The Lost Weekend.

I need a massage. You just wouldn't believe the last few days. The weekend wasn't so bad, with the usual packing, loading, fetching, carrying and general confusion. It was lovely to have Son and the Girlfriend here, and they were very helpful (though getting up at 12 noon could have been improved on!); the van was collected and mostly loaded by the end of Sunday. Monday morning dawned grey and unpromising, though at least it wasn't raining. And I already had Grandson here (he slept like an angel from 7pm to 7am), so they could just carry on unencumbered. There was furniture to collect from here and from the storage unit. And stuff to transfer from one unit to another. Plus endless boxes and furniture from the flat. And of course they discovered that the van wasn't big enough to fit everything in and do it in one journey. (I hate to say "I told you so", but I had said that it wasn't big enough the week before. What do I know?) But, and it's a huge but, the money did not come through from our buyer to complete the sale. We waited and waited. The Solicitors waited and waited. And I was stuck here, unable to move, and so stressed out I could feel my shoulders tensing more with every hour. Anyway, brevity is the soul of wit,as they say :) so I won't go on about it. Suffice it to say that by the end of the day it had still not completed, and our buyer was apparently in tears in her bank because the necessary monies had not been transferred. What a nightmare. Later still, when Daughter and the Boyfriend were on the way back to the storage unit for more stuff, the van broke down - at least, it ran out of diesel because the fuel gauge was broken -and the people from Choice Van Hire had to come out and restart it. (I mention their name because they were apparently great, got the van going very quickly again and were very cheerful and helpful.) So at least Daughter sorted the storage before 5pm, when it closes. And they had already signed the Tenancy Agreement and checked the Inventory, so they were in at the other end. Thank God they were not selling and buying on the same day, because that would have been a disaster! They collected the last pieces of furniture and then drove back to their new home to unload and set up Grandson's bedroom. Finally, they came to collect Grandson at about 9.30pm. By which time we were both exhausted. Grandson because he wasn't in bed at 6, and me because I'd had possibly the most stressful experience in living memory and had been powerless to do anything about it. When I phoned Son to tell him all the details, he said "I hope it gets sorted out fast, Mum, because I'm going to run out of money in a couple of days!" My thoughts were simply this - never spend the money until you've got it in your hot little hands!

Anyway, today we are still waiting, and according to my Solicitor, who is his usual sanguine and laid-back self, this is happening more and more often: "It's just a Contractual problem." he said, quite calmly. All I can say is, I hope it never happens to me again. I'll keep you posted...

This morning I woke up feeling unjustifiably cheerful, and as it's a glorious day I went for a brisk walk down by the sea. Thank God for the sea! I had been hearing about the load of wood from a cargo ship, which has been washed up on the shores of Sussex, and was curious to see for myself. Sure enough, there are great planks of timber littering the beach, looking like giant matchsticks spilled out of a giant matchbox, all the way along the shoreline. (Or maybe a giant game of Pikastiks!) Apparently people are being warned against taking this timber because the owners want to collect it and sell it. Looking at it, I doubt this because lots of it is damaged and of course it has been soaked in sea water. Some of it looks good, and I'd be tempted to collect a few planks if I could carry them. The tide was very high this morning, and though the sea looked calm in the sun, there was a greasy-looking swell and six-foot waves were crashing onto the shingle. It all made for a very interesting walk. And at least it distracted me from the main concern. Today, we're playing yet another waiting game.