Tea, fig rolls and it is snowing again in Boston....

Friday 21 March 2015

First day of Spring
Rain is back again

I get a message on Skype which is the modern day equivalent of a long distance wail.  'it is snowing again!'.  Poor LL, when she signed the initial contract to buy her house here, back in October, June must have seemed a long way off.  She is on a tiny outcrop of the States, on the Eastern seaboard, and has suffered snow for months.  And not inconsiderable amounts of the white stuff either.  She knows, as well as I do, that if she doesn't turn up to sign the Title contract at the end of June, she is liable to pay 10% percent penalties to the seller, who has actually changed his mind and doesn't really want to sell, but is tied in.  He would be thrilled to get 10% penalties and to not sell the house.  She is under the cosh.  On the positive side, the euro has really dropped against the US dollar, so she can afford to drop her price somewhat to generate a quick sale.  Providing the buyers can get over their doorsteps, and hers.

First thing today is to go and revisit the house I went to see last week, and get the sales contract.  I arrive and the septic tank lady is tramping around the garden and the owners, who don't speak her language, are hiding in the house.  I introduce them to one another and interpret.  I am then invited in and the lady of the house goes to make tea.  A good thing about UK clients is that you get tea at the start, which lubricates the bronchials and is agreeable.  You also often get biscuits (fig rolls in this instance, yum!).  The French and Spanish wait until business is finished before offering you refreshments (unless you are puce in the face with heat and look as if you are about to expire onto their freshly cleaned parquet) and then if you accept, you are there an hour longer.  They then take the opportunity to talk about many things of which the worst to extricate oneself from, is politics and when the UK will join the Euro.  Not in a month of Sundays because we don't want to be in the same crap that you are, is the actual answer.  I have to dress it up a little.  They are also often under the impression that the Queen owns all property in the UK.  OH used to tell people this was true.

We also discuss Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear, who has been suspended by the BBC following a fracas with his producer.  A million people have now signed the petition, asking for him to be reinstated.  People either love him or hate him.  The man of the house and myself are definite fans.  I particularly love the fact he is not at all PC.  PC is an infringement of civil liberty, imo.  I will be writing a blog about that.  When I have done a million other things on the list first.  I will also be writing one called In Praise of Monotasking but I don't know when because I am still stuck in the black hell of Multitasking.

I get out the sale contract and everything suddenly grinds to a halt.  Their daughters are not happy with them selling the house so feathers need to be smoothed and they will sign the contract later.  Why didn't they tell me that before letting me drive 25 kms to see them?

Back home and spend two hours going through all emails and getting my diary up to date. I have more people coming over in the next month than I have in ages.

The complicated situation with the house in town continues and both buyer and seller keep ringing me up but I don't know why because there is nothing that will happen until the seller sees her advocate next Friday.

My lovely labradorite has been working overtime so, when I get to bed, I recharge it by placing it between my hands and running reiki through it.  I wake up in the middle of the night suddenly and am conscious of an image of the stone in my mind's eye, and all of the facets are sparkling.  A strange experience.