Moving house during a pandemic isn't stressful is it?
Hello again,
As you are all fully aware, this COVID 19 malarkey has really turned everything on its head. Needless to say, moving house presented its own set of problems.
The deal was that we needed to know when we were completing so we could book the Eurotunnel, not only for ourselves but also for our removal men. This proved unnecessary as we have had to hire a storage container for the majority of our furniture, chattels....most of my clothes! It's a fact that I currently have, at my disposal, 3 pairs of jeans (all the same), 3 pairs of shorts, 4 t-shirts, 2 fleeces and a weeks' worth of underwear. This is mostly down to Simon telling me he had no room left in the trailer (it was full of his workshop contents) and whilst important, what if I need to look glam!
Anyway, I've digressed. What happened was that on Monday 23rd March, Lockdown Day our conveyancing coordinator told us that there was a chance that unless we exchanged and completed simultaneously that week then we were staying put!
No! Could we possibly pack the house and be ready to move out Wednesday? Yes!
Mad packing ensued.....
Luckily we had two more days' grace and the day of the move was Friday 27th. This was still horribly touch and go. At 11am our solicitor phoned to say the exchange had started, by this point, the house was packed and being removed by two very helpful men.
We were sat in the garden, social distancing and all that.
Following the emptying of our home, the fabulous Done and Dusted cleaning ladies showed up and generally made everything sparkle!
We were sat in the garden, still social distancing.
By 2.30 we were sitting in the pick-up, fully loaded, with an equally jam-packed trailer and we still hadn't heard anything, we were, quite frankly crapping ourselves. To add insult to injury, we were listening to Radio 2 which was having a marvellous discussion about how the government were about to stop any house moves happening at all.
At 2.45 we got the call! It was done, exchanged, completed and we were off! We said a few goodbyes to our lovely neighbours and, after a few tears (me not Si) we trundled off to Simon's brother's house.
We had to try, somehow, to get across to France, but their lockdown was much stricter than the UK's. We contacted the French Consulate and got a vague 'comme ci comme ca' sort of answer.
Still, faint heart never won fair maiden, so we thought we had better just go for it. On the 1st April we left for Folkestone, after saying some pretty unsatisfactory goodbyes. How are you supposed to hug the people you love from a 2 metre distance??
Much quicker trip to the terminal though, no traffic on the M25 and the M20!
We approached the French Border Control with trepidation, what if they said Non!
Luckily they didn't!
As you are all fully aware, this COVID 19 malarkey has really turned everything on its head. Needless to say, moving house presented its own set of problems.
The deal was that we needed to know when we were completing so we could book the Eurotunnel, not only for ourselves but also for our removal men. This proved unnecessary as we have had to hire a storage container for the majority of our furniture, chattels....most of my clothes! It's a fact that I currently have, at my disposal, 3 pairs of jeans (all the same), 3 pairs of shorts, 4 t-shirts, 2 fleeces and a weeks' worth of underwear. This is mostly down to Simon telling me he had no room left in the trailer (it was full of his workshop contents) and whilst important, what if I need to look glam!
Anyway, I've digressed. What happened was that on Monday 23rd March, Lockdown Day our conveyancing coordinator told us that there was a chance that unless we exchanged and completed simultaneously that week then we were staying put!
No! Could we possibly pack the house and be ready to move out Wednesday? Yes!
Mad packing ensued.....
Luckily we had two more days' grace and the day of the move was Friday 27th. This was still horribly touch and go. At 11am our solicitor phoned to say the exchange had started, by this point, the house was packed and being removed by two very helpful men.
We were sat in the garden, social distancing and all that.
Following the emptying of our home, the fabulous Done and Dusted cleaning ladies showed up and generally made everything sparkle!
We were sat in the garden, still social distancing.
By 2.30 we were sitting in the pick-up, fully loaded, with an equally jam-packed trailer and we still hadn't heard anything, we were, quite frankly crapping ourselves. To add insult to injury, we were listening to Radio 2 which was having a marvellous discussion about how the government were about to stop any house moves happening at all.
At 2.45 we got the call! It was done, exchanged, completed and we were off! We said a few goodbyes to our lovely neighbours and, after a few tears (me not Si) we trundled off to Simon's brother's house.
We had to try, somehow, to get across to France, but their lockdown was much stricter than the UK's. We contacted the French Consulate and got a vague 'comme ci comme ca' sort of answer.
Still, faint heart never won fair maiden, so we thought we had better just go for it. On the 1st April we left for Folkestone, after saying some pretty unsatisfactory goodbyes. How are you supposed to hug the people you love from a 2 metre distance??
Much quicker trip to the terminal though, no traffic on the M25 and the M20!
We approached the French Border Control with trepidation, what if they said Non!
Luckily they didn't!
Our 'We made it' faces!
Comments
Post a Comment