curtains and organise the network cables.
On the writing front, then things are pretty much as they were before we left the old house. The last week has been spent concentrating on unpacking and getting settled in rather than worrying about writing. When I checked the emails erlier t today though no books appear to have been sold during my time offline, there was however an email from Claire at Borders asking me to confirm the date for my talk there in January, which I have done. So that, as they say is that.
When I got there around 1pm, the van had not yet arrived, but the previous owners were there, so we did the meter readings and I went and sat in my car eating the wheat free rolls I had brought with me. It was then that I heard the previous owner on the phone saying there was some sort of problem. It transpired that the solicitor, in their infinite stupidity had put all the money into Coran's account instead of paying the preious owner and Haulfryn, the park owners. Under the law, when you sell a mobile home, the park owner is allowed to take a commission of up to 10 percent of the sale value. Until Haulfryn got their share, they would not sign the papers to say that we were the new owners, and we could not therefore take possession. So there was I stuck at the new house, trying to explain to three removal men why they could not unload the van, while Coran was back at the old one, trying to work out what the solicitor had done and get the money sorted out.
Unfortunately, because the funds had been transferred into a postal account rather than a branch based one, he could not do the transfers required, he also did not have the right ID on him, as it had all gone to the new house. So by 3.30 or so, when it became clear we would not be able to organise anything, he had to go and meet me at the new property. Luckily, the park owners did allow us to put the furniture into the house, but they could not allow us to stay there overnight, so we had to go and find a hotel. What really bugged me about this whole thing though was that the solicitors realised the day BEFORE we moved that they had made this mistake, but did not see fit to tell us. If they had then we would have time to sort things out and get the money transferred into the right accounts.
On top of all this though, we then found that our mobile phones did not work, as about the only network that does work up there is Vodafone. So, we had to then get new mobile phones, which cost us around £80 a piece. Then the Royal Mail did not start the redirect when they should have done. The biggest bigbear though that we were without a landline telephone, email or internet until this afternoon, and it took BT a total of 10 days to get this sorted out.
I do not know what this has all been about - but to say it has been annoying is an understatement of the grandest proportions. Still, it all came out in the end, and we are now finally beginning to settle in and actually feel like we are home. The boxes were collected yesterday, so we have our living room back, and all that now remains to be done is to giobe the place a good clean, get some bedroom curtains and organise the network cables.
On the writing front, then things are pretty much as they were before we left the old house. The last week has been spent concentrating on unpacking and getting settled in rather than worrying about writing. When I checked the emails erlier t today though no books appear to have been sold during my time offline, there was however an email from Claire at Borders asking me to confirm the date for my talk there in January, which I have done. So that, as they say is that.
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