… house-viewings, house-hunting, long car journeys, catching up with family & friends, and getting organised for our move!

It’s been a fairly hectic few weeks again in the Collins household and I cannot quite believe it’s been two weeks since my last blog post… so we’ve got some catching up to do!

The week before last, on Tuesday 11th, we had just settled in front of the telly for the evening when the doorbell went at around 6.45pm… Apart from Paul next door (🤣) we don’t usually get people calling unannounced in the evening but on answering the door, Pete found a nice family (parents & grown up daughter) from Bradford stood on the doorstep apologising for being late for their 6pm viewing!? 🤔 We hadn’t been told about a viewing so this visit was unexpected but, as they were here, we decided to let them have a look around… they were very pleasant but, when we checked with our agent from YOPA the following morning and he had no record of these people, we think they turned up on the off chance…? We will not do that again – letting someone look around without an appointment through YOPA as we have no record of who these people were and, to be honest, it’s made us feel a bit uncomfortable – we haven’t heard anything back from them since 🙁 although they did tell us they were looking at a number of houses in the area over the next week & so… I guess, it’s possible they simply got all their house viewings muddled up? Anyway, you live & learn!

The day after, on Wednesday 12th Feb, although I am sure it’s not connected with our unexpected visitors the previous evening, when Pete went out to the car in the morning to put some bags for the charity shops in the boot, he noticed the driver’s-side door and passenger door open… grrrrr! Seems like we had additional visitors in the night and, having put a warning on the Grove’s WhatsApp group, it seems others may had been woken by these scallywags 😠 One of the neighbour’s dog had woken them and they had seen a couple of people skulking about so had notified the police – others, after the WhatsApp, checked their video doorbells (thanks anyone reading this for the info on these… might get one when we move!). Luckily, nothing seemed to have been taken from the car, despite the separate satnav being in there! Pete thinks the security light coming on probably put the willies up them and they scarpered. Unfortunately, if anything had been nicked it would have been our own fault as we had forgotten to lock the car anyway! We were lucky the only damage done was, as it had been raining during the night, the car seats got a good soaking (luckily they are of the faux leather variety so easily wiped down) and the carpet was a bit damp – it’s been a good reminder for us to make sure the garage and car are both locked at night!

I have been cracking on with digitising all our old photos and spent a lot of Thursday 12th Feb doing this… this job, although a bit monotonous is a nice stroll down memory lane but it’s a shame some of the older black and white family photos don’t have names or dates on the back which makes it difficult to know who is who and how we might be related.

Later in the day I had a planned call with an ex-colleague (thank you Sara, it was really great catching up with you!), who told me that her Mum had sorted out their family photos and given her and her sister a bundle each with all the details of who was who, written on the back… we both agreed that people should be encouraged to sort through this sort of info before the inevitable happens and the information is lost forever 🙁 – in my case, although Mum is still with us, and she definitely recognises faces, she cannot recall the names of older family members or friends (for example, the names of her bridesmaids) and, even when she does, I am not sure the info she gives is completely reliable. As for Dad’s relatives, there is no hope of her remembering anyone beyond the immediate family as she often doesn’t even recognise pictures of Dad – 60 odd years of marriage wiped out by the cruelness of dementia 😭

After my visit to Mum and a short walk down the canal, I headed home to await the weekend visit from Louise, Lee & Niamh – sadly, the Grandson had a better offer from his Uncle Billy (something to so with the Beatles?) which was too good an opportunity to miss – we missed you Aedan but get it! Hope to see you next time 😘 – so didn’t come this time…

It’s s always nice to catch up with the family who always have such a lot going on… we are here for you guys wherever we might be living and whatever is happening in our or your lives!

On the Saturday of their visit (15th February) we all went on a drive up the Dales to Grimwith Reservoir for a lovely walk in the murky, dreich weather… It’s a 4.5 mile walk round which, towards the end might have become a bit much for Niamh but we made it and finished with tea and cake at the Old School House Tearoom in Hebden after (very nice and recommended if you are ever in the Dales… lovely view! https://www.theoldschooltearoom.com/)

We had a nice morning with the family on the Sunday (16th Feb) before they headed off to meet friends. Once they left, we blitzed the house and had a nice walk before conking out for the rest of the day! We wanted to get a relax in as, come Monday, we were due to head back up to Scotland again on the hunt for a new house!

Our first viewing, booked for 10am on Tuesday 17th Feb, was in Eyemouth which is just over the border from Berwick-on-Tweed on the East coast. As it’s a 3-4 hour drive from us, we decided to drive up on Monday and managed to get there before it went dark so we could go and have a sneaky peek at the property we were going to view the following morning. The house was nice, with a great view of the sea/ harbour & Nesbit’s Tower. However, as with all house sales in Scotland, with this one, they were looking for “offers over” and were advised by the agent that it was likely to get snapped up quite quickly (due to it’s location) and expected to achieve a much higher amount than the advertised price… although we could probably compete, we are still waiting to get an offer on our place which would make it less likely that our bid would be accepted! Anyway, with another viewing booked for the afternoon over the other side of Scotland back in Newcastleton, we decided this one wasn’t for us… regardless, we had a lovely evening in Eyemouth with Fish & Chips down by the harbour so definitely not a wasted journey!

We really liked the house we viewed in the afternoon in Newcastleton and, come the following day, Pete told the agent we were interested but obviously, subject to us selling our house… so that’s good!

When we got home on Tuesday, it was good to finally see the YOPA “for sale” sign up and, on Wednesday 19th, we had a call from our agent to arrange a viewing for this weekend which we felt was really positive, like everything was coming together… I also had a planned call with my old boss, Andrew, and it was nice to catch up with him and hear all his news!

On Thursday (20th) we were back on the road again but this time heading down to Kegworth (Near East Midlands Airport) where Pete & I lived in the early 2000s for just over 3 years… We were heading down to attend our friends, Jane & Kev (who we visited in Spain back in October 2024), eldest daughter’s 40th birthday bash! As it turned out, Davina & her partner Justin had decided to tie the knot too so it turned out to be a 40th/Wedding celebration! Congratulations Mr & Mrs Guy! ❤️

When we arrived in Kegworth on Thursday afternoon, we decided to go for a little walk down memory lane with a walk around the village, up Long Lane, over the fields to the River Soar in the shadow of Ratcliffe Power Station and down the river path back to the village… we couldn’t believe how much the village had changed with so many new houses but, I guess that’s what you get after 21 years! 🤣

On Friday (21st February), Pete headed out for a walk whilst I headed to Loughborough to meet up with my ex-colleague and friend Tammie. It was nice to see her & find out how things are going for her and other ex-colleagues! Thanks for coming to meet me Tam – you & Matt will be more than welcome when we eventually make our move to Scotland!

Friday night was Davina’s party in the Red Lion – one of the few pubs left in Kegworth these days! The last census states that there are approximately 4300 people living in Kegworth (not sure if that includes all the new housing I have mentioned 🤔) & at one point, the village had around 15 pubs (might have been slightly more…)! When we lived there, there were still quite a few… but now, the Red Lion is one of a handful – how things change! It was a good evening though and great to see Kev, Jane, Davina & Zoe plus some others from our Kegworth past (Conan & his Mrs, Rachel, Karen & Barry!)… photos below are courtesy of Conan B’s mobile!

Being in the pub, the official celebrations finished around 11.30pm and whilst Pete was keen to head back to the Yew Lodge for a few more beverages, I had had enough (yeh, me the party-pooper 🙁) and so we headed back to our little Air BnB on the High Street… one reason I was keen to get back was because we needed to check out by 10am and we had a viewing of our house booked for 3pm…

So, come Saturday morning (22nd) we were up and off pretty sharpish so that we could get the shopping in and still have time to give the house a quick spruce up before the viewing… and guess what? The “B” didn’t blumming turn up so no viewing took place… how annoying is that! 😠😡 Trying to keep upbeat, we have decided that selling our house to whoever this person is, was not going to be the right thing to do and, when the time is right, our planets will align and everything will fall into place… well, that’s what we are telling ourselves anyway!

Another silver-lining meant we were able to watch all the rugby 6-nation games without being disturbed…. 🤣

Today, (23rd Feb) I should really have gone to see Mum but I just felt a bit done in and of need of a day at home… we have, of course, been for a walk along the canal but it is blowing a hooley out there and raining so not a very nice day at all!

Pete has promised that, although he will keep looking at houses online (as he’s been doing for the last 2 years!), we are not going to view anymore until we have a firmer offer on ours in place… our little trips up to the Borders have been great and helped us to decide where it is we really want to be (eg, around Newcastleton) so by no means wasted! We will spend our time usefully, clearing the house so that, when the time comes, we are ready to move!

Our house has now been on the market for just over 3 weeks – I thought we would have had more viewings by now but Pete keeps reminding me that with the three house sales I’ve previously experienced, we have been lucky to sell so quickly and that it can take time… guess I am impatient to get on now though and have to keep telling myself that things will happen when they are meant to!

So that’s it… all our news to date – hope all is well out there for anyone reading this! TTFN xx