Back on the Boards

Since my last post (a ridiculously long month ago) I've had a frustrating few weeks.

The house move is at the mercy of solicitors.  We thought we were going to exchange contracts two weeks ago.  Now it seems like it might be tomorrow.  The sooner it happens, the better, as we need to find somewhere to rent, and the letting agencies won't take a deposit until the exchange has happened.  A very frustrating fortnight!  But we hope it will be sorted out very soon...

But there's also good news.  On a night out at the theatre with our friends Kevin and Ness last week, Kevin asked me if I'd consider playing one of the ugly sisters in the production of Cinderella which he is directing. 

So, this afternoon sees me joining CATS and the prospect is both exciting and nerve-wracking.  This will be the first production I've done since reluctantly stopping work with Ottershaw Players.  Initially it will be hard work; the new group are based in Ashurst, between Southampton and the New Forest, which is around an hour's drive away from home.  But the commute down there will be half as long once we've moved.

It's the first time I've been asked to join a production without having to audition, so it's a huge compliment and I hope I can do him, and the rest of the group, proud.

On The Move?

As I tweeted earlier, we've found a buyer for our house.

It's been a tortuous journey so far.  We put our house on the market back at the star of May with an internet-only estate agent.  Now, being a total geek, I was convinced that this was the way forward.  Everyone looks for houses online, don't they?  And internet-only agencies have no premises to finance, so their fees are low.  It's a win-win situation.  Isn't it?

Well, we'd hoped it was.  The agency (ClearmoveUK.com - I'm not scared of mentioning them) were definitely cheap.  £399 up front and then 0.1% of the sale price.  That's at least £3,000 cheaper than the nearest competitive 'ordinary' agency.  What could go wrong?

Nothing at first.  We had a few viewings.  But feedback from those viewings was hard to come by.  It was almost as if they'd decided that they'd got £399 for nothing and decided not to bother even trying to sell our house.

Hey ho!  After a couple of months of arguments and frustration, we ended up going with a 'traditional' agent.  And ended up choosing one which was the most expensive of the local agents - but we had a good feeling about them.  Castles, they're called.  They're in Farnham and Aldershot.  And we can definitely recommend them.  Because, five days after signing an agreement with them, they'd found us a buyer. 

OK - it's still early stages and there's a chain to worry about, and surveys, etc, which we have to keep our fingers crossed about.  But we managed to get an offer close to our asking price and so, with any luck, we'll be moving down to Andover or Salisbury in a couple of months time.

As someone at work said to me: "now you've got weeks of frustration to look forward to".  Yikes - it's the start of another adventure...