Twelve months on……………………………

From this:To this:Exactly a year today at around the time I am writing today’s piece I was driving my old Merc’ on the M5 southbound to my new residence. I had exchanged contracts on my old house in Leeds in the West Riding of Yorkshire in early December and had “gone into digs” a quarter of a mile away – in a bungalow in Leeds 17. (That’s just over 400 metres Derek).
The travelling distance between my old place and my new place is just over 400 miles (That’s 645 kilometres Derek) but there is a whole world of difference between the communities.
There were lots of issues associated with the last few years I spent in Leeds. Leaving the city of one’s birth and where one was brought up is a big thing. But I knew and had connections to where I was going – including two friends around the corner from where I now live. That’s important. I am at the other end of the country of Cornwall from where the other members of my family are but since they are all now resident “six feet under” in the graveyard St Sampson, South Hill, I can at least communicate with my friends and neighbours without the need of a medium!
I am sure I will not be alone and probably at near the end of a VERY long queue if I say that selling up and moving home ALWAYS takes longer (by that I mean the time from your acceptance of a buyer’s offer to the time you exchange contracts and get the money) and costs more that you either expected or had budgeted for. I am also CERTAIN I am repeating the statements of countless others if I say that the culprits (to the delay and expense) are the lenders, the surveyors and the solicitors – in that order. Let us face it: the only people on this planet – and probably several others – who find it necessary to have the words: “This package contains nuts” on a packet of peanuts are solicitors! And DO NOT get me started about surveyors!
CONCLUSION: I made the RIGHT decision!