We had to be up good and early. A valuation agent was coming to inspect the house at 9am and we felt that we should be up, dressed, ready and with the house in a fairly tidy and respectable state.
The valuer arrived on time and spent about an hour looking at the house, measuring it, chatting to us and pottering about. We liked the agent and we liked her valuation. I think we will probably put the house on the market with the small, local agency that she came from. I have cancelled other valuations and will ring their company later today to arrange another appointment. We do need to tidy up the garden a bit, though. It is looking fairly unloved after the winter, although we do have daffodils, hellebores, snowdrops and primroses flowering. But definitely some tidying needs to be done!
I also managed to convince my new MacBook to talk to our home wifi, before the valuer came. The laptop arrived on Friday and resolutely refused to talk to the home wifi. Eventually I noticed that it thought our wifi had no security settings (so you can see why it was reluctant to talk to it!). I have fixed that and my new MacBook is online and ready to talk to the rest of the world. It is lovely and fast (and also lovely and light!).
After the valuer had gone, we hopped into the car and took ourselves off to the Forge Dam Cafe in Fulwood, where we were meeting Tabitha, Gareth, Cally, Flynn, Cousin Claire and her partner Mike, along with her Mother Gill and her Grandmother Margaret. (Gill used to be married to one of my first cousins.) Gill was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour and has been in the palliative care unit at the hospital. Fortunately, she is well enough to go on outings and was released for the whole of this weekend. I think they are hoping that if all goes swell she can stay out of the palliative care unit for the time being.
I used to pass by the Forge Dam Cafe quite regularly when I lived in Nether Green. It's a lovely walk through the park and then through the Whiteley Woods. You can keep going, out onto the moors, but the Forge Dam makes a good stopping point if you are walking from Nether Green. You can get a cup of coffee, and ice cream, a cake, a sandwich at the cafe or nothing at all, depending on your mood. I don't think I've been out that way, though, since I left Nether Green, and certainly not since we moved to Tupton. The Builder doesn't remember ever having been there before, although I think it likely that we would have walked out once or twice when he was a regular visitor to the flat.
It's a very lovely corner of the world:
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| The River Porter |
I am not sure whether we had a very late breakfast, a late-ish morning tea or an early lunch - or perhaps a combination of all of those things. We got there at just after 11 and The Builder and I had bacon rolls, and coffee. Claire and Mike had bacon and sausage sandwiches and coffee. (At least, I think that's what Claire had). Gareth had a full English breakfast. Everyone had cake. Including Cally. A slice of Red Velvet cake for her. Red food colouring and loads of sugar. Tabitha was delighted :-D
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| The Builder, Claire, Margaret, Gill, Mike |
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| Tabitha |
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| Cally |
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| Cally and her cake |
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| Margaret, Mike, Gill |
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| Gareth, Cally and Peppa Pig |
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| Claire and Flynn |
We were very lucky with the weather. The sun shone through winter clouds. The storms stayed away. Until about 15 minutes after we got back home, when a huge big black cloud headed our way and for about 30 minutes treated us to snow, wind, rain, sleet, hail and more wind. Then all that went away and the sun came out again!
Sunday was quite dull in comparison to all that. We went out to Marsh Green, where we made the unwelcome discovery that their most excellent butcher has left. I think they're planning to run the butchery counter themselves for a while. We had (home made) chicken and mushroom pie for our Sunday Feast. And that was pretty much it, apart from some gentle tidying (but not in the garden - every time I thought to go outside ominous black clouds came and hovered overhead!).
And now I stand poised at the start of a new week. Three left to go before Easter, when I finish at SHU. It hardly seems believable after so many years :-S
Oh - and the sun is shining today in a clear blue sky. Ideal weather for going out and tidying the garden - except that the garden is 20 or so km from where I am!!!
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