In Devon
 

Hi Everyone.

We drove from Devon to Sussex on Monday, with the cats. They are not pleased because they loved it at my mum's in Sussex. For some reason her back garden is a cat Shangri-la. The old cat protested by getting out the front door here and trying to walk back to Sussex, but since she is 20 years old it wasn't difficult to catch her. Since then she has started to explore our garden and is giving it grudging approval. The younger cat had an encounter with next-door's geese yesterday and the shock has caused a mental breakdown. He is hiding in one of the suitcases and refuses to get out. He is just waiting for our next move.

The tracking tool on Upakweship says that our container has already left Montreal and will be at Southampton before the end of the month. That's sooner than we expected.

Re: In Devon
 

HaHa. That reminded me of when our old Hollycat had his first ever encounter with a chicken. He was ambling out of our front door when there, right in front of him, peering down at him, was a runaway red shaver from next door . Hollycat was completed and utterly stunned with disbelief. I mean, what kind of Conon Doyle Lost World country had we brought him to. He never did gain any fondness for hens after that unexpected encounter , not even our own, but did seem to come to terms with the notion of ducks existing. They were completely beneath his dignity.

Pics of your pusscats please.

Re: In Devon
 

LOL cats are too funny.

Re: In Devon
 

During the last week we've been dealing with a situation regarding our ex-tenants, which has been exasperating, but also quite amusing.

It's a long story, but basically our managing agent seems to have been remarkably careless with the vérité. The tenants were given the impression that they could stay in the house in the long term, even though I'd always made it clear that we were returning in July, and even instructed the agent to offer a lower rent for that reason.

The tenants were a sociable couple who went round the village dispensing jars of lemon curd made with eggs from their chickens, telling everyone that they were there for ever.

Then, in the spring when we were deciding what furniture to put in our container, I asked the agent to ask the tenants to measure up the space for a sofa, unwittingly forcing the agent to tell the tenants that we were returning.

They covered themselves by saying that I was getting divorced and needed the house because I was leaving my husband. Oh what tangled webs we weave...

The agents found another house for the tenants locally, but how honest they've been in that transaction I cannot tell.

The agent failed to tell me that the tenants were moving out. They did not carry out an inspection and report and returned the deposit to the tenants without consulting me. The tenants moved out at the end of March, but I only discovered in May when I emailed the agents, telling them that we had decided to stay in Sussex for our first week in the UK, so we required vacant possession on the 7th July, not 30th June.

When the agent did eventually own up, he blamed the 'mix-up' on the transfer of my file because of a maternity leave, which was utter bollocks and I told him so.

The tenants had, in fact, carried out a number of 'improvements'. Not all of them are to our taste, but we are intending to redecorate anyway and a tub of polyfilla will make most of them disappear. But, the two largest alterations are the installation of a satellite dish and venting the cooker hood through an outside wall. The satellite dish is jolly useful since there is poor aerial reception on the Hartland peninsula and I'm not unhappy about the vent either.

I've had a phone conversation with the agent in which I expressed my opinion on his professional integrity loudly and with feeling, and I've given our ex-tenants £100, since just installing a satellite dish would have cost at least £70.

Re: In Devon
 

OH applied for his Canada Pension in February, since when he has not received an acknowledgement. He phoned Service Canada yesterday and was told it takes nine months to process an application, if you are resident abroad, so it will be the end of the year before he gets a payment. The person he spoke to didn't say whether the pension will be backdated.

Fortunately, the Canada Pension is not a large part of of his pension income, so the delay doesn't create any difficulty for us.

Re: In Devon
 

Great updates, Editha--thank you.

And you have let slip that you are on the Hartland Peninsula. Oh Lord. One of my favourite places in the world. Once had a big family holiday (about 18 years ago, yikes! ) there, staying at an ancient fortified farmhouse called Blegberry farm.

The story about your ex-tenants--or, even worse, your slimy, slippery agents--is appalling. I hope you manage to make that agent's name mud in the community.

Cannot believe the Canada pension story. That is so long to wait.
Good thing indeed that you're not relying on it to live!

You have said quite a bit about practical things...are you ready to talk about how it feels? Or maybe the practical things are taking up all the space, I know how that happens at moving times and transitions. When we moved to France three years ago I went ahead of my DH who was winding up things work-wise in the US and getting the cat's travel papers etc. So I was the one buying furniture and stuff for the flat and setting up (with help from relocation agency thank goodness) utilities and wifi and etc etc--and then after two weeks of this I suddenly lifted my head and looked around at the place I was living in and said, "oh my gosh this is so beautiful! I am so lucky to be here." So I know how the practicalities of just settling in can take up the forefront.....

anyway, keep us posted with your news, it's great reading!

Re: In Devon
 

Editha,

OMG that rental agent is absolutely awful! You however are wonderful, so lovely of you to give them the cash, so nice to know there are good people in the world :)

I love your attitude and the way you don't sweat the (not so) small stuff!

V. annoying about the pension, good job you weren't relying on it too much and good info for others to know.

Loving the updates.

Re: In Devon
 

+1
Did you get your car in sussex? Jealous! :frown: I love Fiat 500s! :)

Re: In Devon
 

How do I feel?

Tired and feeling my age, to be frank. I could do with fewer surprises and a period of calm. Today we discovered a bat colony in our loft, which runs a close second to the washing machine which caught fire on Wednesday as the most exciting event of the last week.

I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of this area and I'm very pleased we moved here. I'm enjoying being able to go for a walk without being eaten alive by mosquitoes.

I will possibly strangle OH if he keeps saying that although he loves the area, he worries about being 'isolated'. Edmonton Alberta was isolated. Edmo is 500 miles away from the nearest place you might actually want to be (i.e. Vancouver). The Hartland Peninsula is only isolated in the sense that Waitrose don't deliver. Admittedly OH has got a ninety minute drive to the nearest Uni, but it isn't as if, by the time he gets there, his fellow academics will have given him up for dead.

It's lovely to be able to get the stuff for our new home from familiar shops which sell things I actually want to buy. I didn't know I could get emotional about B&Q, Halfords and Laura Ashley.

Yes Gozi, we got the Fiat. It is a small flightless car, with a slightly unnerving lack of power on hills, but its manoeuvrability makes it ideal for narrow country lanes.

Re: In Devon
 

:thumbup: yeah perfect little car for the UK :)

Re: In Devon
 

Wow it hasn't exactly been smooth sailing, Editha! Bats in the belfry and a combustible washing machine....

I had to laugh at the "isolation" discussion...Edmonton, along with so many other places in that enormous Canada, sounds to me the epitome of "isolated..."

I too have become emotional in shops....

Re: In Devon
 

Ah Hartland, I know it well. I've spent many a night at the youth hostel in Elmscott, where a friend of mine was warden for a few years back in the 1980s. Then some time in the 1970s, I camped at Brownsham Farm for a couple of weeks with a group, we were doing some heavy duty trail construction on the coast path, from Mouth Mill (if I remember correctly) and a mile or two west from there.

Yeah, too chilly and windy for the mosquitoes, I'm thinking!

Re: In Devon
 

:rofl: thats what I got a gutless 1.1 ltr fiat panda, and I love the stupid little thing

Re: In Devon
 

Thanks for keeping us up to date, Editha.

Here's hoping the bats are gone.

Re: In Devon
 

Ahh... some of the hidden ugly truths about Canada are surfacing. Yes, isolation is high up there in the negatives of Canada. I live in a small town (500 residents), an hour and a bit out of both Montreal and Ottawa... just enough to be "too far" for regular trips with the family, and no busses, with the nearest "towns of any significance" too far to walk/bike with children... so we are dependent on our vehicles, go through a TON of gas (petrol... which btw, is not overly cheap here either at 1.35 a litre more often than not, but a necessity)...

I long for walking distance shops, I long for a transportation system that is well established, I long for the UK. ;)

Blessings!