Hi everybody I'm back!
You know how it is when a musical artist splits up from their partner and their next release gets called their ‘divorce album’ because they can’t stop moaning on and on about it (a.k.a. the Phil Collins syndrome)? Well, this post is my ‘moving house’ post! There won’t be much chess content (no Zugwang or Zwischenzug), but lots of opportunity for Schadenfreude (no that’s not a chess term!)
Well, my wife and I moved house on the 10 August and our new house (pictured) is really nice. I haven’t yet got around to making one of the bedrooms into a ‘chess den’, but I hope to do that eventually after we’ve finished ‘settling in’ (btw – why, when you’ve moved house, does everyone ask if you’ve ‘settled in’ ok? What does it mean? How will I know when I’ve finished settling in? I lived in my last house for 7 years and I never did manage to remember which light switch was for the hallway and which was for the landing).
Anyway, moving house is regularly cited as one of the most stressful things that you can do, and they’re not wrong. The moving day itself went quite smoothly, but we had to pay off a £40 debt that the previous owner (hereafter known as ‘The Swine’) had run up on a meter, in order to get the electricity to work. It turned out that the £40 debt was just the tip of iceberg as The Swine was about to have the house repossessed! Arggghh! I live in dread that bailiffs will knock on my door in the near future and I will have to politely explain to them (as they flex their muscles menacingly) that I am not The Swine and persuade them not to take all my possessions away!
To add insult to injury, The Swine hadn’t cancelled his telephone service so I had to make endless mobile phone calls to his and my telephone service providers just to get my own phone line – it took 3 weeks! All the while I continued getting phone calls from his creditors. Never mind, once I had my own phone line, I ordered broadband again (I couldn’t just transfer my old service for some bizarre reason – don’t ask!) and now I’m back online at last – hooray!
During the month I spent without the internet I discovered the simpler pleasures in life like reading, long walks, the sound of birdsong … oh, who am I kidding? If it hadn’t been for chess I would have gone completely crazy!
It's good to be back and I should be able to blog again more regularly from now on.
4 comments:
Wow! That stuff with 'The Swine' sounds pretty f'd up. I really don't understand such people. I also do not understand why those company's (like for your phone and electricity) have to lay that shit of the previous owner on you. Is there any chance you will be able to get that £40 back? Well anyway, nice to have you back. And i hope those company's will be off your back soon so you can sit back and enjoy ;-)
I doubt I'll ever get the £40 back, but thanks for the moral support!
why, that swine! I know a couple of guys in New Jersey who can straighten things out for ya...
This was great to read thanks
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