So we had an offer for your house and we've accepted it, I know it's not over till it's over but things are looking positive on the sales front. Our buyers are a lovely couple, as Mr FF said they seem much like we were 25 years ago. They really seem to get what we did when we built this place, they appreciate all the details and quality, all the thought that went into the design and they say so. Mr FF had thought that my intensively planted garden might be off putting, one estate agent even suggested that buyers might grass it over to make a football pitch for their children but I honestly believe these people while making the garden their own will continue to cultivate it as I have. Mr FF also warned me that my sizeable compost heap could be a downer, though I had no idea what I was supposed to do to reduce its dimensions at short notice. The wife of our buying couple actually squealed with delight when she saw it, I knew then they were made for this house.
So the paper work is progressing slowly as these things do but we are working to a completion date of the end of September. While we haven't identified a new home yet, we have the opportunity to rent a place in Yorkshire until next spring if necessary and our buyers have said that they won't be putting their place in Edinburgh on the market just yet so if we are stuck we can rent that.
They came round again last night to do a bit of measuring and I think because they do like to be here. They arrived with these beautiful flowers and a bottle of wine. How kind, they are already paying us a decent price for our house, in many ways its a pity we are moving away I bet they'll make great neighbours and best of all they are bringing a cat back into the house, the cat door here has been locked for far too long.
When we mentioned to our friends Roger and Christine that we were coming down to Yorkshire for the Tour they told us they would be away on holiday and asked if we'd like to stay in their house and look after Panther, their elderly adorable cat who likes to eat little but often and needs medication every other day. We had planned to be away for only a few days but after discussion and some bumped up security here agreed that we could stay for just over a week to give continuity of care to Panther and have a jolly good time ourselves.
We loved being a proper North Yorkshire village with a river running through it, village green, walks from the doorstep onto the Moors, a smart pub and a small bakery that opened now and again. Further afield were pretty market towns, farm shops, family, everything we needed but we did spend a lot of time just lazing in the house. We watched stages of the Tour in the afternoons, Panther stretched out on the sofa beside us became quite addicted though sometimes distracted by my knitting. We walked round the village, ate in the garden, relaxed in the conservatory and generally enjoyed someone else's property. We even had friends round for dinner one evening, just two of them, no wild parties, we were responsible tenants.
Roger and Christine have a pretty and interesting garden, they insisted that we should not cut the lawn but I kept the tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse watered, tended out summer pots, did some light weeding and dead heading, all the fun without much responsibility.
We are hoping we might get asked again to undertake these house and cat sitting duties, Panther may be 19 but he seems to have plenty of years ahead of him, bless.
It's difficult for me to express how immense the Tour de France in Yorkshire was. Driving down for the week we were surprised that places well away from the route had embraced the event with shop window displays, bunting in the streets and of course yellow bicycles everywhere. So we were a bit concerned that we wouldn't get a decent place to watch with all the expected crowds and set off quite early on Saturday morning.
We headed for the little town of Masham, one of the closest places to where we were staying, and managed to find a parking place with only a mile and a half to walk to the action and about 4 hours to wait. It was all happening in Masham, a big screen on the green, food and drink stalls, thousands of happy people setting themselves up for the day. There were amazing picnics with beautiful crockery, garden seats complete with pretty cushions dragged to the roadside, barbecues, blankets, everything was elegant and delightful.
We walked around enjoying the sunshine and taking in the atmosphere before finding a spot just out of the town where we could get a decent view and a quick exit as we imagined there would be sizeable traffic jams after the boys passed by.
I can't tell you how enthusiastic and excited everyone was, it was reported that there were around 80,000 people in each of the various towns the tour passed through but there was no trouble, no visible policing, just happy people. The police we did see, motorbike riders driving along the route, were saluting or waving as they passed, laughing and thanking us all for coming. Several cars passed full of what I imagine were officers in yellow caps marked police, everyone got a huge cheer, it was a great PR exercise.
Of course there was the usual caravan of sponsor and support vehicles, then the helicopters before the peleton passed us by in an instant.
By this time they were all grouped for the sprint finish into Harrogate so it was just a mass of riders. And yes I was devastated when Mark Cavendish came off, was badly injured and had to abandon. We were in the car heading home when I heard the news and I couldn't speak, I've come to terms with it now as I'm sure as he. It did seem like a big dream that he could take the yellow jersey on UK soil and in his mother's home town.
But the big winner of the day was definitely Yorkshire, I felt incredibly proud of my home. There are already calls for the organiser Gary Verity to receive a knighthood though apparently his refusal to bow to the establishment might influence this. I wouldn't be surprised if the county doesn't start negotiating for independence soon, Home Rule for Yorkshire. Everywhere looked gorgeous in the sunshine, each town and village was decorated beautifully and apparently will stay so for the duration of the tour, but it was the people who made it so very special. From the moment we parked our car we got into conversation with strangers, for the week we stayed on in Yorkshire the Tour has been the topic of conversation everywhere we have been and even the dissenters are revising their opinion. Certainly an astonishing day I shall never forget now I'm thinking that we should look for a new home somewhere on the Tour route, it has become hallowed ground to me, as we say After Yorkshire it's all downhill.
Oh yes. I'm only worried we won't make it because of all the crowds. Please let us get there.
I won't give away a lot of information, never know who's reading, but we have all gone overboard with security after the recent break ins and particularly as its holiday time. At the weekend we could hear alarms being checked, extra systems installed, everyone was understandably worried ourselves included. Someone around us must have set up a radio controlled device that puts on lights, closes blinds or whatever because every evening at a fairly random time one of our electrically operated garage doors opens. It's not a problem, we can sort it out when the houses are all occupied again, meantime we can change the code on our door or disconnect the mechanism but it makes me laugh to think someone is being extra careful with their own possessions whilst exposing the contents of our garage to thieves.
Otherwise its a quiet time here, still waiting to hear about the house sale, I thought things were more definite in Scotland but what do I know.
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