Phew, I’m finally back in the land of the living. Where have I been? Here’s my excuses for not writing for a month…
Moving House
Well, the house exchange and completion went through. We got the keys to our new house on October 5th. Sally was away for the weekend and I’d been banned from moving in until she got home, so I got on with the job of cleaning and tidying the old place. We moved in proper on the Monday.
The house is great but a little rough around the edges. Lots of bits of DIY/building that seem to have been finished in a hurry. But it’s ours, it has three bedrooms, a huge garden and it’s in a great location.
Of course, we’ve had to clean up and get out of the old rented house too. Phew.
No Broadband
Moving house means setting up a new phone line and having our Internet connection set up. This meant several weeks without Broadband. Quite a nice experience really. We get so much more “real” stuff done without Google and Facebook and Blogger. We didn’t really miss it at all. Of course, now it’s back we’re back in the habit of making good use of our “always on” pipe to the universe.
A note about providers…we were with Zen Internet, who provide excellent service, but at a cost. Our up-to-8Mb connection was costing £17 per month with a 2GB usage limit. So after some debate and research we decided to KEEP Sky TV and take Sky Broadband and Sky Talk (phone calls) too. Much as I dislike having hundreds of TV channels that I never watch. This appealed because:
- Sky Talk costs nothing and gives free evening and weekend calls.
- Sky Broadband is £5 for up-to-8Mb with a 40GB usage limit.
- Sky + (Sky’s hard-disk based TV recording system), now has no monthly subscription cost.
Sky+ turns out to be awesome! VERY high quality recorded TV that you set up from the on-screen TV guide. You just find the programme and tell it to record. It’ll record a whole series of the same programme. And you can pause and rewind live TV too. I understand how the technology works, and I’m STILL very impressed. Good technology, well implemented, is hard to find these days.
Holiday
We decided, shortly after the house move, to take a week’s holiday. My In-Law’s were off to Spain for a few nights and asked if we wanted to house-sit. With a free weeks’ holiday on the edge of Dartmoor being offered we couldn’t really refuse and it turned out to be just what we needed. We’ve just got back from this week off and we’re well relaxed and trying to summon up the mental effort required to get back to work tomorrow.
We also popped to London on Friday for a couple of friends of ours who were having an engagement party. We’re VERY excited that they’re getting married and the party was really great.
Returning to London is an odd experience. We drive in thinking that it’s horrid, busy, noisy, etc, but after a couple of hours re-uniting with good friends we miss it. Of course, we’ve made good friends here in Swindon too, but we’re really still getting to know people and it’s not the same as connecting with people that you’ve known inside-out for many years. There are things about London as a city that we miss, but mostly it’s the people.
Finally…
So, yes, after all that we’re in the new house, broadband is back, and we’re not on holiday any more. I probably have some catching up to do. I keep having “I must write about that” moments, but can’t remember what any of them are now. If they’re that important then they’ll come back to me I’m sure.