Unexpected New Beginings

This post comes to you from a new address.

It's been a bit of a turbulent few months and in a sort of nightmarish bi-annual groundhog day we found ourselves having to move again, only with the added frison of a eviction order to make everything more urgent.  

 To give a potted history, around late August our rental agency sent out someone from the selling side to value the house, but told us absolutely nothing to worry about, the owners weren’t going to be selling they were just checking out the value as they have been living outside of the UK for many years.

Even though it was in a part of town where houses go for much more, the house was a very weird layout and needed work so because of that it got valued at £350,000 - £360,000. Over the following weeks two more estate agencies were sent out to value the house because the owners clearly weren’t happy with the price. Both of those also valued it at the same price range.

I suspect they had put the postcode into Rightmove and got a much higher price quoted. 

We discussed making an offer because we could just about manage £360,000 and it was unlikely we could afford somewhere that size, and in that part of town if it wasn’t for the quirks and snags. Sadly for us the owners decided they were going to ignore the advice of all three agencies and go with their own price of £400,000 

The first we knew about it was when we were isssued with a section 21 eviction notice, the email telling us it was coming arrived in our inbox just as we were travelling home from our annual long weekend in Bournemouth, nothing like killing the holiday vibe stone dead!

It is such a horrible, horrible, letter to get, and of course right at a time when the rental market in the UK is in utter chaos, panic properly set in and didn't leave.

We registered with every agency in town and by chance one had the house we are now in. It had just come up, and they hadn’t even marketed it yet, would we like to see it? 

We said yes immediately and said yes to the house after a quick 15-minute viewing, all with the previous tenant glowering over us whilst we looked round. I’ve no idea why he was so hostile, I mean he was moving out after all!

 

We rallied the same friends and family who helped us move just two years ago and the date was fixed for the 8th November. We got the keys a week earlier, ironically on our anniversary, I can't say either of us felt like celebrating that this year.

Packing and moving was intense. We really have way too much stuff, I was actually ashamed of how much we do have. I have been downsizing like mad and being really ruthless. I think it helps that as I get older, I seem to be more realistic about what I like, what I need and what I will never use again, but whatever I do, it’s fair to say I will never be minimalist! So far we have had an email from one charity to say they have made just shy of £450 from our donations. I'm waiting to see what my qurterly email from Oxfam says as they got over 100 books, a huge chunk of my vintage film stills and some bags and brooches. I simply didn't have the time or the capacity to sell things myself.

A lot more needs to go.

This house has a big summer house/garden office which is two thirds full of boxes at the moment. The plan is to go through it all hopefully get rid of loads and repack what is left.

I cannot lie, I was not in a good place. My stress levels were through the roof and I just couldn't seem to switch them off. This time round I did something about it and called my Dr's surgery. I'm lucky that Oxfordshire is a county that offers a free service called Talking Therapies.

I have never been a fan of taking medication so for the last six weeks I have been taking part in one of the therapy programmes. It has not all been relevant but there has been some helpful advice and techniques and I am feeling more myself again.

So I'm going to finish up with some pictures from our September break in Bournemoutrh. 

We started out staying with friends in the New Forest which was lovely. They are in the middle of a huge renovation project and said it was nice to get away from the DIY to take us on a tour of the New Forest. We also had to eat out which included a delicious lunch in the forest and an amazing breakfast overlooking the sea.

Annoyingly I wasn't as mobile as usual because I had managed to tear a ligament in my knee in August which took a frustrating 12 weeks to heal. We did have a lovely day mooching around Swanage though I couldn't make it to or around the country park which was our original plan. 

We had an early dinner in a lovely little Italian restaurant there before catching a bus back to Bournemouth.

The next evening after a delicious food in a pizza and cider place we had never tried before but will definitely visit again, we headed to Electric Boulevard. 

It turned out they had an open mic night on which was so incredibly bad it was hilarious and I nearly did myself a damage trying not to laugh.

We felt obliged to stay for a couple of drinks because apart from the staff, and the acts themselves, we were the only customers left, everyone else clearly knowing what was coming had wisely fled before it started! 

Given what greeted us on the way home I'm so glad we were able to have these few days of enjoyment.

Anyway I hope to be back with my annual book round-up at the end of the month but until then I will sign off.

Wishing everyone a lovely festive season and here's to a less dramatic 2026.