Toby writing this blog post

I’m sitting here on our new patio in the shade, the sun is shining, and finally I have been able to catch a breather… for a little while at least.

This post is a somewhat belated update. We moved back in January and have been in our new home in Terrington St Clement for 6 months. It has been a rollercoaster. We’ve finally had some electrical work completed ensuring our ~60 yr old chalet bungalow won’t spontaneously combust or electrecute someone (slight exageration).

The workshop (all 25ft of it, including inspection pit) is and was the selling point (for me at least) as well as garden with lawns worthy of a ride on mower. We managed to secure a couple of mowers with the sale, both in varying degrees of disrepair, but at the moment functioning. We’ve finally got space and a detatched property. I can play Slayer at midnight (only attempted once so far, but why not!) and can play the surround sound for films loudly without disturbing anyone. We’re in a cul-de-sac far enough away from main roads for our two cats and have friendly neighbours.

Frontage

I wouldn’t recommend moving in January into an older property. We soon misjudged how much heating oil we were quite literally going to burn through to keep an older home heated. We had our front door and patio doors replaced with double glazing as a matter of urgency, for both security and heating purposes, but 90% of the others either need replacing or are still single glazed… so this is a priority.

As always my lovely wife has kept me on the straight and narrow, and my parents have been a tremendous help in clearing the garden. We’ve now got a garden incinerator bin and a garden waste bin, and the works continue.

In the house, much DIY works continue and I’m nearing completion of updating security features including CCTV and outside lighting.

Front and garden

I’ve been able to get out and about in the Mazda and my other German motorcar will soon be returning and have a warm place to live.

I should also add that both me and my wife have been able to move to Norfolk thanks to being able to work from home! If you have the opportunity to move out somewhere where there’s less hustle and bustle, and a more relaxed pace of life, then I would highly recommend it.