Climbing back aboard for a new adventure

So... What's the best approach to adopt when you inadvertently fail to update your blog for nearly two years?

I think maybe the best bet is to just get on with it pretty much as if nothing happened.  I mean, nothing really did happen - no really big life changes, just maybe not having enough that I was interested in enough to spend time boring telling my readers about it.  

Things have, of course, moved on a bit.  Miss U-t-B did that thing that children will, and grew up enough to head off to the North in search of a university education.  

Mr U-t-B retired for about the third time, this time properly.  No more lessons, no more financial managing and no more board meetings.  Freedom!  

And then a series of things happened, none of them major, which has resulted in the adventure that we are just embarking on.

First I decided that enough was enough and the woodchip wallpaper on the stairs and landing would have to go... 

This involved peeling two extremely stubborn layers of paper off an awful lot of wall.  My brain has mostly erased the pain and boredom of this, but I seem to remember it took about six weeks!

We then plastered and painted and re-carpeted, ending up rather pleased with the results...

Walking into town one day,  a wave of something risky overcame both Mr U-t-B and I.  We decided to go into an estate agent and get them to come and give us a valuation, what with the house finally having that 'walk-through-the-door' appeal.  

(We'd only a year before upped the kerb appeal by replacing the old front door of every 'first day back at school photo' ever taken...

...with one we rescued from along the terrace...

(Last day at school!)

Then a pane of Edwardian decorative glass above the front door became broken.  

We didn't want the estate agent to base his valuation on a house with a broken window, but replacing the glass in time meant we had to drive to Cheltenham to collect it.  And that's when fate decided to lead us a merry dance...

Zipping along the A419, Mr U-t-B saw a sign saying 

Cricklade

A Saxon Town

'Let's have a look at that,' he says.

So we do, and it's rather lovely.  We have a wander and some fish and chips.  

First town on the Thames.  

And there's this place up for auction.

Long story short, as they say.  We are now the somewhat surprised owners of a Grade II listed cottage in desperate need of updating.  And we sold our house, so I guess, in the words of The Village People, it's time to 'Go West'.

(Actually - and this is very strange and makes me think this move is fate - on the afternoon we were waiting to hear from the estate agent that it was all okay and we could collect the keys (there had been some doubt as to whether the sale would fall through) I was listening to Radio 2 and this song was played.  And about ten minutes later, the phone call came!)

Tune in next time for the photos that will show we may need our heads examining!