2021-02-21

Three weeks in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Three weeks in Wales now, and it has been fun. I have felt very much in limbo still - much like when we were trying to get the purchase sorted. It makes it very difficult to get much work, or anything else, done, but I really feel the limbo is coming to an end and normality resuming (as much as lockdown can allow). The fibre being in and working is a turning point as well.

That said, there are a number of jobs still to do, and we have to sell the old house. It is finally ready, and needed a lot more work than we expected. It looks really good, so should be on the market next week.

We have been finding more and more little things that suggest the previous owners finished things in a rush somehow, or possibly just ran out of money. It is weird, but daft things like the tap fittings not tightened up, so one came off (thankfully we managed to sort before water everywhere - well done James with finger-in-dyke style shouting for help). We have tightened the toilet seats. We have done loads of little things we did not expect, as well as the larger things we did (like utility room, and my office, and so on).

Sadly the drive was a challenge - a very nice new driveway (basically, the whole house as been re-done very nicely apart from these minor niggles). But it ends on the existing tarmac out to the pavement, and creates a sharp hump. The removal van bottomed out and could not come in to the drive all the way, and it does not agree with James's Tesla - for some reason he wants to keep his battery pack intact! So, new driveway outside was one expense we did not expect, but nicely done. To our surprise the cables for the electric gates were not exactly what you would call "buried" - yet another small "detail". They are now.

We had it raised quite a lot as you can see by how much they raised the water cover. Now the Tesla can get over it cleanly... Looks nice.

I have also convinced my wife that my teletype is like her suit of armour, something to have on display in the hall. It still plays "Adventure" game on demand, and connects to the WiFi allowing it to be texted. I even got a birthday text on my teletype from someone :-)

I had been wary of unpacking it - and was pleasantly surprised to find it all in one piece and working. It now prints the guest wifi password of the day every morning :-)

P.S. Yes, the scales are now linked to print your weight on the teletype - thanks for the suggestion :-)

I am finding Abergavenny really convenient - everything so handy and just easy to walk to. Yes, I have sort of turned from an M&S snob to an Aldi middle aisle browser. Well, maybe not quite that far...

Where do I now live?

I'd post a lot more pictures, but it is an odd situation to be honest. With my last house we had lived there long enough that things like director's home addresses in Companies House was normal, and expected, unless you had a good excuse. My address was, by no means, secret in any way.

But if I say what sort of place I have bought, or almost any details, it will be obvious where I live. Do I want the world to know? Does it matter? It did not matter for the last 23 years (well, one journalist turned up on my doorstep for something once). At least for now I am not telling the world, so if you have worked it out perhaps don't post your conclusions just yet. It's annoying as it is a house with some character, and a shame to keep quiet in many ways.

Even so, I am feeling at home, and looking forward to life in Wales...

15 comments:

  1. Does the Teletype print your weight?

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    Replies
    1. No, but that is a good idea. The scales are all connected on MQTT so easily could. Hmm...

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    2. OK, it does not - it's a "telex your weight machine" now :-)

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  2. Are there fanfold shopping lists in your future?

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  3. Are there fan-fold shopping lists in your future?

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    Replies
    1. I thought this may pre-date that, but it seems even older than my teletype. This one is not sprocket fed / fan-fold though :-)

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  4. If you can't go as far as Aldi, there's a Waitrose in Abergavenny on the Merthyr Road ;-)

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    Replies
    1. I believe I'm right in saying it's also the only Waitrose in the whole of Wales that has a sushi counter.

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  5. I've never seen an ASR33 using fanfold/sprocket fed paper. Only ever plain rolls.

    I remember the paper we always used for teletypes was the best material ever for cleaning car windscreens. Got those bugs off like you wouldn't believe. Maybe it was loaded with acid or something. No idea if the stuff you're using will be the same. It was kind of off-white and turned yellow over time.

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    Replies
    1. I remember it well, and this seems similar. It was sold as "telex paper".

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  6. Have all the bank branches closed in Abergavenny yet? They seem to be closing in many other towns.

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    Replies
    1. No, we've got pretty much all the main ones covered (well for now at least)

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    2. 21 years ago one of the reasons my parents moved to Holmfirth was to be able to walk to anything they needed. At the time it had a full set of banks and several building societies. The last building society closed last month, what was the HSBC is a trendy bar, Santander is a charity shop, and Lloyds-TSB closed a few weeks ago. All that remains is a Barclays that opens 2 or 3 mornings or afternoons a week (I forget the cadence, it's always shut when I go past). I'm sure the Barclays is not long for this world. Which for my elderly Aunt who also lives there is a real problem, she's totally computer illiterate. She feels the world is leaving her behind and that there should be one bank in a town the size of Holmfirth. Another nearby town has all the banks still open, obviously it's the trendy location. Why they can't share out the branches is a mystery.

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  7. I worked it out - but more because that kind of thing interests me (that is, I like the challenge!). The photos of you putting the desk in were what proved it up for me as features in it match perfectly :)

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