The Evil of Banks and Bankers

Greedy W(B)ankers

OK! I know they are the ones to blame for all our countries financial woes and we all have had to dig deep in our pockets and will no doubt carry on digging deeper to rectify the god awful mess they've got us into.
So you would have thought a little bit of humility and fairness would be on the cards from these greedy individuals!
No such luck....the young couple who want to buy our home, who are panicking that we might pull out (although Kay reminds me its no longer a home she just wants to get going) are being made to jump through hoops to tick box's for these parasitic individuals before they will release the mortgage.
They've had to go through no less than four underwriters to get the mortgage cleared even though these individuals have informed them 'its all been passed verbally.' But that's no good to us or them until it's in writing.
We are pressing the estate agent to get their fingers out and the young couple are pushing their bank (Its Nationwide by the way, time to name and shame) anyone would think it was their money they are lending out for gods sake.

Well rant over, needless to say the panic we had at the start of this process due to it all going too fast has ended up as a slow crawl.
Our latest news (as of Monday morning) is that the bank have informed them that the mortgage should be in writing by this Friday or next Monday.
Whoa...... just saw a pig fly past the window.....




Thankfully Trevor the RV's owner has promised to hold onto the RV for us until the paperwork is all signed and sealed.
Our biggest worry now is that this is throwing our time scale well and truly into the wind, as we wanted to be out of the house by this Friday, because Gavin our son-in-law can't help us move until a fortnight Friday.
So it looks as if yet one or even two more car boots are on the cards as after that the car boot finishes anyway for the Christmas break.
So keep tuned in as with LUCK we will be getting organised this weekend.

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Hooray the waiting’s over...

At long last the estate agent’s telephoned to confirm that this coming week we will be getting the contracts signed and that completion for the of the sale of the house will be done and dusted by the end of the month.

The young couple it appears have been hounding their mortgage lender as they are eager to be in their new home before Christmas.

I know its one month overdue on our plans time scale but at least it’s arrived and the wait did give us enough time to clear out most of our things.

So now it’s all go to get the final bits together and to prepare for our new adventure after Christmas.

In a way it may be a good thing as the sites will be charging high rates for Christmas and the New Year period and all that will be over by the time we get on the road. The down side is that we will be living through the coldest months of January to March in what is basically a box on wheels.

It will be interesting to see how we fare and what problems we encounter, but at least it will give us a taste of the worst of it weather wise and if we find that we have survived that with a smile on our faces then the rest will be downhill (fingers crossed).

The only items we have left to sell are the conservatory suite, a guitar and stand, a Corner TV unit and a Microwave convector oven.

We have a car load of things for this Sundays Car Boot which with luck will leave us just one more remaining car boot after that to finish clearing out our bits and bobs. Whatever's left over goes on a bonfire

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NO MORE TRICKS IT’S TIME FOR A TREAT…………!

We are now entering week eight and it was at this point that we were hoping to be moving up to our daughters in Pontrhydyfen, but like most plans nothing ever goes as smoothly as you would like them to.

The new buyer’s contracts have still to come through and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the week that they arrive, especially as we are now sitting in an ever emptying property. The young couple purchasing from us are no doubt as restless as ourselves for some movement, as they have purchased their new furniture and will want some where to put it before too long.

The gentleman who was going to purchase our caravan has emailed me since my last post and has withdrawn from the sale. Fortunately that’s not going to be too much of an inconvenience as he will be missing out on a bargain, especially as Bailey have just announced a price hike of over £400 on the Pegasus range and with the new Vat increase coming in the New Year plus the new tax on flights I can’t see our caravan being up for sale long.

Thankfully Trevor the owner of the motor home informed me today that he will hang on to the RV for us for a while longer, though he must be getting fed up of my constant email requests for information about different technical aspects of the RV.

As I’m a newcomer to RV’s I keep finding things out that I need to be on the ball about, so no doubt I will be picking poor Trevor’s brains for a while longer yet (be patient with me Trev).

We completed another Car Boot today (Kay’s getting a bit fed up with them now) but I reminded her that each one fills the coffers and empties the house a bit more so it’s less to go into storage. With the countdown for Christmas coming I’m glad the house is emptying as fast as it is, so that we will only need two weeks maximum to be up and out.

My eldest daughter now has my old PC and I’ve now transferred all that we need onto the lap top. I’ve yet to choose the dongle for the mobile broadband and I have loads of sites and people that I needed to notify of our change of forthcoming postal and email addresses.

Well the front doorbell hasn’t stopped ringing tonight as there are far too many ghouls and ghosts paying a visit, anybody would think it was Halloween?

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Waiting and Waiting and Wai…….

OK we’ve had enough now where is the bleeding contract? Time is dragging its feet a bit too slowly and we know it’s no fault of the buyers of the old house as they have completed their part but solicitors and bankers work at speeds that would make a snail cry.

We completed yet another car boot last Sunday, not as profitable as some of the previous ones but it still helped to fill up the coffers a bit more.

The annoying part of this waiting is that it’s affecting others, the gentleman waiting to purchase our Caravan and the seller of the Motor home. To be fair both have said they will hold on until we are ready but I now want to get moving. Christmas is getting closer and our deadline of leaving the old homestead will be here in six days.

Our youngest has already told us not to panic as the room we will be moving into is ready but you know what it’s like you build your hopes up and then end up lingering on for some faceless minion to pull his or her finger out.

Some more pictures of the Motor home

Right hand side

Inside front

Bed

Bedroom Cupboards

Shower tub

Through to Bedroom

I bet Kay can't wait to put her touches to the rooms, I have plans for updating both TV's with flat screen LCD ones and the installation of a large solar panel on the roof. thats why time is dragging on for us both we want to get to work preparing our new home.

We'll just have to be patient for a bit longer......hang on was that the post man?......... Whooosh

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Our Potential New Home

On Thursday Kay and I took a long long journey down the M4, round the M25 and up the A12 past Chelmsford where we took a much needed overnight stop at the Rivenhall Hotel just north of Witham.

I can defiantly recommend this as a place to stop for the night. The rooms were clean and warm, the service efficient and friendly. The appearance of the place is more akin to a motel, but don't let that put you off stopping here, as there is also a health spa with swimming pool, it's free for guests to use and the full English breakfast was excellent.
The price for a nights stopover with breakfast was very reasonable and I noticed a good few truckers use this hotel (thats always a good sign).

I must admit I found the bed too soft for my taste and hotel pillows never seem right for me as I'm too used to my own (I must remember to pack it next time) Kay moaned as I tend to fidget if I'm not comfortable. I felt like the Princess and the Pea tossing and turning until tiredness sent me off to the land of nod.
The following day we headed north again passing Colchester, Flatford Mill (Constable country) Caple St Mary where I did some oil painting a few years ago (Sorry Sue didn't have time to drop in) and then Ipswich. We refueled at the Tesco's at Martlesham Heath and eventually stopped at a lay-bye and toilets near Wrentham. Here I telephoned Trevor (the gentleman who owned the RV) to let him know that we were not too far away.
He informed me he knew the place where we had stopped and not to linger, as this was known locally as the Gay Bar, a known haunt of The Gay community, needless to say we were away very quickly.

We met Trevor the RV's owner at his works unit and he showed us all over and under the RV (a huge pit enabled me to give it a good look at the chassis.) It ticked a lot of box's on what we were looking for and the condition was first class. For a 2005 American RV it looked brand new it was obvious that he'd  spent a lot of time keeping it good condition. The RV had only done 7600 miles and had been garaged since new.

If you click on the pictures below you will get a larger image.

The R Vision Trail Light 281

Front

Rear

Interior and slide out

In its storage unit

We met his good lady Maureen and we enjoyed a refreshing lunch with them before sadly it was time to head back home. This time we headed east over to Norwich on A416 then down the A11 past Thetford, Cambridge and then on to the A14 which lead us to the M6 / M1 Junction north of Rugby.
By now the sun was setting and traffic was horrendous, we had met with traffic hold ups due to an earlier accident and the rush hour.
We managed to get a meal break at the Corley services on the M6 then it was off again down the M42 around to the M5 and eventually to a rest halt at the Strensham services. Then the last leg home down the M50. A40 /A449 and the M4 back home.
We arrived home at eleven o'clock at night with eyes that felt they were on stalks and after a round trip of 626 miles we were only too glad to hit the sack.

P.S. Its taken us two days to recover...........

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Patience, Patience

It’s getting harder to be patient as we both want to get a move on, there’s still no sign of the contracts yet, but we know how banks and solicitors like to drag their feet. Even the young couple who are buying our house have said how frustrating it is as I think they would like to be in their new home before Christmas.

I have a gentleman waiting patiently to purchase our Caravan so no doubt he’s wondering what’s going on. On the positive side our youngest has been great as she and her husband have prepared the spare rooms for us and last Sundays Car Boot was a great success so needless to say the old coffers are looking healthy again after the car bill.

We have seen a nice RV for sale that’s some distance away and we are planning to go and view it as it ticks nearly all the box’s of what were looking for, It doesn’t tick every box but then we knew that in something’s there would have to be a compromise.

We have more stuff to go into storage and even more stuff for next Sundays Car Boot so we’re not letting time go by idly.

We both attended a funeral yesterday of a close relative and at the wake lots of the family were talking about our plans. Most thought we were very brave and would love to do the same; others no doubt think were mad but hay ho what’s a dream if you don’t try to make it come true.

Nightmares? Well we’ll let you know about those as we go on our way.

Kay’s resurrected a bendy Animal doll that I used to have hanging on my drum kit years ago and plans to take a photo of him at each location we visit and post them on here so that should be amusing.

Anyway back to sorting and packing

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The dreaded VAT increase

It’s strange how the government works out taxation or is it?

You buy something you pay Vat on it, you sell it later to a dealer who then sells it on again and charges the next owner Vat again. That owner then sells the same item on again to another dealer who then sells it on yet again and the next purchaser pays Vat. So the government gets Tax from every purchaser as long as it is sold via a dealer but NOT if it’s a private sale or via commission.

The dealer can charge two ways he can charge you full Vat on the whole price or only on the profit they make from that sale. It depends on how they keep their records. There is no obligation for the dealer to tell the customer at the outset which method of Vat they are using. So it’s best to ask the dealer which method of Vat he is using prior to the purchase it may save you some cash.

No doubt there will be a big rush for people to buy before the Vat increase in the New Year. So would it be better to buy a second hand motor home or caravan privately and avoid the Vat in the first place.

Will dealers absorb the Vat rise?   Hmmm…. Don’t think so.

Will the government stop robbing us blind?   Hmmm….Don’t think so.

Will there ever be an honest politician?   Hmmm…..Pig's might Fly.

On a positive note the new buyers came and measured up yesterday so it looks as if everything is going through OK at their end, so we are still waiting for the call to go and exchange contracts.

Guess what we’re doing this Sunday?

You got it CAR BOOT,

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