Manchester 1

Friday 23rd - Thursday 29th March
We have been incredibly busy since we arrived home, which may help to explain why I am so far behind with this blog.

We had 3 days in a hotel, one (unplanned) night on a futon in the son's flat, and now we are camping in our son's new house. Our son was supposed to be able to move into the new house on Friday (23rd) but the family did not succeed in moving out - they were doing it themselves. Although our son got the keys late on Friday night, the people were back on Saturday to remove more belongings. We turned up on Saturday but could not get access while they continued to move, so we went away again. We were able to get in on Sunday, and immediately started cleaning. Various friends had been invited round for the Sunday to give a hand, but as the weather was lovely, only one person turned up.

The house is very run down, and needs a lot done to it before our son and family can move in. It has no kitchen, for a start. The previous occupants took the kitchen cabinets with them! The new kitchen should arrive partly next Friday and partly at the weekend. At present, we have only a microwave on the floor, a garden table and chairs, and a mattress on the living room floor for sleeping. The mattress we sleep on did not arrive until Monday night, hence the extra unplanned night on the futon in our son's flat - because of the delay in getting into the house, there was not time to get the mattress on Saturday or Sunday, as originally planned.

Not only does every room in the house need decorating, everywhere also needs a thorough cleaning! It is the filthiest place I have ever moved into. The previous people obviously didn't have a very efficient vacuum cleaner so the carpets were very dusty. So far, I have had to empty the vacuum cleaner bag every day, and spend a long time unwinding hairs from its brushes.

We now have one room that is sufficiently clean to put the crawling baby down in, though the walls still need to be washed and the ceiling is grey with dirt. It is an Edwardian house so the ceilings are very high, and ceiling painting will be a nightmare. The cornices are filthy too, and one is badly cracked and needs to be mended.

Perhaps the people who lived here were in financial difficulty because they had those pre-payment gas and electricity meters (which are also very expensive) and they made no arrangements to change them. That took an awful lot of time to organise - not to mention the added misery of keeping an eye on the meter and running to the post office to put more money on the gas meter or the electricity meter! In order to change the meter, you have to notify the company some weeks beforehand of a name change, then once the meters are in your name, you have to apply for a credit account in the new name, have a credit check (wait 3 weeks) and then you can apply to have the meter changed.....

We have made several visits to our storage to get bedding and towels, also our picnic supplies, and are resigned to microwave meals for a few days. We urgently need to make some progress with cleaning the walls of Tom's bedroom so painting can start there. Wooden flooring will be installed on the ground and first floors on April 18th, and also existing flooring in the kitchen will be sanded. There will also be some new carpets on the second floor - existing carpets being too filthy to contemplate using. I am gradually getting them cleaner, and we had been going to shampoo them, but they are very stained and lots of the stains are indelible. We need to try to have things painted before the new carpets and wooden floors go down, and it now appears the place must be partly re-wired, as it is borderline dangerous.

On our first morning here, we discovered the shower was barely lukewarm. The resulting shower was quite unpleasant. On the second morning, the weather was colder and I couldn't face the nearly cold shower. So I ran a bath - the normal water was sufficiently hot, it was only the shower that was nearly cold. So I had a lovely hot bath, then stepped out to get dried. Soon, I was standing in a flood. The bath runs out onto the bathroom floor! So I put the plug back in, and we had to bale out the bath with a bucket into the loo.

Actually, the bathroom is a bit of a disaster area, the loo flush is broken, the washbasin is badly cracked and there is a 6 foot long vertical gaping hole behind the door. No wonder the house was cheap! The previous owner did all the work himself, and it seems he never finished anything properly. Our son has taken on an awful lot. His best friend did something of the same some years ago, (though that was before he had any children). Things take so much longer when you have a baby, and of course our grandson is into everything, so there are two rooms upstairs with gates on the doors, and he will have to stay up there until things are more finished downstairs and upstairs.

Our son and an electrician friend had a look at some of the problems yesterday, and have made the shower hot, so at least I can shower and wash my hair. A builder friend of our son is arriving at the weekend to help with putting in the kitchen, and then we may be a bit further forward. It is handy to have a friend who is a builder - it's just a shame our son doesn't live in south London, nearer this friend! There is an electrician friend up here, so that helps - he is going to deal with the house wiring. At least the weather is warm and it is pleasant in the garden, though we aren't able to see much of it!

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