Part two; what doesn't work

Upon arriving at our new abode, we find that even thought the property has sat empty for at least 4 weeks, there are several things which come to light over the day as having been left in unworking condition. What starts out as a minor annoyance.....a shower not working due to a shorted out isolator switch and a bath that won't stay full as the plug doesn't fit, goes to a rather teeth clenching.....

Television that can't pick up any stations and there are so many wires and even a box which needs power at the spot where the arial should be, that even this intrepid TV guy has to give up and spend a night and a day without television, yes, you heard me , he lived without TV and I lived to tell the tale! On from here, we go to the kitchen or as I like to think of it, the cupoard with a stove in it lol.

See that lovely looking washing machine there? Well most properties don't come with them so they have been on our list of must have's to avoid buying one. On our first day in, I had a few of Glenn's shirts that would be needed soon for work so I thought I'd throw them in. Press a whole load of buttons...nothing, read instructions...wrong ones....press buttons some more...think logically and then press buttons and wait, before pressing again.....machine starts to make noise, that noise that you instantly know means it can't get any water...machine starts to turn clothes, without water. So, look for taps...nowhere to be seen...get Glenn....repeat preceding steps plus try to pull machine out and look behind....not enough room to get a grip....both walk away silently so as to avoid making this someones fault who it clearly isn't. Contact landlord who's number we forunately have, and report all faults: await his arrival to check. (He tries to tell me washer isn't his problem as previous tenants left it so is not in lease..as I am arguing politely Glenn reminds me from his TV'less chair that the advert said 'Includes appliances'. Landlord backs down...he knows when he has been beaten by an BrAussie! (that's a British Australian hybrid such as ourselves)

Now for an interlude of house pics

It is a lovely bright and light house, a lot of money will be saved by not having lights on 24/7. The walls are mainly creamish BUT, there are 8 different floor coverings and the two bay windows have extremely busy flowery curtains that basically go with nothing. Now those of you who know us, know that we are not strangers to some busy decorating and use of colour but there has been zero planning behind this eclectic mix. All in all however, it is not massively unattractive and the furnishings we have work well. While we waited for the landlord we thought we would have a stroll through the garden, which had looked lovely on the google street view pics. However, things have changed. The previous tenants apparently didn't give a stuff about leaving the property in a good state and the agent neglected their duty to do a thorough check, because, the two recycling bins are both filled to the brim with stinking rubbish, the lawn is about a metre long and yellow, the garden shed is full of discarded furniture and baby items, there is litter all over the ground and they even had the cheek to hide some black bags of rubbish behind the shed...ahh there's naught as queer as folk.

The landlord comes round armed with a new switch which an electrician will fit Monday, a new doorbell which we didn't even know was broken, a bath plug. He helps Glenn get the washer out and discovers that the previous had disconnected the pipes to take it away but changed their mind and just pushed it back, he says he will arrange for the rubbish to be collected and says the electrician can look at the TV arial. On Sunday, I spent the day unpacking and Glenn attacked the TV again...lets face it, he was never going to sit around staring at the wall was he? Anyway, he plugged everything into everything and eventually the cry rang out 'The telly's working!' Thank goodness, radio football was about as entertaining as two big bins of rotting rubbish.

Monday morning I text landlord to find out when sparky is due...no answer. I wait a couple of hours and text again; he calls and says here's his number, you ring. I text, because our mobile calls are high due to the fact that we are on a cheap to Oz plan, and again I get no answer. Another couple of hours and I text landlord again...no answer. So I email the agent who has been quite responsive...not this time, I get no answer. It is now about 3pm and I know that if my slowly fermenting husband doesn't get to have a shower tomorrow morning there is going to be hell to pay, so I ring the sparky....'Didn't he tell you it would be after work, in the evening?' I had waited in all day for this guy but, when he did come, he was so personable and friendly and he made everything work even though he complained that the landlord had bought rubbish...he had to repair both the switch and the doorbell straight out of the packet!

All complaints aside, it's a lovely house, the neighbours...one who came round with her daughters and brought us a cake and the other an elderly Irish lady who said 'I'll not terrorise you' and 'I'm church mad you know' seem delightful. Today i went to join the library (15min walk away) and happened on their regular creative writing group....what luck! Glenn's journey to work is a calm 45 mins which he is very happy with and our Tesco is 5 mins away. It seems our research and efforts have paid off and flowery curtains aside, we would be happy to stay here until it is time to return to the land of Oz. Moving house takes up far too much castle/ruins/stately houses/European jaunts time. Oh, one last thing though; all that rain that we didn't have in Measham.....it's here in Birmingham and I finally got to use my transparent pink dotted christmas umbrella.