Get the old house ready

One of the least fun aspects of moving house is cleaning the old house. Once all my stuff is gone I don't want to have to spend too much time in the old house, devoid of all comforts, miserably cleaning! So I do as much as I can along the way. Luckily it's not all that much. The living room will probably only need a sweep when all stuff is out, as I already cleaned all windows and window frames, and there's not much else.

I had taken out some shelves when I moved in, to make space for a cupboard, so I put them back. And I cleaned things such as walls I brushed along very often, and light switches, and skirting boards. As I write this, one bedroom is sorted, and one needs a bit of hoovering and a skirting board job. I'll try to do the bathroom before the weekend as it would be nice to get that out of the way. The kitchen can only be done at the very end; I will need to clean the spaces where the washing machine and fridge now stand.

I hope I can be quick and efficient! And then I can work full-time on the new house! For the foreseeable future...

Large bedroom almost empty

Kitchen table is now desk, window sill is now extension to kitchen table 

Living room has lost book cupboard, big chest, small chest, chair and big vase, but still looks like living room

It's starting to look like a house

It was nice to have all of Easter for doing incremental house moving! You can get a lot of stuff done in six days. So by the end of it, the house was looking like a house! Some of it at least. I have an almost-functioning bedroom on the top floor, and a home office too. The conservatory has to be living room for now, as I have no furniture in the actual one. Well, my wardrobe stands there, as I didn't dare try get it to the top floor with only ne helper. Maybe later we'll get it up! But I think it's best if it goes; I might want to take the living room ceiling out! Best done without furnuture in the way.

The kitchen is as yet pretty much untouched, but the storage space next to it is fully functioning. It has a lot of outdoor and climbing kit, and space for a lot more, and all my books (in boxes) and the deconstructed book cupboard. I can soon move in! And then it can take as long as it takes to get the ground floor sorted!

 

Bedroom

 

Office

 

First hot meal in kitchen! 

Pre-move desk repair

The last time I moved house I noticed I should repair my desk. I'd been overloading the drawers, and some of the runners had started to give up. But these were just immobile pieces of plastic, and that's easy to replace. Just put immobile pieces of wood in their place! So when I was in my 'old' house for a bit, I decided to remove the old runners and measure them up. Some slats I had were the right thickness! And one, cut lengthwise in three, would provide all I needed.

Another lull in other house-moving business allowed me to quickly saw up a slat into the right sizes, drill holes in the runner things, and file off the pointy edges. And screw them into position! Even though the bit where the drawers go doesn't get a lot of sunlight, there was clear enough colouration to see where the old runners had been.

Damaged runner and improvised replacements 

Three missing runners

 

 

Fixed!

It was done rather quickly! So when I set up the desk in the new house, I can welcome it to a new phase in its life! Always satisfying, keeping something old going. I've had that desk since my Amsterdam time! And now it's ready for a Bethesda period!

Long weekend in the new house

Thursday was the first day in the house, but then I only spent a few hours there. I had the entire Friday! And Saturday. On Friday I first did some admin; I needed, for instance, to move my internet to the new address. That matters! It will move the 16th. I will move earlier. If I need internet and my phone won't do, I can go to my office!

After that I went to the house, and got cracking. I was still torn between all jobs to be done. Emptying out, cleaning, moving furniture in, building furniture back up, etc etc. I kept scampering from one place to the next. I intended to have a cup of tea once in a while but something always came in the way. But I made progress!

I also had my first guest: Phil popped by. He had a critical look at things such as the plumbing. It is good to have knowledgeable friends! And we had a cup of coffee with a view to the river. Very nice! Moving house is a bit of a lonely job and it was nice to have a friend over. Who as well made an appearance was Glynne the joiner; we pulled the carpet out of the landing and had a look at the floorboards below. He'll sand them down and then I have a floor! After that he can get cracking on the master bedroom.

I managed to drag myself away in the evening. I was home a bit late! And knackered. And I didn't sleep well. But the next day I was back. And I made progress again! I cleared out and hoovered the living room, and went though the inventory of the garage. I selected what I want to keep and what needs to go. Ready for a van to transport the lot to the dump!

I also had visits from the neighbour who came to say hi, and from a painter/decorator who came to have a look, and from a stove installer who got ready to give me a quote. Things are moving! But I'll also need a chimney sweep. And maybe a plumber and electrician.

On Saturday I saw the last person (the painter/decorator) at 4; after that, I went for a short stroll. It was time I got some fresh air! It's nice to walk straight into the nearby slate quarry, although it is still active and you can't enter much of it.

 Pretty path on the outskirts of Penrhyn Quarry

View on Bethesda/Gerlan from Penrhyn Quarry

After that I went home to cook and eat. I thought I'd collapse in a heap afterwards, but I got a text from Glyn; would I be interested in climbing that night? I was knackered, but I figured it'd do me good. We went! We tried Beacon but it was just closing, so we ended up in Indy. That was pretty much deserted. We had all climbing routes to ourselves! And I felt a lot better after it! Thanks Glyn, in a way you are helping my move! I was ready for another day at the grinding stone on Easter Sunday...

Dig goes back to normal

The previous time we had made a breakthrough! But big progress doesn't last. We went back, trying to make a bit of space at the top. It's a bit cramped there! But the moving was a bit difficult. The problem slabs there were, as happens a bit too big to move and a bit thin to blow up. But we did get some slabs out of the way. It'll be a bit slow for a while again but sooner or later we're bound to hit a wider space again! Which will be great! And for now I'm resigned to drill short drill holes in very uncomfortable positions...

New phone

When you move house you may as well move phone as well. My old one was due for renewal in November; by then, it still worked OK. I chose to keep it. The Samsung I got with that deal was put to use as a stereo.

But these phones are not built to last. The battery would just not last a day anymore! And it had had an issue in which it gave me an error message all the time for months. It was time to make the switch after all.

As I would be pottering between two houses, only one of which having Internet, I would be rather reliant on my phone! So I slowly prepared. I didn't want to lose important data!

The day I got the key is swapped over the SIM card. And I managed to transfer over my contacts. I synced other data via iCloud too, but I haven't yet managed to actually use them. It's all hidden! But I'll get there.

I'll have to get used to the Samsung-specific things.  But there's one thing I already like: you can easily swap between languages! It's very annoying to have predictive text try to turn Dutch into English.

I now have English,  Dutch and Norwegian loaded.  Welsh was not on offer! Tsk...

The big work starts!

I walked into a house I owned for the first time. It was exciting, but also a bit disappointing! Rose had left stuff in pretty much all the rooms. And it didn't look very clean either. And I would have to unload; I had stuffed my car full of the first round of kit. I had taken all back seats out so there was a lot of room. Lots to unpack! I would have so much to do! But where to start!

I opened the garage and was in for another surprise. It was a tip! Oh dear. So much for being able to store anything there. Hm! So where to start? I started everywhere. I started collecting all left-over gunk from the house, and place it in the garage. I had texted Rose with my thoughts on the garage, and she reminded me she would have a tradesman empty it and pay the bill. A relief! And he could take the house left-overs too. I also started unloading, and I hovered the top floor, and I pondered which room I would make my bedroom. I also took some cleaning implements from the kitchen (some of the stuff Rose had left was quite useful) and started cleaning.

 

The garage as I found it

After a while I had two hoovered rooms upstairs, and a bed (left by Rose with my consent) on its side, stuck in the room I didn't want it to be in, but where it would stay until I would bring allen keys. These rooms in the end were (almost) empty of everything that shouldn't be in there. I had put the mattress in its destination room, and some deconstructed furniture too. I would build that back up later.

The future temporary bedroom

I had unloaded my car, and uploaded some unused boxes Rose had left. My own boxes were all a bit manky as they had been kept in the garage. Hers were immaculate! And some of the stuff I kept; for some reason, she had left a machete. And a pile of pre-metric coins. And a workmate. And ladders! And binoculars. It's a strange collection.

I tried to put a comfortable chair in the living room, but it wouldn't come through the door. Oh dear! That would be the same thing with my sofa, certainly. I wold have to buy a smaller one! Oh well, that is easily done. I had been directed to a company that restores furniture employing people with disabilities; they had sofas. I was sure they would have small ones too! The chair went into the cleaned and emptied conservatory, with the side tables.

The landing; empty now, and ready for the builder, joiner, and painter/decorator

 

Chair with view on river! And the bag on the left contains a wallpaper stripper. 

I also moved the freezer; it seemed not to be in a practical space. I shoved it aside, and a horrible black patch appeared from underneath it on the floor. Oh dear! The cleaning implements around would struggle with that. I also emptied out the master bedroom, and the landing. By then time was sort of up!

I would go digging that night; there was a whole Easter long weekend to work on the house. So I left, drove home, and on my way to the dig, dropped off a chest of drawers. The next day my work would continue! And it will continue for months, if not years...