What a difference a couple of weeks make! We have decided to put two fingers up to cancer and keep on with our plans to move & live life to the full! And would you believe it… we have received and accepted an offer on our house AND made arrangements for our move to the Scottish Borders! Honestly, once our minds are made up, we don’t hang about 🤣🤣🤣!

In my last blog (22nd July), I mentioned we had a viewing that evening… the couple who came loved the place and within hours had made us an offer! After a bit of negotiation, we agreed a price in principle, and that we would keep the house on the market until they found a buyer for their gaff.

With this offer on the table, Pete thought we should start our house-hunting again – something we haven’t done since about March! Of course, as he has constantly been looking at potential properties for about 3-years now (😆) he had a number of “favourites” he thought we should go look at including a property we last viewed in February which still appeared to be on the market… he got on the phone and made arrangements for us to have a 2nd viewing of this property in Newcastleton and tried to book viewings for two others – one near Dumfries, the other in the North Lakes.

Having booked us an overnight stay in Ecclefechan, we headed off to Newcastleton on Saturday (26th July) for our planned 1st viewing of the day that afternoon… we later found out that the other two properties we hoped to visit were no longer available but, you know what? As it turned out, we didn’t need to see these… we really liked the house in Newcastleton in February and think we liked it even more this time around!

On arrival, having had lunch in the cafe & a walk around the village, we met “Pat” (as in Butcher – e.g., female!), the wife of “Steve” who first showed us around in February and daughter of the lady who used to live in the property – and hit it off with her straightaway, especially after she told us about how she was battling cancer and was keen to finally sell the property which has been on and off the market for a couple of years… It’s funny that since Pete’s diagnosis, we keep meeting lots of people who have direct experience of the Big C – I was always a bit sceptical of the SU2C (Stand Up To Cancer) claim that one in two of us will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, although now it seems most people we meet have some form of it!

Anyway, long story short, we talked about how long the house had been for sale & why & also our respective selling challenges. Pat mentioned how she had recently received an offer but how the sale had fallen through at the last minute because the buyer’s chain collapsed – always a fear when you are in a chain… Pat also mentioned she was considering renting the property instead of selling if she didn’t get a sale before winter… which gave us an idea!

As I say, visiting this property again reminded us how much we both loved it – I think we decided there and then it’s the place we want, in the place we want to be… just over the England/Scotland border, a few miles north of the Kielder Forrest, in the middle of a quiet, friendly village made up of a population of just under 800 people – it’s an area perfect for a new adventure! So, after sleeping on it, we made an offer and have agreed that we will move in week commencing 11th August, paying “rent” until the sale of our house is completed; the purchase price will be reduced by the amount of “rent” we pay until we receive payment for our house, after which we will pay the balance, complete all the necessary paperwork and the house will be ours! It might not be an orthodox way to buy a house but we think it’s a win-win situation for all parties, especially us!

We had a nice overnight stay in Ecclefechan despite the pub we stopped in being a little noisy… Pete only booked our stay in this place because every time we’ve been to Scotland, I always mention that I like the name Ecclefechan! What’s it famous for? Being next to the A74 so a good stopover spot if you have a long journey on your hands (whether going north or south!) and being the birth place of Thomas Carlyle:

Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 – 5 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. Known as the “sage” of Chelsea, his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the Victoria era. (Wikipedia)

We got back to Yorkshire Sunday afternoon and then, at the start of the new week, the buyers of our house confirmed they have sold to a first time buyer and will be ready to go as soon as all the paperwork is completed! Talk about everything coming together at once 😊 – we always said things would happen when they were meant to, so the timing of all of these different aspects seems perfect to me – result! We have already started packing and sadly had to make the decision to cancel a long-planned weekend with Louise, Lee & the grandkids next weekend, as Pete was getting twitchy about not being able to start taking furniture apart! We will make it up to them once we get settled in Scotland when they will be able to visit us in a new country (Louise has never been to Scotland… am just sorry our new country isn’t somewhere sunny & hot for her!)!

What else have we been up to..?

Pete’s planned PET scan earlier this week was cancelled due to a “failed isotope”… apparently this can happen following the morning quality check. The scan has been rescheduled for mid-August now but the hormone treatment continues with Pete having had his 1st implant injection last Friday (1st August) which will last 3 months and means that he can stop taking the tablets in a couple of weeks.

I don’t know, PET scans, failed Isotopes, hormone injections / implants… it’s funny how words you have never really thought of using in the past suddenly become everyday terminology in your life!

I have donated my 22nd pint of blood and was due to be meeting my friend Clare over in Leeds but she had to blow me out when something from work came up. I took the opportunity to visit the new market in Darley Street, Bradford instead which is very nice if you like markets and was pretty busy which I guess is good for the stall holders.

Of course, we enjoyed watching England beat Spain in the Women’s Euros final! When I say “enjoyed” I realise that might actually be a bit of a stretch as am not sure anyone ever “enjoys” watching any England team play football! But hey, we won and that’s all that matters – well done ladies!

We now need England to beat India in the final test match at the Oval… which was stopped today due to poor light / rain at a very tense moment… 🤞🤞🤞

What else…? I’ve been to see Mum a few times including yesterday when The Raikes had their summer Garden Party which was nice…

We have also spent some time on the allotment – Pete more than me… my main allotment job at the moment seems to be picking beans, plums, beetroot & spring onions – we seem to have an abundance of all of these so have been pickling the beetroot, freezing the beans and making jam from the plums – all stuff we can take with us when we move! The neighbours will definitely miss the supply of these veggies & fruits when we’ve gone 🤣🤣🤣

I believe that is all our news apart from hearing of our friend Sheena’s passing which left us both feeling sad… RIP Sheena 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 We really enjoyed the times we spent with you xxx