Monday 25 June 2012

Rent-a-Home

I haven't written lately because it's been a bit hairy around here and it's been all I can do to keep from melting into a little puddle of panic.

OK, quick catch-up: previously on "Selling a Home..." - the house sold for a good enough price, no one would give us a mortgage1, the Outlaws kindly volunteered to pay off our creditors via CAB2, and we've been looking for a place to rent in Ely.

Ayah. Rental hunting. What a delightful torture that is.

I enjoyed looking in the windows - rightmove.co.uk and Zoopla are great - but lo there was a tiny but oh so significant snag: many, many places we looked at had a "No Kids" policy, which was deeply disappointing. Three out of four places were kid-unfriendly which surprised me. It surprised me more when the reasons given for "inappropriate for children" were "front door opens out onto the street", "no garden" and "it's a flat". Er, so? I managed to survive high-rise living from birth to 20 and FBB lived in a front-door-on-the-street house from one to 20+. Neither of us (nor our neighbours come to think of it, suicides excluded3) had been hurt / traumatised by the experience. Aah! They just don't want to have to deal with kids.


Then there was the size vs location vs parking vs will-our-fridge-fit4 dilemma. 


Finally, the Letting Agents have been... varied. I am partial to one but they didn't have any places to rent that suited us. 


Well, after a fair number of ups and downs, today we found a great little place. The slightly spooky thing is, the family living there seemed like a mirror image of us (dad was at home putting out the laundry with their three-year old, mum was at work, bookshelves were full of the same books as ours - so there were no grown up geeky toys and nary a tattoo was in sight, but you get the picture!)


I'm not saying much more than it's a nice little walk to work, big enough for all of us, the fridge and the car. Until we're in, I'm keeping mum!

1 Which really knocked me for six but a really kind independent mortgage adviser helped ease the pain. I found him through www.unbiased.co.uk. But here are his full details: Huw Tipton (DipPFS), Tel: 01553 764644, Fax: 05603109527, enquiries@cambridgeifa.com

2 Some creditors were great (Capital One, MBNA), some were so very not (Tesco, NatWest). FBB has decreed a No-Tesco policy.

3 And I am fairly certain they did not kill themselves because they were living in a high-rise building.

4 FBB is very attached to our fridge. We had invested a fair amount of time and effort in selecting and purchasing our box of cool.

Wednesday 6 June 2012

And now we are 40

On Sunday just gone, FBB had his 40th birthday bash! It was meant to be a Disco Picnic1, but the weather rained on his parade2.

Fortunately, a few good friends braved the wet and windy and our little house was enlivened by laughter and good vibrations.

FBB prepared almost all the food by himself. There was tuna and sweetcorn pasta, rice salad with peppers and peas, and a LOT of jelly3. We also laid out loaves we had bought off Ely market but we forgot the ice-cream! Whoops.

Our marvellously talented friend HM gifted FBB with a fantastic Taoist cake4 which was both sugar-free and so yummy, seconds were requested! There is now a little sliver which FBB is eking out for as long as he can stand it.

Plate charmed our guests as usual, despite a slight... argument... over a chair and a little pull-along toy. (It was observed with great insight that Plate "can't talk, but she's trying to!"5.)

Ah, Plate.

People tell me that children start pushing boundaries and throwing tantrums at around the age of two. Plate started at about 15 months. She recently began deliberately flinging food on the floor with great vigour. A firm, "No!" from me cut no ice. When daddy said it, she looked him straight in the eye, then slowly and deliberately dropped food over the side as if to say, "Go on then! What are you going to do about it?" So we have started pushing her chair out to the back of the room and turning away from her. The flinging has lessened but it is still early days yet. Yesterday, she threw herself on her belly, kicked her feet and banged her fists on the floor. Luckily this was at home which made it easier for me not to react. It lasted all of five seconds. Let's hope there isn't a repeat.

My childminder has also told me how she "slaps" the dummy out of another baby's mouth. I wonder if this is a "I want one!" gesture or a "You don't need that!". I am inclined towards the latter, knowing my daughter as I do.

I'm still getting used to saying that - my daughter. I am still pleasantly surprised and amazed that we have a child. It's bewilderingly delightful.



Aside from parties and aggravating children, I just finished "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. What a beautiful, magical book! So full of passion, mystery and love. Although it didn't make me cry, it certainly moved me and the images will stay with me a long while. Definitely a keeper.

1 "It'll blow your mind!"
2 And the Queen's as well I hear.
3 The night before he decided that we didn't have enough gelatine to make enough jelly for everyone, so he rushed to the One-Stop to get some more. Unfortunately, he didn't have cash and they would only take cards for purchases over £5. One pack of jelly cost 48p. Guess what he did?
4 Visit Cake n Bake on Facebook
5 Nik Junior, who will be four shortly. Bless him!