Moving on.

Well I'm nearly done. I got a bit frantic because I had so much stuff but actually it's not as bad as I feared. I still haven't managed to get a suitable home for the sofa or the fridge which means they are off to the dump. I just have to destroy a bed, clean a kitchen and scrub down the cottage. Simple.

Moving house is horrible but it will be over soon and I'm feeling really positive about the move now. This is definitely the right thing to do and if everything goes to plan, just a first step back to London.

So yeah, feeling good about it all. Coolie has it covered

Freecycle, moving, and things.

Freecycle is amazing. I have furniture I don't need and I really, really don't want to take it to the dump, because it's perfectly good furniture. So I've put it on freecycle.

The response has been great. Hopefully by the end of the day I'll have got rid of most of my stuff. The only minor glitch is people being really fussy. It's a free table, I'm sorry if the the colour doesn't quite work for you no need to get so stroppy.

Also freecycle has quite a lot of people asking for unrealistic stuff. I doubt you will get a new top of the range laptop, people don't tend to give those away.

So this weekend will involve a lot of frantic scrubbing of carpets and a sort of reverse evolution of the cottage. The washing machine is going in a bit, the fridge will be later and the sofa is going to disappear too. It's a little bit sad until I think of my bank balance.

Then it's the best thing I've ever done.

Cancelled, cancelled, cancelled.

I've been cancelling loads of stuff because I'm leaving the cottage. Water, council tax, phones, all sorts. It's very satisfying to realise that these huge chunks of cash aren't going to be flying out of my bank account on the first of the month anymore. Even more satisfying is the fact that I'm due some refunds.

I've not been getting my 25% of council tax for being a poor lonely singleton and so I'm getting that back. It's like a government organised saving scheme. I've put a away a little every month and now I've got a reasonable wodge of cash that I didn't expect to get.

You know, it might just be the thing that inspires me to start saving, once I've paid off my debts. They have to come first. Actually maybe I'll just use the wodge of cash to pay off some more of them. That would be a bit more sensible.

This new cheaper lifestyle is like getting a massive raise and it should allow me to do things again, like go on holidays or take nice girls out for drinks. Is this downsizing? If so I love it.

Maybe I could turn into a vacuous feature for someone? People who are moving to cheaper digs to improve their lifestyle.

The move, well at least thinking about it.

In less than a week I will be moved out of the cottage. EEK. I've done almost no packing, which is at least true to form. To be fair though, I've still not unpacked some things from when I first moved so it does balance out. I just move the bags around.

Hopefully this next move will be a short-term one. Just a little step on the hop back to London, or perhaps America. Anyone want any furniture? I've got tables and sofas and all the other things that people need. I think I'll just phone up the recycling man and get him to take it all away.

I need to cancel lots of direct debits too. It's annoying how signing up for a phone and things can be done in moments online or over the telephone but cancelling it requires letters and 28 days notice. That's just annoying, and slightly sharp business practice if you ask me.

Still it will be worth it. I'm looking forward to not paying £50 a month for water, which given that I shower at work and use about a kettles worth a day seems a bit much. I suppose that's the thing people never say about living on your own. It's all 'oh it's great walking around in your underpants (in the summer) and being able to watch what ever telly you like (that bit is good)' they don't mention the absolutely crippling bills, or vague sense of loneliness that makes you seriously consider cats.

A very good chum has moved to London and has spare rooms, or will have them soon. So the vague plan is to land a job in that London and live with him a bit. The house is quite remote, but I think living with him would be amazing. I'm really quite looking forward to it.

Made of Rar! Bad week, good week.

Last week was a tricky one.

On Monday a bike got stolen while in my care. Arrgh etc. Just after getting my wheels back, for the first time in over a year allowed a bike over the weekend and BANG. It gets stolen. I was furious.

As you can imagine this rather messed up my week. I don't know if I'm going to be banned again because of the bike disappearing. On Thursday night I thought 'enough was enough'.

And so did something a bit bold. I emailed a publish with a pitch for a non-fiction book. Something to do with work. It was a fairly short email, focused if you will. I sent it across first thing in the morning.

Twenty minutes later I had a meeting arranged to go in and talk to the publisher about the idea. GET IN. I just need to tell my agent about this now, I hope he isn't upset.

Visits

My brother his here visiting which is aces. It was a last minute thing so I couldn't get time off work which is less aces but the whole situation is still aces.

When I have guests it's one of the few times when having the cottage pays off, just about. I'm going to be so glad to be no-longer shackled to the vast bills of living here. I suppose I have learned an important lesson - living on your own is bloody expensive.

My brother brought some beans up with him. Lots and lots of beans. I'm not really sure what to do with them. Any ideas?

Days Marching by

In the past week I've been to a great party in London, passed a riding assessment with flying colours, ridden about a dozen new bikes, flirted with more girls than I should and resolutely refused to ask for any of their numbers, gone out to local bars and had fun.

It's been really rather good. I mean surprisingly good. I still miss London desperately but work up here has been about as good as it can be in the last week or so. I'm still moving on, but this is definitely helping make the days march by.

I'm only in the cottage for a few more weeks now. It seems a bit sad, but any time I start to have regrets I just think about all the cash I'm going to save by moving out. Cash I can use to do fun stuff.

I'm going to get some new clothes too. I need a new waistcoat that fits and I'd like some new shirts too. I'm not sure what exactly, but I'll know when I see it. It will be a new beginning shirt.