predencia

The second tennant arrived this afternoon, and as I hand’t heard from the Scottish lass he had the second ensuite room. I sat down for a meal with both of them tonight and as I listened to the fire officer and the paramedic I was amazed at how much responsibility these young men carry in their jobs. Their’s can be a job of life and death and although mostly they manage to save lives somethimes there is death; and at 26 and 28 years of age they have learned to take it in their stride; to get on with the job in hand and to develop a sense of humour that others may find morbid but which is part of thier way of dealing with things. (Kind of reminded me of working at Glenthorne all those years ago). What else was surprising was realizing that these two young men could meet in thier professional capacity at an incident (at least they’ll know each other).

I have another viewing tomorrow from someone who works in the distribution industry. I’m not quite feeling it with this one (but then I really felt it with the girl from Scotland and she didn’t take the room).

Call me glutton for punishment but I found myself on the internet looking for more houses last night and found a very promising one which Andrew and I are hoping to go and look at on Monday

My first tennant moved in today. A fire officer. When we first started the conversion I looked at the industries/institutions/services that were in the area and decided that nurses, fire officers and police officers would be ideal tennants. I focused on this throughout the development and planned each room with these people in mind. Imagine my delight and amazement when the first tennant to pay her deposit was a law student (not quite police but legal) the second a fire officer, the tennant due to move in tomorrow is a paramedic (not quite nurse but medical and coming from Wales) and the lady who came to view today is also a law student – moving from Scotland to work in Birmingham but studying at the same law school as the first tennant. I have not believed in coincidences for a while and this has just confirmed this belief for me. It is worth focusing on what you want and believing it will happen.

The last couple of days have been very hectic – still so much to do. Preparing induction material; sorting keys; making up inventories; clearing stuff that’s still around the house – can’t believe how much stuff there is still hanging around. In a wierd way having tennants is going to force me to be a bit more tidy and organised. That’s got to be a good thing.

Its all feeling a bit unreal – but exciting. The electricians are in today doing the testing for the landlord’s certificate. The final (hopefully) part of the redevdelopment. And I already have 2 tennants waiting to move in. I started to do viewings last week – of the 3 people I showed around 2 have said yes and I think the other would also have said yes if it wasn’t so far from his work. This is very encouraging. They are both interesting people and it will be a pleasure getting to know them. I feel a mountain of paperwork coming on as I rush to get induction folders together and get instructions for using the appliances made up. I’m also wading my way through the changing legislation relating to private landlords (and to think one of the reasons I got out of child care was because it was so heavily regulated and stifling creativity) Still, I guess we have a long way before we get to the same state as Children’s Law.

Thursday night was great – nothing special for my friends but fantastic for me to just be out with no workmen to get up for the next day. And I went to the gym on Friday morning. The mucsles remembered and it felt like I had come home. That seratonin stuff really works. I was nigh on bouncing home, buzzing, on a high from feeling that every muscle in my body was alive. God, I hate being unfit.

So, on the brink of new profession and really looking forward to it.

I’m going out tonight – socially. Can’t remember the last time. Life beginning to get back into some sort of rhythm. I joined a gym and started today, and as such is making the first steps to shifting the mini tyre that’s found its way round my waist during the last 4 months. And I’m going out tonight socially – did I mention that?

Had to find the energy from somewhere today to get the papers and the house ready for viewing (a post grad law student and an Itialian teacher) She’s very interested, he’s a bit more hesitant. She came on her own, he brought a friend (maybe because of the language thing) Was expecting someone else but he didn’t show. I have very mixed feelings about sharing my home. While all the building work was going on I had adjusted to thinking about it as a building site, a project. And as I dressed it for viewing i still thought of it as an HMO, but it looked cold and impersonal. Someone said the lounge felt like a hostel. So I personalised it and now it feels like my home again, comfortable, warm, cosy; full of memories, full of love. As I cleansed it with frankinscence and blessed it this morning I realize that it’s not just about whether a tennant can afford the rent – it’s very much about whether our spirits are in tune with each other. We’ve (Andrew and I) given ourselves till the end of the week to iron out the glitches, then I think Andrew will have a couple of weeks off, and we start looking for the next one (or so he tells me). It will probably take months before we are back to normal – yeah I hear someof you say – ‘you were never normal’

Got back from Tenerife last night. A week was not long enough. Did very little, read Barack Obama’s ‘Dreams from my father’ and ‘The audicity of hope’, watched his inauguration on Sky News and felt proud all over again. Spent most days at the beach or nestled on rocks sunning ourselves like lizards, trying to warm the bones for slow release on return. Finding it hard to get going again. Continued lazing today – by the radiator – and catching up on a few phonecalls. Another month of this would be fine.

I got a really great deal to Tenerife – the incentive to finish this week.

Two bedrooms ready to move into. Kitchen ready for use. By end of tomorrow all bedrooms should be ready and by Friday the lounge and bathroom should be ready too. We can advertise now but we’ll have the skip moved before we have any viewings. We are still knackered.

Snagging is well underway. A whole day spent re-organizing the loft. Felt like deja vous. This is how the project started and it cannot end till the upheavel necessary to lay cables and fit a new tank is sorted out. And we did it. Years of history stored; a new office created. Tomorrow we’ll clear more stuff out of the front bedroom and put up the furniture and the following day the lounge should be cleared. We are definitely on target to finishing at the end of the week. The painter will return tomorrow to sort out a few bits as will the electrician. We need to get the guys back who fitted the toilet – we discovered it’s not screwed down, and the chippy will be back to shave a few doors and build a cupboard. We even managed to get out for a meal tonight. Life is slowly getting back to normal.