Victory!

Congratulations, England, for winning yesterday!

There is nothing better than beating your long-standing rivals in sport, nothing better than securing victory over the age-old foe.

I offer you my heartiest congratulations!

What? You didn't see that?
Have a look here...

Released...

Ssshhh!!

Can hardly believe it, but ... look!

We own our new home!

Monies paid, mortgage released and now - the keys can be collected!

Just why oh why am I three hours and hundreds of miles away today?

(Oh yes - children have to go to school.) 

(Have 3 of their friends for tea tonight.)

(Guess I can't escape to watch the Test Match either then.)

Just so excited!! Going to spend the day planning new colour schemes and spending on the (already over-full) credit card. 

And getting more excited!

Blogging update

Nothing is simple in the Withenay household. Our lives are moving on at such a pace, so I thought I'd give you a quick update on a number of matters.

Firstly, the move. We have exchanged contracts on a house: it will be ours next week and we'll move over half-term. It is very exciting and very scary. In addition, next week the appeal comes up for my son's school place, so there are a lot of fingers crossed - neither of us are sure what will happen if he fails to get in!

We are now on a shopping spree. We have rented for so long that we don't have some of the basics you need in a new house - fridge, freezer and washing machine being today's list. And none of this begins to cover the amount of work we need to do in the house to make it our family home: the blog will, no doubt, be overwhelmed by 'before and after' photos and tales of angst as the builders are let loose.

In a moment of extravagance I set up a couple of other blogs: 

Withenay Words and Witterings is primarily for book related stuff. I have put a post up to review the book Zoia's Gold, by Philip Sington (which I thoroughly enjoyed!) ... and if I am brave enough in the future will post some of my own writing as well. 

Withenay Wonders is for writing and thoughts about God and my faith. I've often thought about putting comments here, but it feels out of the character of the blog. So, occasionally, I shall write some of my thoughts on the Wonders blog.

The main blog will remain here - full of the usual updates on the family, the move, the new house, the travels we take and my attempts to get my book published. And in due course I'll tell you about us giving in to the norm and having a family car - all my green credentials gone in an instant!

All change!

What a week for the Withenay clan!

1 April turned out to be no fool: my husband started work as a Consultant Paediatrician. I take all the credit, of course, for ... er ... for... well, I did tell him he could do it! This is, of course, the job that precipitates the move, so he is now in Manchester and we wait for the house purchase to go through.

But - trumpets please! - the mortgage has been approved, the valuation has come in-line with our offer and I even have the paperwork in front of me! Ta-dah!! Now just some legal stuff and hair-raising money transfers to go! Oh, and the physical move itself, which I am not (repeat: not) looking forward to.

Now with husband out of the house I am turning into a domestic goddess. Oh, well, all right... the kids and I baked choc chip cookies yesterday for my son's class's cake stall today. There are still a few left to sell! 

More excitingly I have begun writing Book 2 of our Zambian saga, with a working title of 'The One with The Brain Event'. So far I've written about the diesel can leaking all over the luggage and the car, the roof rack flying off in the middle of the Game Park (you know, with lions, elephants, hyaenas etc. all around), the petrol gauge breaking and a tyre bursting. That was all one holiday, in less than a week. For some reason, nothing ever was simple and according to plan for us!

And best of all, the sun is shining and the Easter holidays are here! 

A moving update

All our recent wanderings have been to Manchester.

I'm sure Manchester is a lovely city, but the endless driving round and round suburbia, hoping to come upon the house of our dreams is wearing very thin. The car hire company are amazed at how many miles we can do in two days.

So last week we left the children with friends overnight whilst we visited more houses and, a step towards certainty here, a school. The school was amazing: coming from the city here I was dumbfounded to be looking out past the headmaster at a field full of sheep. Now we are looking for houses within a specific catchment area. Or, clearly, the option to put a tent in the field with the sheep.

Working Mum and Her on the Hill have given good advice - thank you! Tragically, being a medic, my husband couldn't possibly live out in the Peaks as HotH suggests: emergency medicine requires us to be a lot closer to the hospital. It looks most likely that we will buy a house 'with potential' or, as the estate agent described it this morning, 'as a project'. Getting quite anxious about this too, but it may be the only way to satisfy my desires for a mansion (well, at least a spare bedroom) on our budget.

The bright side is that a night out with hubbie and without children was quite lovely. Had a meal out together (when did we last do that?) then retired to our B&B. This turned out to be an old lady's spare room in the attic and the 'double' room would traditionally be called a twin. It was like going back in time, seeing the dinner service of our parents or grandparents on her kitchen table. Having got over the quaintness of all this, we had a lovely time!

We're getting closer to a decision. Honest! Still, going down again this week with kids in tow (we have a three week half-term - blessing or curse?) to view a few more properties and possibly find an architect! I'm not sure I signed up for all this when I first thought about marriage and children!

Headaches

This house-hunting lark is a headache.

Firstly, this comes about from hours spent on the internet looking at potential properties, then dismissing them (rooms too small, no downstairs toilet, no ensuite, 'garden' really means 'paving slabs with small bush in middle'). 

Some estate agents don't put up floor plans - how else am I supposed to orientate myself? And those that do have a horrible tendency to make them miniscule (more headache as nose touches screen trying to work out what it says).

Then, we have to consider schools. More double-clicking to view Ofsted reports. Can you rely on something from 2005? How can I tell if the house I am hypothetically interested in is within the catchment area? Our home in London was round the corner from an excellent school but still too far to be considered for a place.

Then there's the on-going headache: wasting my life on the internet looking for the perfect place to live, when I should be re-writing the book (oops!) or playing with the children or doing the washing (yes, everything gets shoved to one side while I dream of my multi-million pound mansion ...!!)

I'm off for a paracetemol and a lie-down.

Wanderings ...

The blog is not called Withenay Wanders for nothing.

Blogger silence has been enforced by Christmas capers, attention-seeking children being around and family visits. Oh - and the need to assimilate the news of a complete change for the family in 2009.

Yes, we are filled with joy and delight that my husband has got a job in Manchester. It is close to being his dream job (clinical rather than academical medicine, but otherwise perfect!) and we - the family - are very, very, very proud of him.

We are also upset that we have to move. We love Newcastle: it is such a vibrant city and we have the most wonderful friends here, despite only being here about fifteen months (so far...) Manchester is a whole new ball game.  Neither of us know anything about it and, we have discovered, have few - if any - friends living in or near it. 

So New Year heralded a weekend of house-hunting - or rather, driving round and round suburban Manchester thinking, "Would we like living here? I wonder what the schools are like? Can you find a garden in a city? Are there any houses that would suit us?" For me, this last question is easy to answer: Yes! Unfortunately, not necessarily ones we can afford...

So, Withenays wander yet again, this time across the country from East to West (well, in a general south-westerly direction from here) and establish new roots and homes.  Life's never dull!