Today is the day we bought a house

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Almost a year to the day of arriving in England we have bought a house. It is in Pewsey, just off the High Street and it is gorgeous.  Our dream Pewsey property, in fact.  I thought when we came to buy, we would have to compromise a bit, or even a lot, but it has ticked all our boxes and more. Oh we are so excited we can’t stop jumping up and down.

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Click here for more pictures and floor plan

The owners of the property have dropped the price dramatically, which is sad for them, but fantastic for us. They want to move to France and now they can. We move in early march 2009. Our little cottage that we are renting at the moment has been good but there were issues with the size, it can’t fit all our furniture and the garden and lack of garage and the overlooked-ness of it all put us off buying it. And then a couple of months ago we were walking around the village with my sister and brother in law and Terry pointed to this house and said that was the one for us. And it was and now it is ours (or very nearly). We are going to meet the owners on Saturday so we can look at it again. Funny how you spend the biggest amount of money on a feeling. So there we go, on our way to being settled again and we can’t wait, but before that we have to pack all our belongings again, just one more time and then we will have about two months to get it ready to move in as we have paid the rent here till the end of January.

So what else is new?  Summer has been a bit of a wash out but we have enjoyed the sunshine when we can. PC Doctor Dave has been getting busier and busier, which is great news, and we have been out and about and had lots of visitors. Since we last wrote, Mark has driven all the way to Mongolia, we had a party for his homecoming and then we went up to Hyde Park to wave him off. It looked like a fantastic adventure (if you are young and don’t mind driving 12000 miles). I don’t think they washed themselves or their clothes much, but they made it with the taxi cab hanging together with a couple of elastic bands and a bit of wire. They raised lots of money for charity and Mark wended his way through China managing to damage his wrist on the way playing football at the Mongolian stadium. He is now back in New Zealand where he has sprained his ankle snow boarding last weekend! Jonathan (the other nephew), on the other hand, has been hard at work in Perth and has now changed jobs and is working for Rio Tinto Zinc and has managed to avoid breaking or spraining any part of his anatomy. Brother in law David has broken a toe so these last few months have been a little challenging for the males anatomy in the family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now no longer Pewsey carnival virgins. For most of September Pewsey celebrates carnival and we watched in wonder. The whole thing lasts a couple of weeks but the major highlights are the wheelbeero (sic) race and the carnival procession. We watched in glee the 300 or so wheelbarrows race through the streets and also the river Avon which put Dave off from entering next year as they were drenched to the skin and must have been freezing cold.

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Some of them were in it to win it but most were just out to have fun. We had a big funfair in town and on the Saturday night there was an amazing procession of floats. We were invited by the neighbours to watch from their garden and it was fabulous. There were really pretty candles suspended over the river and a huge amount of money is raised for charity. This year it was a bit smaller due to the ‘elf and safety’ aspects of organising such an event but although alcohol was banned from the floats, it did not spoil (at least for us) an amazing evening.

 

I have another job, and this one demanded a criminal record check. I drive little old men and women to and from their doctor’s appointments and also to the hairdressers. I think I have passed the CRB check and I have already some runs. This time I get my petrol money paid for but you are not in to make a fortune. So with the tea room, the art gallery and Pewsey link I am out and about though maybe I should look for paid employment now.

With all the financial turmoil of the last few weeks, I have been a little scared about where it will all end and maybe buying a house is a touch reckless but we feel we are in it for the long haul, and as you cannot choose when the perfect property comes up for sale we just decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I can always blame my sister as she put the idea in our heads and then a few weeks later it came up for sale. I believe in omens and in the kitchen there was a large weighing machine. My father sold the very same scales so I thought that my Daddy was already in the house and last night when I was mulling it all over with David a robin sat a few feet away from me and as some of you might know both my sister and I think of my mother as a robin, daft I know but that is how we feel. So it was set it is meant to be.

 

 

 

 

We are now drinking a glass of fizz with Dave’s mother who has been staying here for a few days she is amused by my antics today of telling all and sundry our news, today we have bought a house. It is only the second one either of us have ever bought so we are on a steep learning curve of what we have to do and what we have to pay. Thank God we have all our money in the UK now and at our disposal. We are going to be skint for a while but no worries we are in the right place for an amazing price.

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We hope all is well in your worlds and send our love

I will now leave this in Dave’s capable hands of editing and adding pictures. Our new house has 4 bedrooms so all are welcome to visit and stay and put your seal of approval on our new home.

Lots of love

Lizzie & Dave

xxx