The Key To Our Future

Ola Senors! 

Finally the day has come where Mr. Warehouse and I are within touching, tasting and smelling distance of our new home! To that in less than 24 hours I will be officially a homeowner, joining the league of people who end up staying at home binging on box sets and not going out on the lash for lack of money as every penny is been eaten up as they have joined the mortgage club. 

Gone are the days of controversial blog posts about "The Story of a Generation Robbed" and Wish I Was Born In The 80's! where I felt like a disadvantaged generation that has to fight for everything just to make ends meet. The world has moved on from the days of past generations and whilst I am now able to pay for just about anything using my mobile phone and share my opinion on something called "social media", my generation still struggles with the simple things such as getting a fair wage in the workplace and a decent place to live - Rented or Mortgaged! However, a few weeks ago I had a phone call from the Housing Association stating that the list of snagging given to the builders the last time over a fortnight ago had not been done at all and now we were to be expecting a provisional new Handover of 31st October 2018. But on top of all that was the bombshell that the floor plans we were initially shown at the point of sale were wrong. And not by a little either. 

The plan that my Fiance (I still like saying that) and I were sold was that on the ground floor as you come in the front door you would be greeted by the staircase on your right hand side. To your left would be the kitchen in a horse shoe shape with the door facing the oven on the exact opposite wall. Next door on the left hand side would be the downstairs bathroom which would include a privacy window facing out to our driveway. Entering through the door at the other end of the hallway to the front door would be rectangular Lounge/Diner, stretching the length of the property and leading out into our large garden through a patio door which would also have an adjacent window. Whilst the layout of the ground floor still contains the staircase on your right hand side and the same horse shoe shaped kitchen with the door facing the oven on the exact opposite wall, the downstairs bathroom was now to be positioned under the stairs on the right rather than the left meaning that a privacy window would not exist. Continuing through the door at the other end of the hallway to the front door would be a now "L-shaped" Lounge/Diner, stretching the length of the property and eating into the area where the downstairs bathroom was supposed to be. 

Upstairs on the first floor following on from the stairs positioned on the right-hand side of the property, we were expecting to have the main bathroom right in front of us with a large privacy window so as to allow for natural light, followed by the two double bedrooms to the front and the back of the property. Although this had changed from our initial plans and now will be the main bathroom sandwiched between the two double bedrooms and will not include a privacy window potentially making it dark and unnaturally lit.

After getting over the fact that the Housing Association knew all along that the floor plans, initial dimensions and specifications for the house had changed in the very early days of the build process, even before any bricks had been laid, I calmed explained that Mr Warehouse and I will need to view the property in person before we make any snap decisions. 

Of course she obliged and despite asking for months and months for a viewing of the property in whatever condition or state it was in within a few hours and by end of play that day we had a two hour slot to visit our new home and it's all new layout. Our contact at the Housing Association assured us that because of all of this that we would be well within our right to withdraw from our contract to buy going on to state that the responsibility would also live with the housing association in order to make payments to our solicitors, mortgage lender and mortgage broker, reimbursing us totally for our cost and making us at ground zero again. The other option we have is to suck it up and live with it, literally. 

Once my future Hubby and I had seen the property and had a chance to measure up not just the windows but also every nook, cranny and corner in order to draw up our own floor-plan we were already in the knowledge that both of us were highly committed to this purchase and with such a huge investment, the biggest any one person or couple will ever make in their lifetime, every penny of our savings we had was in this. The next few days myself and Mr Warehouse consulted our solicitor and further legal advice in order to ascertain what our next steps would be. With this in mind though, we did not have much choice but quite frankly selling us a house that was built completely wrong and not in the specified way we were told it would be is not on and I was angry. Still between decisions, I received an email from the Housing Association detailing that, nearly a week early, they had taken handover of the property finally and that we should probably consult our solicitor with a date for completion and move. 

A slightly presumptuous move I thought given the fact that we had not even accepted the property in its current new format, however after months of handover dates being missed, moved and postponed coupled with constant snagging and the odd issue thrown in for good measure, we finally had some good news! After looking at a couple of properties online and making the conscious decision that if we were to live in the flat much longer we would go insane or end up killing each other Mr Warehouse and I decided to take the adults decision and accept the property as it was. 

And so here we are with less than a fortnight left in our old, 18th-century-converted one-bed flat just outside the heart of Bedford Town Centre, I will soon be reporting to you from the idyllic countryside estates of Cranfield! Within the next twelve-hours money will be transferred several times over eventually ending up in the solicitors hand ready to go and for Mr Warehouse and I to finally get our hands on those stainless steel set of keys to our first ever home ...

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx 

Drowning - Under Da Sea

Heyy Heyy, 

So when most people say that they feel as though they have not had a weekend, I can almost literally relate as for the last week I feel as though I have not had a single day outside of the office including this Saturday and Sunday just gone. A combination of anger, disappointment and frustration has left me well and truly exhausted this weekend and I am thoroughly looking forward to having this weekend off ... Hopefully. I will be honest with you all now that I am completely drained and in all fairness am done with the whole situation after being let down. 

Anyway, on with the show and what a show it was. So after Saturdays letdown I had headed home in order to relax a little before heading out to a party that evening. But this wasn't just any type of party. Oh no! This was an 80's themed 30th birthday party. The lady in question was Mr Warehouse's friends from when he was growing up in and around Marston Moretaine. She was turning thirty (I mean I was shocked when I heard that it was the big three-zero that she was turning. Looking at her you would have assumed as I did that she was not a day older than me at twenty-six). In celebration to where she came from was celebrating the era that was the 1980s. Everyone of importance was there - Michael Jackson, Sinitta, Madonna, Smurfette, Slash and me - Ariel from The Little Mermaid, in toe with Prince Eric of course. 

The idea of The Little Mermaid had been around for awhile in my head and originally started out as a sort of macabre version of a Halloween costume, complete with fishing hook through the cheek and all. But on hearing that there was another fancy dress party to add to the two Mr. Warehouse and I were already invited to in the autumn of this year I was thoroughly excited to look at the possibilities that seemed almost endless with the 80's churning up some creative and indeed crazy fancy dress ideas. Obviously I toyed with the idea of being Cyndi Lauper with my Prince or George Michael by my side however everyone would be doing exactly the same and I wanted myself and Mr. Warehouse to stick out in the crowd. The Disney Classic splashed it's way onto our screens in 1989 as the red-haired princess tried to figure out a way of growing legs and becoming a human in order to live a normal life on land with her Prince. 

The legend that is The Little Mermaid started its life not in the deep, luscious oceans of Barbados or the Caribbean, but off the coast of Denmark. When Hans Christian Andersen, the Scandinavian answer to the Brothers Grimm, started writing books like The Ugly Duckling and The Princess and The Pea, he probably had no idea just how popular the little Danish icon since at the time in the mid-1800's stories like this and others were overlooked and not given the proper credit they deserve. The innovative and adventurous Hans made friends in later life with world famous Charles Dickens, responsible for Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. Hans even made a journey over to visit his British friend in the late 1840's and since then had been a major influence on other British writers such as A A Milne who inspired Winnie The Pooh and even Beatrix Potter who brought us the fun times of Tom kitten and Peter Rabbit. Hans Christian Andersen died after he sustained a serious head injury after falling out of bed in his home in Copenhagen, Denmark but on further inspection by Medical teams was seen to start showing early signs of liver cancer and in the summer of 1875 he died, aged seventy. 

Tributes to his work and art can be seen all around the world including countless stage shows and films not to mention an an amusement park in Shanghai. But for me personally one of the most touching tributes to such a influential storyteller has to be the magnificent statue that sits in the harbor of Copenhagen showing a little sea creature in all her beauty. I plan on visiting her one day, however with Ryanair flights getting cancelled left, right and center because HR cant get their pilots to plan holiday effectively and Monarch being the latest casualty in the bargain bucket prices of a cheap holiday abroad I am not so sure when I will get a chance. Besides I have Prague to save for as well as a Luxe beach holibob next year with the Bae. 

Thinking about it just now, re-enacting Kylie and Jason's wedding from Neighbors would have been a really good idea and probably a lot more simpler and effective in the long run since everyone kept asking who I had come as. Maybe we'll save that one for next time! I mean the possibilities are never-ending and I can only hope that I am able to get the same level of inspiration for my Halloween costumes with Mr Warehouse as well as the 90's themed party in less than a few weeks of an old work colleague. I have already suggested to Mr Warehouse that we dressed as a couple back in the 90's. I'm not talking of loud shirts and baggy pants. I was more along the line of a double-denim Britney and Justin look or even and all out Posh and Becks PVC twinning. Either way I am sure that we will name it just as we always do. And who knows maybe I will be able to take another one of my Disney Princesses of my list of dress-ups. 

'Til next time, Love A.Lou xx