The beginning (part 3) Moving and buying

Accommodation

So with the house sold. I could move. Right at the beginning of the experience. I knew, that I wouldn’t have time to buy a new house, within the time, to start my Masters. I had initially thought about privately renting but it soon became apparent that renting with a dog, wouldn’t be practical.

An option, I thought about straight away was to go into halls. So I contacted the University to see if I could move in early and whether I would be able to only stay a term, which I had guessed would be the amount of time it would take to buy and move into a place (Yes, I am very naïve).

Debby, who is in charge of the Accommodation at Rochester was great. I explained the situation and during the entire process she was very accommodating to the changing move dates. She even enquired as to whether I could bring my dog, though I knew it wouldn’t be practical.

Reggie

So what to do with Reggie, who had been at my side for the last seven year. If everything was going to happen. I know that Reggie would have to be looked after by someone for a while. Fortunately, I had made friends with various people over the park who had dogs over the years and many of course had lost those dogs due to old age.

So I tested the waters to see, if any of them would take him. Fortunately, a lovely couple said they would. They had owned several greyhounds in the past and knew what they were like. Apart from wanting to be with me one hundred percent of the time, is a pretty easy dog to live with. He is very clean and friendly, so I didn’t think he would have too many problems settling into and fortunately, this had proved the case.

Moving

With the sale going through. I could start looking at housing. I had seen some lovely big houses around Strood, which were at the very top end of my budget but it would leave me with a huge amount of money after costs and with the fuel crisis, heating them would be a big problem. So I thought I would go for something a little smaller, like a two bedroom semi detached in Rochester.

The first house I saw, was nice but not particularly practical, particularly with Reggie, As getting to the garden would involve going up six foot worth of steps and that wasn’t gong to happen.

So we get to the second house. I went on my birthday to see the house. Could this be a positive omen? Both houses were very similar. My guess was that they were built over a similar period of time and the layout was almost the same. With the second house, where wasn’t a parking space but the road is quite quiet and I was told that parking wasn’t a huge issue. The garden was a little smaller but more practical and still a decent size.

It also turned out that the couple had already had a buyer but they had pulled out. So much of the paperwork had already been done (I have already received the surveyors report. This would help with the move time. What finally sold me on the house was the park, that was just down the road. With Reggie’s age he doesn’t need a big walk and with the park so close, it was a huge boon.

Is the house ideal. Probably not, it is a little small and ideally I would have liked parking (particularly with eclectic vehicles coming in the future) but for now it would suit me needs.

In the end, I put an offer in the for asking price and it was accepted. I don’t yet have a date for moving but I am hoping before December.

Next up. Moving.

Edd from Ewemove and suggest a company Harradines. Who I contacted. They did both removals and storage, which would be ideal. They also offered a packing service, which I didn’t take, as I knew that packing myself would force me to go through everything to see if it was needed or could be either sent to a charity shop or taken to the dump and because everything was being split between two locations I needed to know what I was taking.

It turned out that there was a lot of stuff to go to the dump or charity shop. I started taking stuff down in July and by August. I had done several dump and charity runs and I felt I was getting ahead of everything. To say that was a mistake was an understatement.

Even though I had booked the removal date. It got to less than a couple of weeks until the move and a week until the removal me came and I still had no boxes. This would probably be the biggest complaint. I would have loved to have had more time to pack.

The boxes were delivered on a Wednesday evening. The removal men were coming the following Tuesday and I had house to box up. This was going to be tight. Unfortunately, I had a horrible gum infection and one of my teeth was giving me issues, so would have to come out on the Thursday, so at least another half day lost (I did one dump run that day). So really I only had from the Friday to pack up.

Wreck
If were to move again I would go with the packing service. It is just so less stressful and knackering. The gum infection really had taken it’s toll on me and I wasn’t feeling great to begin with. But I had to pack and fast. It seems, that I was packing for most of the day, with small breaks to just get some energy back. During the entire thing I was feeling drained. I would do a bit of each room, to keep my interest but I knew, I had to finish certain spaces. Such as the attic and shed. This took a lot of time.

I had also intended to hire a skip but I was running out of money (I even had to sell a camera and lenses) to pay for everything before the move, so instead because I have a rather large car. I decided to drive everything to the dump. I did save a lot of money but I had to do a lot of trips and I had to get several big items, which only just fitted inside the car (there is a reason I love estates).

By the Sunday I was starting to really flag. I had very little sleep, over the previous nights (a couple of hours) and by the Sunday night, whilst I thought I was doing well. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to finish packing on my own. Fortunately, I didn’t have to and my good friend Skins came over to help.

By the Monday, I was a wreck. My brain just couldn’t keep up with anything. I was exhausted and i was feeling terrible. Skins was a game changers. He was like a whirlwind going through the house, whilst i was more like a gentle wind on a summers day. He was every where doing stuff and I must admit to feeling exceptionally guilty because he was doing all the work.

It was about 10pm, that we finished. Almost every was packed that was going to need some sleep, as I still had a few things to pack in the morning, have breakfast and take Reggie over to friends to look after whilst the move was happening.

The next morning. I was up and ready. Reggie was out by 7:45 and I thought (erroneously) that the removal people would be in by 8am (It turned out to be 9am). The removal itself want pretty smoothly. They were out before 11am.

Reggie

Reggie had known that something was up for a few weeks but he was a trooper. He was wondering what was going on and wanted to be with me. Unfortunately, he had a little accident, falling down some step. hurt his paw that morning and had mu friends worrying that he would need the vet (fortunately, we didn’t) but when he came home, I think he was a little shocked that everything had gone.

I had planned to take the Wednesday off but somehow that din’t happen. I had a couple of things which needed to be taken to the dump (which had been forgotten, including a rather large cabinet. I also had to pack and clean the house from top to bottom.

Reggie, went on the Thursday afternoon. I decided not to go to the dump that day with my last load, just so I could be with Reggie for all of that day. In the afternoon, after dinner and a good walk. I took Reggie over to his new temporary home and I haven’t seen him since.

He has settled in well. He still goes over to the park and is the star of the show. I regularly speak to the couple looking after him but it was decided that it was best for me not to see him because it would be unsettling for him. I also didn’t realise how much I would miss him. Generally, it is when I go to the shops, walking past the pet section, where I go to grab a bag of treats for him, then realise I can’t

The last morning.

Once Reggie went I had to make sure everything was packed. Compared to the day before, it was pretty easy but I still had to take some bits to the dump on the Friday morning, such as my old mattress. I was up at 4am on the Friday morning. Cleaning and getting everything ready. I had agreed with my neighbour to store everything in his garage and then pick it all up and take it to where I was moving to, after handing in the keys for the house. In the end I was about an hour later than I would have liked but all in all the last day went well.

I have a huge amount of people to think, who helped with the move. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here now. None of them will ever read the blog but just those little bits of support can make a huge difference to peoples lives.