Lockdown diary day 9: I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it

Does anyone else makes cups of teas but forgets to drink it? I’ve had so many cuppas today.

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Today has been busy and for the first time in what feels like ages felt like a normal day in the (WFH) office. Which explains the cold teas. Tomorrow, I will be using a thermos flask. That’s as wild as life gets nowadays.

In between work, I’ve sandwiched online learning and it’s kept my brain ticking. Not that I need help with that, my brain is already going 500mph anyway. But it’s good to be learning something new.

😽 I have some good news about Oscar today! The paw that he had lost feeling on due to suspected blood clot has turned back the right way, so he’s been walking properly albeit with a slight limp. The vets thought it had to be amputated but it seemed to be back to normal, so my heart is filled with joy. It pains me that I can’t go to my parents house to see him but we’ve got Oscar cam set up and my parents are always sending pics and FaceTiming. Here is chilling out.

Buying solo

I’m on a roll with the good news lately. So while we’re at it, shall we talk about my new house? I wasn’t going to mention it to anyone until I had signed under the dotted line and the keys handed over to me but it’s 9 days in to daily blogging and what else am I going to talk about, really? So much time, so little to talk about!

After a nervy weekend, it seem like exchanging and completing was slipping through my fingers. But the tide has turned, as I said yesterday, and I can be excited about it again.

I’m a first time buyer and I’m buying solo (I’m buyin’ solo, solo) and the house is a 3-bedroom Victorian terrace. Before Christmas, I viewed a house and fell in love with it. It was full of character and had some beautiful Victorian features including original fireplaces in every room, a lush bathroom, a huge aga/stove and a converted attic. I could see myself living there and started to imagine having people over for dinner in the open kitchen (I’m introvert, that was never going to happen!) and started moodboarding all the different ways to convert a cellar 😍 I obviously got waaaay too ahead of myself.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be, all things happen for a reason… as in a cash buyer beat me to it. Dammit!

But the next day, as fate would have it, I found another house on the very same street. More affordable and renovated. I viewed it the day after Boxing Day and put an offer in (and accepted!) the day after that. After losing out on the first house, I wasn’t taking this lying down.

The house I’ve gone for doesn’t have much of the original features but it’s renovated so it much more modern with it’s white walls and minimalism. It’s got high ceilings (minus the decorative coving) and there are some original tilings in some places, but it’s going to be a long time before I can restore some of it’s Victoriana decor. I guess it’s for now Victorian… but make it fashion. Well, modern. I’ll share some pics tomorrow.

I braced myself for the stress that people talk about when buying a house. I found the process was pretty straight forward up until recently, I was thinking “where’s this stress that people are talking about?! Buying a house is an absolute doddle”. Then lo and behold, it hit me last week and I was like “aaaah, there it is!!!”. It was never going to let me get away with.

It’s the home stretch now and it’s only being made doubly difficult due to coronavirus. I’m not in a chain and neither is the seller, so overall, the process hasn’t been too bad. I wouldn’t want to do it again in a hurry but my experience hasn’t been as bad as I expected. ….Although I’ve yet to complete, so there’s still time for it to turn 🤦🏻‍♀️

I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it

I’ve been open in the past about the pressure I feel that I’m in my 30s and not yet on the property ladder. Or married. Or have children. “You don’t have children?!” A nurse once said to me with shock and horror that I was almost turning almost 30 at the time and i infact don’t have children. No, bitch, I don’t.

I’m lucky to live a gloriously independent life. But I secretly feel the pressure of society. Oh, boy, do I! When you scroll through social media, you start questioning why I’m not at the same stage as my friends…

Truth is, I have never found myself to be in the ready position of buying a house (I have a niche criteria for the type of house I want to live in and I haven’t been interested to look until now) nor have I been with someone whom I can share this experience with.

But it was the end of a shitty year and I decided I was SICK of waiting for someone else to be ready with me. Why must I wait for someone else to be ready? What’s that all about? Why couldn’t I just do this solo? I had found something that I wanted and I deserve it. I have, after all, worked so damn hard for the past DECADE and made sacrificed in my lifestyle to save up.

I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it. 💅🏼

2019 was tough so I wanted to end it on a good note by reaching this milestone. And if that was my basis of buying a house at the end of last year, I’m worried about how the hell I’m going to celebrate the end of 2020! Treat myself to a solo trip to the Maldives? Buy a Chanel handbag? GET A PUPPY??? Yes, I like the thought of getting a puppy.

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