Now Burning Piles of Cash
19 May 2008 | Filed Under: Domesticities
I’m pretty sure that the past four plus weeks will go down in my personal history as The Month That Shall Live in Infamy. Special highlights include:
- The kidney infection that was actually peritonitis;
- The dead workstation;
- The dead laptop;
- The lost mobile phone.
Now, I’m not normally one of those annoying PollyAnna “the glass is half full, clouds have silver linings!” people, but on the plus side:
- The list of dead things does not include me;
- New computer, woot!
- New laptop, woot!
- New mobile phone, woot!
Obviously, none of that stuff is free, but I can tell you that the new laptop I’m typing on is very shiny (literally - the screen is one of those reflective glass-like screens and it is cool), the new computer is both screamingly fast and gloriously stable, and the new phone that arrives tomorrow is very pink and has rhinestones.
These were all small cash outlays, however, compared to the kick in the ass purchase pending for May, namely a house. This has all been arranged at lightening-fast speed, and while we’re still waiting on the final loan approval, things look good; an offer was accepted, a deposit was paid, and hopefully it will all go well.
Everyone keeps telling me this is a marvellous way to spend several hundred thousand euros, and that few things in life can compare to the satisfaction of opening the door to your own home and knowing it is your door. I keep pointing out that when the door falls off the hinges and the roof caves in, it is still your door, but everyone seems happy to just gloss over that bit. Perhaps this is a secret conspiracy of the home owner cabal, sort of how new parents feel obligated to tell you that babies are absolutely marvellous and this is the best thing they’ve ever signed up to spend €20K a year on while getting 3 hours of sleep per night and secretly sobbing in the shower every day. But there you have it; we’re willingly joining the cabal and no doubt I’ll be telling you about how absolutely marvellous it all is in short order.
All I can say is that it’s a good thing that mortgage insurance premiums are not based on the luck of the insured. I’d never qualify.
Coastal Aussie says:
Congratulations on the house ! And I’m so happy to read that you’ve survived those recent disasters, and have shiny new gadgets to ease the pain. :)
Monday, 19 May, 2008, 4:02 amJennifer says:
Ah yes we had the satisfaction of knowing that when we pulled the old wallpaper off our wall (second-hand house) - we were indeed the owners of the plaster that came off the walls with it and covered OUR floors. We also owned the well that ran dry and left us without water for six weeks and we also owned the central heating system that heated only one radiator. Ah, the laughs!
Having said all that, it IS nice to own your own gaff - even if there are a few bumps along the way. Best of luck with it all!
Monday, 19 May, 2008, 9:24 amMaryrose Lyons says:
You never again have to endure brown furniture or cream walls if you don’t want to.
Monday, 19 May, 2008, 10:13 amPaulSweeney says:
Well, the real secret is that the British landlord can’t indiscriminately raise your rent, turf you and your 13 unlucky children out into the rainy-road, where without shoes, you now rumble down to Skibereen to await the the hope-boat to Merica, the boat known to all as the Coffin Ship. So, yes, Own Your Own Fe*K*en House (terms and conditions apply, house may be actually owned by Bank of Ireland; Bank of Ireland may indiscriminately raise interest rates or cease to honour prior agreements due to dodgy credit squeeze; Prices of houses may rise as well as fall)
Monday, 19 May, 2008, 10:51 amWill Knott says:
Congratulations. now what I’m wondering is “what will your designer eye do to the place”?
Tuesday, 20 May, 2008, 12:36 amSuzy Byrne says:
Pink Rhinestones per chance? scuttles….
Tuesday, 20 May, 2008, 1:14 amSabrina Dent says:
Suzy, YES! Pink rhinestones! Look :)
Paul, thanks for tipping me off to the cabal secrets. It all makes so much sense now. Luckily in the Grand Designs scheme of things, we’re planning to pull all the plaster off anyway, though the bank will probably want a refund or something.
We’ll be having a house warming party when the contractor moves out in about, oh, nine months so you can all come and tut tut at my disappointing decorating in person :)
Tuesday, 20 May, 2008, 1:21 amJo Murphy says:
Good luck, Sabrina, hope it all comes together - you’re so right about it all (though the house has never made me sob in the shower, to date). Perhaps we can come and visit one day :)
Friday, 23 May, 2008, 8:31 pm