Oh dear, oh dear

... this move had not been going well.

The Builder and I found Taffa and Gaz this lovely house in Woodseats.  Two nice large bedrooms, good sized bathroom and kitchen.  Lounge room not all that big but certainly big enough to be acceptable.  Far and away the nicest house we looked at on their behalf.

And - it filled the most important specification of having a bit of lawn for the rabbits to hop about on.

We  recommended that they take it.

And they did.

Taffa started her new job (which didn't go all that well because her new line manager had no idea she was coming!).  She ambled around to the new house to have a sticky.

And found that the lawn had been dug up and permalining had been laid down and covered with a big thick layer of large pebbles!!!!

Oops :-(

They moved in at the weekend. And found that the lounge room wall was covered in mould, the skirting board had furry mould growing on it.  And the cellar wasn't quite flooded but was as near as dammit.

There was no mould when we inspected the place a fortnight ago.

Things took a distinct turn for the worst when they then discovered that the gas and electricity are on pre-payment meters.  Nobody had mentioned this to The Builder and me.  Nobody had mentioned it to Taffa or Gaz.  Nobody, in fact, had mentioned it at all.  Not even when Gareth picked up the keys.  First anyone knew was when Taffa and Gaz went to investigate why they had no electricity in the house.  It is, of course, not a catastrophe having a pre-payment meter.  But had we known we would never have recommended they take it.  Had they known, they wouldn't have taken it.  This, apparently, is something of a surprise to the estate agent.  But pre-payment meters are far and away the most expensive way of paying for gas and electricity and there is no possibility of getting any of the substantial discounts that, say, The Builder and I get for having both gas and electricity through the same supplier and for paying by direct debit and for having online accounts. And somebody really ought to have pointed out that they would need an electricity card before they would get power into the house on the evening they moved in.

They decamped to Freyja's while they thought about all of this.

I think the big issue is the mould.  Not healthy living in a mouldy house.  And if it is furry with mould in August - what will it be like in February?

In the meantime, The Builder and I went to Salisbury for the weekend and ate lots of lovely food.  We also took The Builder's mum to Stourhead near Frome and went for a lovely walk in the sunshine around the gardens - taking care this time that we observed the "disabled access" signs and didn't try to throw her down a cliff by rolling the wheelchair down steep, winding and uneven paths.

It's Freyja's birthday tomorrow.  She'll be fifteen.  (Although her Facebook page seems to think that she'll be twenty-five.  I don't think that can be right, though!!!)