Well, we moved to our new house on the 13th, and we're still busy sorting stuff out, but I'm at finally starting to settle in.
On the downside :
* The office is much smaller - previously we used the 2nd double bedroom as the office (my wife and I both work from home, she runs her fathers horticulture business, http://www.pukkaplants.co.uk) but now we use the 3rd bedroom which is a small single (or box room as they're called in the uk)
* The view is mostly over the rest of the village (which looks less and less like a village and more like a conurbation by the month), rather than the nice view over Hugus towards the Poldice valley, but at least I have an OK view of the valley to the north from the office, between the houses opposite.
* The kitchen is smaller and less stylish (although reasonably well spec'd, clean and modern) than our old one. There's nothing actually wrong with it, but we designed our old kitchen ourselves and loved it.
* We are now on a water meter, which is going to suck big time in the summer when we water the garden.
* There is still a ton of work to do - lots of plants to plant, and pots to move into the garden that are currently in a pile behind the garage, need to fix the hole I made in the conservatory wall, need to remove the dodgy tree stumps in the garden, need to repaint most of upstairs and replace the carpets, need to decorate the nursery, need to hang our pictures up, and put a mirror and shelf in the bathroom (I'm still using my wife's 3 inch compact mirror to shave) and a long list of other work.
On the plus side :
* We have a nursery for our baby girl due in march.
* We have a garage, which I'll be converting into a home gym (as well as housing the spare freezer, tumble dryer, etc).
* We have a huge conservatory, which is south facing and so warm, as well as really nicely done.
* We have a nice landscaped garden, with enough grass for our little girl to play on a swing or whatever.
* We have a big enough patio to have barbeques outside without carefully arranging the garden furniture to be on the same level and not half in gravel, half on patio or leaning back into bushes.
* We're within walking distance of family, saving a *lot* of driving and making life easier - especially at christmas, now that my father-in-law and I can finally drink without having to worry about playing taxi-driver to ferry our families to and fro.
* We're closer to the shops, bus stop and garage.
* The neighbours are friendlier, and we're around the corner from our local carpenter, electrician and cat-sitter.
* Our broadband is now twice as fast
* I can walk or cycle to Muay Thai
* We finally have a decent sized built-in wardrobe
* We finally have a decent sized table with enough chairs for people to come to dinner without having to squeeze next to each other, and nobody has to sit under the stairs or on a computer chair.
* lots of other stuff too :)
So.. on the whole it's very cool - I never thought I'd be able to afford to get a family sized house and work locally, but it's finally happened. yeay!
*bounce*
Congratulation with the house, but:
* We are now on a water meter, which is going to suck big time in the summer when we water the garden.
And what is the problem with this? Is it fair to squirt expensive drinking water all over you garden? Gas and electric aren't flat rated why should water be? All three are expensive to deliver and the normal principle of "if you use more you should pay more" should apply.
A water butt collecting run-off water should give you quite a few extra litres to help you through the UK summer drought. Most local authorities offer them at a discount.
We'd prefer to have a water meter and use a water butt to collect water for the garden, but we don't own the property, so it's not something we have any say in. We can't upgrade the woefully pathetic loft insulation either. We can at least install energy efficient light bulbs...
You do want to leave your daughter a planet she can live on?
Re:Water
TeeJay on 2006-11-27T14:14:35
Well we don't water the lawn or most of the beds, and it's not very often.. more importantly the impact of domestic water use is pretty tiny - especially here in Cornwall.
Although water is limited elsewhere, we haven't had a drought here in my lifetime and have a surplas, and unlike other things - we can't make productive use of the surplas.
For added irony - there was dirt in the water here recently and our water company advised us to 'run the taps for a couple of hours', which is probably equivilent to a month or two's watering and the regularity of these problems, as well as SWW leaky pipes means that moderate domestic use of water for gardens is lost in the noise.
So my water use has zero impact on the planet, and if I could have 'garden grade' water at a discount I'd be happy to pay for it.
As it is we'll have no choice to pay for it - so I *will* be getting a water butt. Previously we used hardly any water (efficient washing machine, not running taps, showers not baths) and got no discount for it.
Unfortunately when you have a water meter, you pay the price of everybody elses abuse, so we'll get higher bills despite using less water than any of our neighbours, and because we live in cornwall our water bill is already up to twice what you would pay elsewhere in the UK.
I think it's fair to say that sucks.Re:Water
ajt on 2006-11-27T19:14:36
I can't agree more that the problem with water metering is that it's not universal...!
I also agree that the water companies are pretty useless and waste more water than all their customers.
However, that doesn't mean you can't do your bit - which you are.
Our house stands on river gravel so the garden doesn't need watering at all, but most of the village is on chalk. The local river is at record lows, there has been no water at the source for the past four years!
