purplerabbits

Phase One, or Zero and One was getting my flat ready to sell and selling it. That has involved a lot of tidying and hiding things and making nice to complete strangers until I was climbing the walls, but it is, crossing every available digit and touching wood, done. The system in Scotland isn't completely watertight, but it is pretty secure and certainly better than England so it's going to be costly for my buyers to back out. That means that I kind of have to move on 29th May. But that is OK because...

Phase Two was looking for and at flats and finding one that worked and offering on it and being accepted. Again the chance that the seller could get out of it isn't zero, but it's close to secure, and they've agreed to my moving date. They also agreed to have the damp proof work that needs doing done so that I don't have to be in a flat with plaster being removed, which is win.

My buyer is a cash buyer with no chain. My seller is moving in to a relative's spare flat for a bit while looking for somewhere else. This is great as it means the only person who has to buy and sell and move on the same day is me. This is still going to be hard but not like impossible. Phew.

And also argh, cos NOW I have to start making lists for Phase Three - moving the rabbit and all the things to the new flat and getting services connected and making sure I've told everyone I need to the address and so on. And I also need to think of what to call it which is Very Important.

There will also be a Phase Four - making new flat lovely and adding double glazing and/or gas heating to it, but I'll deal with that later.

Onward and Downward!

So of the list I posted on the 1st I have done...

• Deal with the mould on the bathroom ceiling - done by painter
• Get quotes for regrouting, painting and resealing the bath and book someone to do at least the second two (regrouting only if affordable) - done, painter has been and finished, decided against regrouting and sealing in favour of Dettol anti mildrew bleach which is evil and wonderful
• Get two quotes for new vinyl in the bathroom and decide whether to go ahead with it  - quote a quote I'm happy with, have a vinyl chosen and fixed a time for measuring - they reckon they can finish the job next week
• Get two quotes for window cleaning. If they differ significantly get a third. This is still argh, I have contacted two companies and neither has got back to me, suspect noone wants the job of cleaning 4th floor windows in January
• Continue to declutter - this is a tough one cos it's hard to know when it's done. More stuff has left the building since then, including giant double sleeping bag of doom, a bin bag of bathroom crap and a couple of bags to Shelter, and the mattress topper and three boxes of books are going tomorrow
• Keep the flat clean and mostly tidy so that I can see the benefits of decluttering and more easily imagine holding viewings etc So far so good, I have help from new cleaning person as well as Adam now, so it should be good.
• Decide which estate agent to go with - think I've decided, but I will look at the figures again tomorrow when I have more brane
• At the end of the month contact chose estate agent to get started (eek!) - Onward!

 

As I try to fit myself into new flat I have a bunch of stuff to get rid of. It will need to be collected from Caledonian Place. A lot of it will end up donated or ebayed if I don't get takers here, but mates get first dibs...

Does anyone want: 

1. Ikea Ivar shelving unit with cabinet and four shelves (was my drinks cabinet with the dragons on). 30cm deep, 226cm tall and 85cm wide, would cost £89 new, £30 or make me an offer
2. Set of drawers for an Ivar unit 50cm deep by 85cm wide. Its possible Ill be getting rid of the whole unit, so let me know if youre interested in that, but I at least want rid of the drawers
3. Hi Fi separates: Sony CD player CDP XE530 (cannot believe these things are getting listed as vintage on ebay!) £15 or offer
4. Sherwood Amp AI2210 Amplifier £20
5. Gale reference monitor speakers and cables £20 
6. A 10 year old Acoustic Solutions DVD player  was still working last I checked, free
7. Plain white cylinder lamp shade 33cm diameter 20cm tall, free
8. Turquoise rug, 99 x 130cm, free

Controlled Descent has been successfully achieved. I am here, living in a flat on the ground, and nothing has crashed, burnt up in the atmosphere or rained burning debris over Edinburgh. I call this a success

My new flat that is called Abbenay is shiny and lovely and makes me smile. Settling in was helped hugely by previous owners cleaning the place and leaving curtains and light shades, both of which are more than I did for my purchaser. They moved out a bit before I moved in, whereas I had to hand over keys on the same day I moved, which makes cleaning and stuff hard, but it still feels weird not doing it. I think its the first time I've not done it, either for getting deposits back or for selling the place.

First impressions of Abbenay:

1. It's light enough, which was something I was concerned about in a ground floor flat. The windows are big so although it will be darker in winter when the sun doesn't make it over the surrounding buildings as much, it will hopefully not be too bad.
2. It's cold. This may be helped by the unseasonable, but possibly the new normal, weather we've been having (I got caught by a really heavy hail storm just as I left Hybrasil for the last time, which may Mean Something.) But I also suspect it's due to no downstairs neighbours sending up heat, less direct sunlight getting in, and no double glazing. The last one I can at least do something about. See future updates about Project Abbenay Town Planning. Meanwhile My big snuggly dressing gown is seeing a lot of use.
3. The kitchen is smaller than Hybrasil. That's mostly OK as mostly it's lost width, so it has as many cupboards and surfaces. It does mean though that two people can't work together there without getting irritable. 
4. The kitchen cupboards are high in the sky. I can really only use the bottom shelf of all the wall cupboards without a stool. This is weird as well cos the counters are at me height and would surely be uncomfortable for anyone who could reach the top cupboards.
5. The cooker and washing machine both seem to work, but the sparker on the cooker doesn't work which is a pain, and I can't find a battery compartment for it. It may be too old to have a battery...
6. The windows don't really open at all. I have no strong desire to open then now though, and they will be replaced anyway.
7. The bathroom is better than Hybrasil, right down to the loo, and the bath is good and big. The boiler however is of limited size, so I can't have a long bath and top it up. This makes getting a combi boiler, with or without gas central heating, more urgent :)
8. The living room is a good size, but the fireplace is a pain in the bum, and between that and the two doors and two heaters the wall space is very limited. I am going to have to get rid of some furniture. There will probably be a future post about that too...
9. The bedroom is big enough for a bed and computer and a ready in the window nook chair, which will leave the little bed/box room for crafts and bookcases.
10. Yay!

 

 

In addition to running a BiCon(!) I have a big task to start and hopefully complete in 2015. I need to sell my lovely flat in the sky and buy one nearer the ground so I can get in and out of it without pain. Thinking about the task has been distressing, cos I love my sky flat and have done loads of work on it to make it lovely, and because I like to admit that the knee isn't getting better. I've spent the last month or two acclimatising myself to the idea that it's going to happen, and made the first step of meeting with three estate agents. I now have a sort of list of what needs done, though it will no doubt get more detailed and have lots added to it, so I feel I can get started. It still has the capacity to be distressing, so I need to keep focussing on the positive results I could get from doing this, and also congratulate myself on everything I do towards the goal. 

So the name of the project shall henceforth be Controlled Descent (I did contemplate Happy Landings as a name, but I guess I'm not that capable of being sunny and positive)

And here's The Thing Doing List for January

• Deal with the mould on the bathroom ceiling
• Get quotes for regrouting, painting and resealing the bath and book someone to do at least the second two (regrouting only if affordable)
• Get two quotes for new vinyl in the bathroom and decide whether to go ahead with it (I may only need one quote for this unless the preferred supplier can't do it, since they were the cheapest when we did the kitchen)
• Get two quotes for window cleaning. If they differ significantly get a third.
• Continue to declutter - this is a tough one cos it's hard to know when it's done. At the moment I'm doing little and often, but I'm wondering if a big blitz will help or not.
• Keep the flat clean and mostly tidy so that I can see the benefits of decluttering and more easily imagine holding viewings etc
• Decide which estate agent to go with
• At the end of the month contact chose estate agent to get started (eek!)

Things achieved today towards these goals include

• Washing up and tidying kitchen
• Putting away dry clothes
• Tidying all the clothes and other fabricy things in the house to places where they go
• Washing clothes and hanging them out
• Making this post :-)