Holidays, houses and hope

Life News:

We had a lovely bank holiday Monday visiting Hinton Ampner and also met up with Colin & Cathy from work (hello, C & C!) which was an unexpected treat - hope you've both recovered from the shock by now ...

This week I've been back at work and managed, somehow, to deal with the 150 emails that awaited me. I'm just so incredibly popular, don't you know. Actually, it wasn't as bad as I feared after having been away for such a long time - though the easing-back-in process was definitely improved by Andrea & Monica bringing in chocolate, hurrah. What stars.

Wednesday night, I was up in London seeing Jane W (hello, Jane!) for drinks, food and chat, which was great as, honestly, what with everything that's been going on, it seems to have been ages since we met. Anyway it was wonderful to catch up, as always, though I fear Waterloo Station is not what it was. All the shops have gone, shock horror, as they apparently have a huge project to make a big shopping centre out of it at a mezzanine level. Ah, I feel that the spirit of Waterloo Station simply doesn't fit that scenario ...

Yesterday, K and I were out at the theatre to see Ayckbourn's Communicating Doors, which, as a comedy thriller, is something of a departure for him but well worth seeing. We loved it. A complex and very satisfying time travel/crime plot and some really scary moments, as well as his inevitable and very appreciated witty one-liners. If it comes your way, do go and see it if you can.

This morning, I have filled the car up with petrol and then attempted to get into the wrong car after I'd paid - oh the embarrassment of it all! All I can say in my defence was the car was quite similar to mine and I wasn't really paying attention, hey ho. The real owner was very sweet about it though - so I don't have to spend the night in Godalming police station, hurrah.

Mind you, you can't blame me as there's suddenly a hell of a lot going on again. Our house purchase is trundling on in the background. But, in terms of our flat sale, one of our tricky neighbours has actually signed the transfer, huzzah and put out the bunting! Mind you, the other one hasn't, yet, and they're now in addition wanting the lease to be changed, but that's at their expense, so we're holding our breath and hoping. Our solicitor even thinks that, if the wind's in the right direction, we might exchange with our buyer by the end of next week - even though we're on holiday then (see below) - but I think that will be rather over-optimistic myself. In the meantime, today - which is our last day in the UK for a week - I'm trying to (a) keep both sets of estate agents updated on a rolling basis, (b) agree to take the next step on the rental property we saw last week, with maybe a date for moving into it (ho hum), (c) keep in contact with K at work while all this is going on so various mutual decisions can be made, (d) keep our buyer happy by trying to give him a proposed completion date by close of play today (ha - that's three hours then!), (e) if (d) goes through, book our removal firm, and (f) pack my suitcase for the holiday. All this whilst the ruddy email here isn't working properly so I can't send anything out so nobody's getting any of my messages and I have to do it all via phone. Lordy indeed. It's astonishing I'm still calm ... Must be the fact that I managed to fit in a session of reflexology at work this week - bliss.

Anyway, I'll have no option but to forget it all next week and face the possibility of homelessness and our worldly goods on the street outside when we get back from sunny Italy, which is where we'll be for the next seven days. Having missed out at the last minute on Pompeii last year due to that pesky and very ironic ash cloud (ho hum), I'm determined to get there this year and enjoy every last moment of it. And, hell, we definitely need the break - another one!

Book News:

At Vulpes Libris you can find my review of Anne Tyler's Noah's Compass, which is a great read but rather bleaker than I'm used to with this author, I must say.

Other book news is that Untreed Reads have accepted my literary short story, A Little Death, for publication, so that's grand. And the ebook of The Bones of Summer can be purchased directly from the publisher at a 20% discount throughout the whole of May.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Anne Brooke