If it hadn't been for the enforced rest I'd not have had time - or perhaps even inclination - to blog. Is blogging not just a teeny-weeny bit egotistical? Or can the outpourings be justified by convincing myself that it's purely a vehicle for chronicling the barn renovation? Whatever....I'll put cursor to page draft and see where we end up. This first posting will be a bit of a Ronnie Corbett to get all the background laid down......
And here is the background. In May, Fiona and I were looking at purchasing a very old, very lovely cottage in High Wycombe. It was ours bar the ink drying and the successful sale of our own house. Having shown Mum and Dad the details it was tentatively suggested that, rather than spend almost half a million pounds on a Southern pad, why not renovate their Cheshire barn which was of the same dimensions but not the same number of noughts. But no, I didn't think I was quite ready to move back home and we embarked on that most stressful initiative - the sale and purchase of property.
How quickly life is turned upside down - a week later Mum passed away, so suddenly it's still hard to believe she's not coming home. Without hesitation we agreed to move up to Cheshire to be with Dad. Our house had been on the market for some weeks with very little interest but, the day after Mum's funeral we were returning South for a christening (Fiona was Godmother, her second Godchild - I've never been asked to be a Godparent) when we got a call to say there was somebody extremely interested in our house. She made an offer, we accepted and the longest intent to purchase in the history of property began. Indeed it was so long and so stressful that we eventually lost the will to sell and took it off the market. The very next day we sold it again to neighbours who had been through a similar trauma and completion was reached in one of the shortest intents to purchase in the history of property.
We'd moved up to Cheshire whilst first prospective purchaser was still dithering and less than three weeks after the move I survived a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage, hence the enforced rest. Apparently I have two aneurysms in my brain - well, only one now as one burst - and I'm off work for at least three months; indeed I won't be back until I've seen the surgeon again late January for a post-surgery update and a decision about aneurysm two. So, time to barn-blog.
Running concurrently with the sale and the sub-arach was the planning of the barn renovation. We already had planning permission and plans had been drawn that required only a little modification to the internals. We got the tender process underway and a building company was commissioned. They began work two weeks ago.
And here is the background. In May, Fiona and I were looking at purchasing a very old, very lovely cottage in High Wycombe. It was ours bar the ink drying and the successful sale of our own house. Having shown Mum and Dad the details it was tentatively suggested that, rather than spend almost half a million pounds on a Southern pad, why not renovate their Cheshire barn which was of the same dimensions but not the same number of noughts. But no, I didn't think I was quite ready to move back home and we embarked on that most stressful initiative - the sale and purchase of property.
How quickly life is turned upside down - a week later Mum passed away, so suddenly it's still hard to believe she's not coming home. Without hesitation we agreed to move up to Cheshire to be with Dad. Our house had been on the market for some weeks with very little interest but, the day after Mum's funeral we were returning South for a christening (Fiona was Godmother, her second Godchild - I've never been asked to be a Godparent) when we got a call to say there was somebody extremely interested in our house. She made an offer, we accepted and the longest intent to purchase in the history of property began. Indeed it was so long and so stressful that we eventually lost the will to sell and took it off the market. The very next day we sold it again to neighbours who had been through a similar trauma and completion was reached in one of the shortest intents to purchase in the history of property.
We'd moved up to Cheshire whilst first prospective purchaser was still dithering and less than three weeks after the move I survived a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage, hence the enforced rest. Apparently I have two aneurysms in my brain - well, only one now as one burst - and I'm off work for at least three months; indeed I won't be back until I've seen the surgeon again late January for a post-surgery update and a decision about aneurysm two. So, time to barn-blog.
Running concurrently with the sale and the sub-arach was the planning of the barn renovation. We already had planning permission and plans had been drawn that required only a little modification to the internals. We got the tender process underway and a building company was commissioned. They began work two weeks ago.
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