Cheery's country living adventure

themadvix

Cheery, if these cars are at a dealership (I think you said you’d exhausted the private sale options?), then they should take card. And definitely better to put £100 on a cc for insurance - they’ll probably want a deposit rather than it all at once too. Now I’ve typed this I’m beginning to think I must have misunderstood and these are private sellers… in which case I’ll shut up!

Cheery_Daff

Yep, private sellers. We have a slight difference of opinion about buying cars... Mr Cheery has been looking for a privately sold one for weeks now and I was getting to the point of insisting on just BUYING A CAR from somewhere (there has got to be a car for sale in our price range within 50 miles, surely?!) so I'd started looking at dealers.

However, we made our spreadsheet (of both) last night and these two suit both of us - private, full service history for him, under 100k miles for me, so I'll ring up tomorrow.

Surprisingly, we have actually bought five cars together over the years, not all meeting the above conditions (because different things have been a priority at different times). I still think fondly of the Panda we bought for £565 in the week between exchange and completion on this house - 186,000 miles and wasn't even registered to the person who was selling it 😮 but I loved that little car! 😂 Only had it for about a year mind you, and I was extremely disappointed to not click over 200,000 miles before it was irretrievably broken and we had to scrap it 😂

themadvix

Ah, I see now! Fingers crossed one of these is the one for you then. 

Cheery_Daff

Fingers crossed! I'm going to ring them later on to see if they're still free - no point ringing yet as they won't save them anyway if someone else views tonight. 

Mr Cheery has had his second jab this morning, and now we have friends here helping with the chicken run extension (I'm just waiting for the kettle to boil). It's very warm out there!

Karmacat

Best of luck with the chicken run and with sourcing the car  

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, yesterday was a long day! 

We got lots done though. Mr Cheery's jab, and we picked up some cement on the way home. Got two sides of the chicken extension levelled, and filled a load of breeze blocks with cement (to keep pesky chicken-menacing critters out). They should have set overnight, and I'm going to spend the afternoon hefting them back into position. Also found and cut the right pieces of wood for the side of the extension. 

Somehow that took four of us all afternoon In our defence it was VERY hot. Still, we had a nice time - they brought us some tomato plants, and left with some of our surplus squash plants and a bit of wood for their allotment. So all good. 

We've been out for breakfast this morning, and I've been pondering kitchen options. Got our appointment with Howdens on Friday (did I say they've been to measure and sent us an initial computer design?), but I'm still exploring second hand options too. I've found a company that will dismantle and transport used kitchens, which means buying one on ebay should be doable (a nicer kitchen for less than new). We've found one we like - I'm going to email the builder to check if he thinks there'll be enough to work with.

No progress on the car - our discussions last night descended into squabbling so we've left it for now. The problem of course is that we are now trying to sort out kitchen, car and chicken extension all at the same time - a situation that could easily have been avoided by just buying a darn car 7 weeks ago when the old one died (but it seems that's not a very helpful thing to point out... ) 

Cheery_Daff

Anyway, a list for the rest of the day. Need to get on top of the house a little so going to spend a small amount of time in each room (cleaning and tidying, not just sitting down!!). 

* 10 mins in living room
* 10 mins in kitchen
* 10 mins in bathroom
* 10 mins in study
* 10 mins in bedroom
* 10 mins in offshot
* move breezeblocks back into position
* plant out sprouts
* tidy up plant pots
* email kitchen link to builder
* email potential kitchen seller re measurements
* make at least one meal for the freezer

That'll probably do for one day! 

Cheery_Daff

OK, I've emailed the builder, and put in for a quote to dismantle and move the kitchen. It's on for £1500, so even if it costs the same again to dismantle and move, it'll likely be much cheaper than a new one (and probably nicer).

Trying to find other things to do - Mr Cheery was having an uncomfortable time of it today but has dozed off under a blanket on the living room floor so I don't want to disturb him by getting up! 😂

Cheery_Daff

Not a bad day overall! I did eventually get outside, had a long chat with the farmer and his wife and daughter who wandered over to check on the cows, and spent the rest of the afternoon laying these breezeblocks back in the place we took them out of the other day.

One side is done now, but I'm not sure I'm going to get the other side done - it's heavy and awkward work and I'm getting tired.

Done NONE of my planned tidying- but at least that's pretty easy to do in stages while I'm working - far easier than laying breezeblocks!

MatyMoo

Delurks to say my sister bought two part kitchens on eBay, one brand new ex display & some odd units from elsewhere that toned in. Total spend on units £250 plus a carpenter to fit them and her kitchen is stunning. 

Prior to that she bought a full kitchen at auction from a kitchen company that had gone bust. She got everything, white goods, tiles, worktops, the lot. Just had to arrange for it to be dismantled and transported.