Normality Beckons

That may be a good name for our new house, perhaps with "from far off" in parentheses (that's brackets for those who don't know (you know who you are)) - Normality Beckons that is.

Anyway, the move went very well and everything is almost where it should be - even if it still is in a box. Nuff Respec to Mrs Evo who I have to say took the brunt of most of the planning, organising and doing - what with my back and workload etc - but seriously, she made everything look so easy, even though it wasn't. And the 4 guys who came and did the shifting about were pretty amazing too - quick, quiet, unobtrusive and didn't even drink much tea.

But then it wasn't all without event. The vendor has lost the key to the safe and has promised to send lock smith around shortly to get us into it. Every door in the house has 1, 2 or 3 keys to it. Many of these keys are locked in the safe but we are managing.

Then there's Orange. The only place I can get a signal is in the bedroom or the trampoline - must be the mattress springs acting as aerials? It's hopeless. I have to continually divert my calls to the home phone (which remains the same btw). Has anyone heard of an amplifier for a mobile signal? Orange won't tell me where to get them but have alluded to their existence. I need Gandalf to give me a clue!

Oh - the TV - that was a disaster - the terrestrial aerial seemed not to be working and the Sky man, booked for the day after we moved, came to the wrong address and had to be rebooked. The first week we had no telly. That was probably a good exercise actually but then when Sky did come, he couldn't do anything without running a cable all over the place which I don't think we are allowed to do in a listed building so I have to get an independent cable guy in - or something - that will not happen for another month. But the sky man did at least fix our aerial so we can watch big brother - and the news and such. There's this great bit in one of Sam's bedtime stories that this just reminded me of, it's called Serious Sadie. Mum and dad want to watch something funny on TV but Sadie wants to watch the news. "Oh Sadie, we can watch the news later" says mum, "I know" (counters Sadie) "and we will". I suppose you have to be there.

And then there was broadband. Not too bad, but I did have to reorder the change of address twice and they have still connected us to the wrong line but as you can see it is now up and running. And so, normality is indeed beckoning.

Turned out nice again.

Formby was a genius wasn't he?

Well, it was a fairy tale ending. All went through and the long running dispute with the Irish has been resolved. We are even on friendly terms and may be looking at another deal shortly.

And on top of that, it all happened with a couple of days to spare before we move house. It might unfog some of the earlier riddles if I say that if this deal hadn't have happened, we couldn't have moved.

When will things stop happening just in the nick of time? My life feels like a Harrison Ford film - but we got the happy ending in the end.

Not sure how quickly my broadband connection will be up and running so as from Tuesday, don't be surprised if you don't hear anything from me for a bit.

Oops, didn't stay positive long

This has been bugging me a lot the last couple of days.

Now I'm not saying whether I am for or against the death penalty - I bet you can guess - but I am a bit confused at the moment.

Although the majority of people in this country of ours are in favour of the death penalty, our duly elected representatives do not feel it would be right to reflect this on our constitution - and I am probably in favour of that kind of government I might add (regardless of whether I agree in this case).

However, why is it that since this terrorist, Mr Zacarwy or however his name is spelled has been assasinated, we are being inundated with politicians gleefully celebrating his demise. This morning I heard Malcolm Rifkind saying that no-one can deny that it is a good thing that this evil man has been "dispatched". If this is the case, why is it not a good thing to dispatch similarly evil men?

What are your thoughts?

Oozing Positivity

I thought the blogging world was in need of some positive poetry.

Here's one I wrote for an Iranian friend of mine as he was having a really tough time - despite the fact he had a lovely family, some fab mates (no self congratulation intended) and generally having a very good time - though one or two things where getting to him. It's about 16 years old but it has helped me to keep positive loads and loads of time (not that you may have noticed).

Now I can only remember the first verse but I have it written down somewhere and I will print up the whole thing in good time (when we unpack it once moved in).

It's about the human instinct to concentrate on the small amount of bad stuff whilst entirely taking for granted the good stuff. Imagine a life where we were overwhelmed by the good stuff all the time but just took for granted the cr*p we have to put up with - where when we looked into a field of sheep with one black one in the middle, we spent most of our time noticing the mass of white. Or when we looked at a beautifully decorated wall, we didn't spend much time looking at the small rip in the corner where the four year old has had a nibble.

OK, without further ado:


Why is it when our lives are good
And we have got the things we need
And the things we need have us
That we will think of things that hurt
That might disturb the calming thoughts
And by the thinking, does.

I wonder how things will finish off today

Well, the thing I was dreading most happened at 4PM on Wednesday - just 2 days before completion. The whole thing fell over.

And the skies turned black and the rains came and all around was empty. And then we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and put our thinking caps on and looked for another way of getting to where we needed to be.

But at 9PM, the whole thing resurrected itself again and we are back on for today. Amazing.

I still have a difficult conversation to have with my Gaelic friend but I think I more or less have the upper hand now. I am so ready to forget all about this one. Just glad that come this afternoon, that should be it, consigned to the archive.

(We move a week on Tuesday regardless).

Drum roll please

Telephone rings - its the banker on the line.

The offer is two and a half pounds.

DEAL

I'm pleased with that.

4.5 pounds in 3 weeks - not too bad I suppose.

Still up in the air

For those who are up to date with all things Evo, just to let you know that THE DEAL is about to complete - next Thursday - I'll blog when and if it does. It has been a roller coaster more than any other but appears to be all ending well.

And what's more, we exchanged on the house today - which makes thngs all the more exciting.

There's a sub plot going on here I know - I apologise but thanks for reading.

I really can't wait to see if I've lost another pound this week as well - it's exciting.