22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

Wrote a tome, lost it because this stupid mini laptop thing has a touchpad so sensitive it could be used by an amoeba.

Got guilted into agreeing to visit the in laws while I am in Ireland. F-i-L got on the phone!! Basically demanded I give them one day and night with the kids. Well, first he asked for 3 or 4 but as I am only there for 6 days I told him no. But he laid it on with a trowel how much they would like to see the kids (he will run away to his greenhouse within 15 minutes of our arrival). So, I looked to see if I could book a cabin on a later sailing, and there was one the day after I was due to go back. So I have changed my ticket and I am furious with them and with myself for not telling them to sod off. I guess I am just a much nicer person than their kids. Or I am a spineless wimp. Well, I already know I am a much nicer person than either their kids!! There is a reason neither of them live in Ireland. I hope I am not spineless though. I am just reminded of the time when I took the kids over to visit them for 10 days (without DH - he refuses to visit his parents) and they booked to come over for a week to see the kids three weeks after we left!! I thought I had done my time! Anyway, he asked for a day, we will be there 24 hours. I am disgusted with myself and will hear nothing but jealous nastiness from step-gran about the in-laws and about step-gran from the in - laws.

I have a horrible feeling I am their hope for the future in case they ever become infirm.

Simply ... Never ...Going ... To ... Happen.

porgiegeorgie

F0xh0les, I spent an enjoyable few evenings last week reading through your diary, you paint such a lovely picture of your family life! I've subscribed and look forward to any future updates on the house.

Your diary motivated me to get my bum in gear and actually do a few things over the weekend, including finally removing some hideous, manky old flowery carpets from upstairs! We also bought our house at the start of 2016, and similarly to yours it also needed a new roof which we had done at the start of this year (we put it off last year but a lot of water was starting to come in!) and we are now looking at updating the crazy-old heating system (it may be older than me...) but the rest is mainly cosmetic. Hope you had a (mostly) fun time in Ireland.

f0xh0les

Back from the wilds, everyone survived.

Here's this month's update, mortgage currently £110,300 with a daily interest of £5.86. Due to paying out for ferries/petrol/ holiday in Cheddar last month I did not overpay much the last two months.

The Youth Hostel in Cheddar is in a great location although a little run down and tired looking. It is easy walking distance from the gorge, 30 mins from Weston-Super-Mere, 20 minutes from Glastonbury Tor, and close enough to swing past Stonehenge on the way home with the English Heritage membership that I tripled up my T0sc0 cl0bcard points for.
It would have cost more to visit Stonehenge once than it did to get the membership for the 6 of us for the year. Total bargain. We had a great time and the weather was kind for us. We scrumped plums and apples in a country park with its own orchard in Evesham on the way.

So Ireland is over for the year anyway, bar misfortune or pestilence. Three times is enough in 7 months.

I have booked a couple of days in the peak district in a fortnight (planning on Peveril Castle, speedwell cavern, Hathersage Lido) and a couple of days at the beach in Norfolk in the last week of the school holidays ( beach/ Castle Rising Castle/ beach/ Hillside Animal Sanctuary / Beach / windmills / beach) so they will have been away 4 times, even if they were short holidays, they will feel like they have been away. Plus in an effort to avoid having to entertain i-l's over October half term, I have booked us in to a YH for 4 days in Wales on their route from Ireland to wherever they chose to go visiting friends and relations. That way the journey will be much shorter for them, they are both in their 70s now, and our roads are much busier than their roads, there are interesting things to see nearby, there is no wifi, phone signal, or internet, there is a mountain behind the YH!!!!!!!!! So there. I have plans!!

Started stripping wallpaper again. Nowhere is safe!

f0xh0les

Just when you think you have a plan......

I thought I would check the gas and electric meters, I remember to do this every 8 - 10 weeks, just out of paranoia. The electric reckons we have used over 5 and a half thousand KWs since the end of May. So in 10 weeks we have used - according to the meter - more than the average family house in a year. We are talking nearly £800 in 10 weeks.
And of course I read the meter at 7.30 when the call centre closes at 6pm. So a night of worrying, but something is very very wrong.

The house next door (cannabis land!!) was disconnected from the mains by three burly men from the electricity board at the start of April. I really hope the people who have appeared next door have not been getting creative with the wiring? If that is even possible? or if the meter is on the fritz? Anyway, hourly meter readings on the cards until we get this sorted - complete with photos. grrr.

f0xh0les

Found the last and final bill from EDF which is nothing like the starting meter reading from Green st4r energy.

Must have been typists error.
Panic over.
Email sent with attached copy of bill. Should be relatively easy to sort out.

Fingers crossed.

porgiegeorgie

f0xh0les wrote: »

Found the last and final bill from EDF which is nothing like the starting meter reading from Green st4r energy.

Must have been typists error.
Panic over.
Email sent with attached copy of bill. Should be relatively easy to sort out.

Fingers crossed.

Something similar happened to us! Despite submitting meter readings to both companies when switching, the old utility company came up with a completely random last meter reading, equating to about six months worth of gas in a few weeks.

The direct debit for the final payment had already gone out before we noticed a problem (trying to submit meter readings that the new company deemed "implausible"). The meter was still reading under their apparent final reading so it was easy enough to prove a mistake had been made, it still took a while to get the money back off of them though. Hope it's sorted quickly!

Kittenkirst

Glad you've spotted what's gone wrong. So worrying when you have no idea!

I work in the energy industry so am very cautious with changing suppliers and check all reads thoroughly. I'm also a tad geeky that the meters are photo'd monthly and reads saved on a spreadsheet. Came in very handy when an old supplier for my rented flat messed the account up a year after I moved out!

Glad to see you back up and posting Foxholes the peak district and Norfolk sound just lovely!

f0xh0les

Hello!

Finally some news to report!! Have had three roofy people out to discuss the state of my roof, it has nail fatigue, they all agree, but all state there is nothing wrong with it at the moment and it could have between 5 and 10 years life left in it and it does not need doing in the immediate future. So I am going to leave it for now.

The quotes were between £5000 - 6000 for a full re-roof including scaffold. So not hugely major in the grand scale of things and unlikely to go up much.

I have the smelly double glazing salesman coming tomorrow morning (on a Sunday!) to sign us up and get us a date for the work to commence. It is about £4k and will keep us toasty this winter.

f0xh0les

Due to technical difficulties on this laptop and its enjoyment at wiping my posts, I am keeping them short.

The windows can be paid for out of my savings (the monthly turtle challenges are keeping me on track, and keeping my bank balance going up) which is handy as I don't think I am going to be able to get any kind of decent amount out of DH. Mentally I think he needs the security of having three months salary in the bank, although he was happy to sit in his overdraft for years before we moved here last year. Very odd, but at least I know this is on me, and I can only do what I can afford.

f0xh0les

So, the plan for before Xmas, now that the roof is not a pressing issue, is
1. Double Glazing asap

2. Move one radiator in my bedroom - and put in one plug socket - I have moved the bed to a different wall and it looks great, but it was not where I had the plug sockets put for bedside lamps! Oh well!!

3. Plastering -all the holes the electricians left when rewiring, the cracks in the ceilings that really aren't that bad now that the woodchip wallpaper has been taken off - it made them look much worse than they actually were. Skim a few walls, fix a few bits...

4. Take down the shower and fix the floor in the bathroom, then get a really nice shower replacement in there that does not leak and is nice looking and functional.

5. Decorate!!

6. New lino in bathroom and new carpeting from the top of the house all the way down to the bottom stair.

7. New lino for the kitchen to hide the cracks in the floor for when the valuer comes in the new year to do the valuation for the mortgage.

That is the plan.