dotty

After an entire month of racing round the country looking for at houses I found one right under my nose. Sitting down after a bizzare day of wall to wall tuscan yellow paint with mediteranian blue carpet and floral borders I was about to give up. My mother timidly approaches me with a nice cup of PG tips and asks if I had thought of buying their home!! After 43 years, four stories of mainly unrenovated Victorian Hampstead house with very overgrown gardens has become too much for them, but the thought of selling and getting involved with the madness of the UK house selling system had been putting them off, not to mention the thought of 43 years of accumulated treasures:scared:

Its perfect, they sell without any stress, us buying means they dont get ripped off by agents who tend to ignore early 1900's fireplaces, light switches, cornice, doornobs and 12 foot ceilings to point out the lack of central heating and a DIY flat conversion, and the chip pan fire of 1980 where they just rebuilt a kitchen into another room It certainly had become to much for them, so its perfect all round. My Dad, finds it bloody amusing that we just agreed to the 2004 price for what he bought in 1961 With the house sorted we will totally restore the house and convert 2 flats off of the basement and ground floor which the plan is to let as luxury holiday accom or to business tenants. Leaving us with the top of the house to live in when in London. So that covers income too.

Car, I simply cannot believe how cheap some things are here, cars and food for starters, its a small VW so go on someone tell me they are crap

I guess I must put in some troll food, like the weather has been great, the twilight zone evenings still freak me out tho I forget to eat, its light beyond when most in OZ would have been in bed so I keep thinking its afternoon and its actually nightime, if it wasnt for my curry and stella problem I could have starved by now. Trolls will love this bit, I have not been mugged, attacked by beggars or buried myself in litter, there is nothing in London anymore scary than in Melb or Sydney so there. People also talk to me, smile at them and they smile at you in fact I think the man in my local ethnic shop thinks I fancy him. Quite worrying all I go in for is those mini hobnobs 35p add chocolate to my curry and stella problem.

To all those coming back, its lovely to be home, they understand my humour, they like my humour, people are so worldly, I did not realise just how insular OZ is till I got back here, people travel, people know whats going on in the world, if I am bored I can do thousands of things just within London and a hundred more within 2 hours. I love it, there are problems in the UK just like anywhere but nothing that would really stop me enjoying a day to day life here. My family are happy, I'm happy half the stuff people on here moan about in the UK is just the same stuff people whinge about in OZ, you cant escape that anywhere, but for me this place is working out just fine. Cost of living, similar with some things pretty obvious Petrol dearer food cheaper, wages tho know where I'd work if I needed a job. If I ever fancy a dose of frying my skin I'll just pop over to Spain, frankly tho I dont think the urge to BBQ will hit me too soon.

All in all bloody marvellous and do you know what I reckon my first instincts about OZ were right, the first 48 hours an overwhelming feeling of oh no.................. If it aint for you dont stay that gut feeling never changed once no matter how perfect our OZ lives were.

Happy little dottymite

Forgot to say, I had to use the UK health service, very impressed, Phoned Doctor at 4 am for my Dad having chest pains, they actually sent out a Doctor, to the house in the middle of the night! For free.

angelica

So true! Instinct is never wrong as long as you just listen to it you can save yourself a lot of stress. Glad its all working out. Funny how it goes right in the end isnt it?? Keep smiling

friends

We return on thursday. Finding it hard to get excited although i want to. Loads of negative people around me saying its the wrong thing to do and give it more time. Its posts like yours that keep me going. Thanks

Don

Supermarket food UK can be cheapish but eating out (restaurants) is expensive. compared to most of the rest of the world.

honeymommy

This may sound weird, but....... I live near Los Angeles and everyone I know eats out a lot of the time. Have a few friends that never cook.
I was thinking about the UK restaurants compared to here and to be honest I am looking forward to it. We won't be able to eat out much but THAT is what makes for a special evening.

From experience I know the service will be much nicer, the food will be great. We can dress up a bit and make it a special evening.
It will also teach my 4 children how to appreciate things in life a little more.

Here, I find the service rushed with a plastic attitude for the most part. To go to a restaurant that compares to British services costs about the same as the UK anyway......

The only place here we found great service, was a local curry house. The only problem was the curry was americanised and didn't taste at all authentic......

Dotty.... I just want to say, I have been reading your posts and think it is wonderful to have such a positive caring outlook on life. You have given me hope for the future on our return to the UK.

Well actually you made me rather homesick..... LOL

Don

In Central Europe we don't really think twice about eating out as it doesn't cost that much more than cooking it yourself and provides a lot of variety and speciality cooking you don't get at home except when yours truly gets the urge.

Whereas in UK it costs about 5 times as much to eat out so most people only go out a couple of times a month apart from when business calls plus maybe a few takeaways.

Bella

Hey Dotty,

it's great to hear from you, glad all is going so well.

Very envious re your Hampstead home - what a fab place to live when in the Big Smoke.

Keep keeping us all posted

Cheers,
Bella

dotty

Thanks for the good wishes but trust me you would not be envious mum and dad are 70 and have always been people far more interested than getting out and enjoying life than doing stuff around the home, most of the bedrooms have the same wallpaper and carpet as when we were kids I am 41 this year Dad gave up gardening 10 years ago and I really do mean nobody has been out there since I even have an outside toilet with a pull chain, thankfully theres some inside ones too. 2 Cellars in the basement still contain the junk such as a washing wringer thingey, and a water pump from where I do not know. You might say it needs just a little work

Bella

Maybe you should get one of the decent (are there any) DIY TV shows to come over & give you a hand!!

You're certainly gonna have your work cut out but it'll all be worth it I'm sure .... You may even enjoy it???

Pants

Brilliant to hear that all is going well for you Dotty and as for VW I reckon they are great. I had a Passat and a Golf and am looking at getting a SKODA OCTAVIA ( if I can afford one, when I get home)....arghhhhhhhhhhh no they aren't that bad anymore. They have VW engines so will hopefully last for a long time.
Now someone will tell me something different...so long as it's good car advice I don't mind.!!

The house sounds a challenge but then you sound like the sort who would thrive on that Dotty..get stuck in.

So happy for you Dotty I hope all the others will feel the same when they get back..us included of course.

Friends don't worry about the negative people around...they are EVERYWHERE...my MIL practically chokes on the word "ENGLAND"......anything bad to say about it she will.....I could say something very naughty about the choking bit but best not eh ..naughty naughty !!!LOl

Keep posting Dotty.....

Carrianne

Dotty,

Nice to see you are settling back in quickly.


Love c x

HiddenPaw

He he! I dont think Dotty will be wanting to tune into the TV DIY shows....the latest offering from the Discovery Home & Leisure channel is 'Flaming BBQs' - a programme dedicated to building BBQs in your back garden. (Starts Monday 8pm, channel 134 if you're interested Dotty.....unless this is YOUR new business venture and you've gone into TV)

Megalania

Home - home at last.

ems

Good for you Dotty! Its good to hear someone so positive about being home.

Like 'friends' we have had a few negative comments from people here about returning so soon, but now we've made the decision I cant wait to get back

dotty

OMG
Flamin barbeques alright I swear I must have gone to well over a thousand of them over there I still cant look a sausage in the face