Dec 12, 2020
seen from Germany
seen from Italy
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from China
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from Brazil
seen from Netherlands
seen from Malaysia
seen from Canada
seen from Canada
seen from Germany
seen from Brazil
seen from Malaysia
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from China
seen from United States
Day 64
Tuesday 26 May
While we wait for the solicitor to come back to us, we continue to prepare for the move. There's a lot to do and, with any luck, not much time. I spend most of the morning helping Carine sand the bed frame, which is next on her painting list.
By lunchtime we still haven't heard from the solicitor, so we leave a message on her voicemail. Then we have an appointment to choose blinds for the new apartment.
The man at the shop – which has just reopened - proves even more helpful than anticipated. The question of blind is important for someone who does the occasional night shift. It's also a notoriously complex one. There is bewildering number of systems, and considerations of cost, simplicity and transluscence must be weighed. The man helps find the right one.
It will take several weeks to be made, which prompts the question: how do we cover windows we do in the meantime? Anthea and I have a dozen moves between us but can't remember facing this problem.
"What people do is turn the removal boxes into cardboard sheets and use them as screens," the guy says. Genius.
This question settled, we drive home and collect the dog who needs his daily walk. Carine stays behind. Our stroll through the English countryside at its lushest provides a pleasant interlude. When we return we find our daughter painting the bed frame in the garden.
When we return the solicitor finally calls. We press her on our obsession: if there's a problem with the cladding on the building, who will pay for repairs? She's still waiting to hear from the developer on this and other questions we have raised.
This worries us. Are we still on track to sign by the end of the week and move in eight days' time? She's vague, like someone who's got too many things on her mind.
Later in the evening we receive another communication from her, passing on some replies to our queries from the developer. It's a copy-and-paste job.
But amid all the raw, unprocessed information, one sentence stands out: "Usually any works on the cladding would be divided between the lessees as per their service charge share." That means us.
VC Vinyl Community Lockdown Session with special guest Chris1427Basket!
Day 52
Thursday 14 May
Despite the green light given by the government to the property market, our own transactions are in limbo. Officials in the borough we're moving to are not answering queries. The estate agent calls to say that our buyers are getting very impatient.
We've done as much as we can. We've called a removal company and are getting ready to go, but we refuse to consider moving to a rented interim home. The buyers will just have to wait.
Carine and I spend some time discussing her essay – one of three she's writing for her vestigial university term.
Later she and I run in the woods. We note that people are more relaxed about distancing. The one-way rules that spontaneously emerged in narrow passages no longer apply.