do not pass go...

dear readers, events continue to unfold in the world of house-selling. the estate agent phoned yesterday. the people buying the house are trying to get the peeps to drop the price. these are people who first saw the place and offered to buy it at the beginning of february. it has taken them all this time to get a surveyor round to look the place over. they told the peeps that this was because they were having problems with sorting out their mortgage. in spite of thinking this was an inordinately long period of time in current financial markets, where there are not exactly queues of people buying houses, the peeps gave them the benefit of the doubt.

yesterday was the day that was planned for what is known as exchange of contracts. this is when a firm date is fixed for everyone to move and binding contracts are put in place. however it did not go ahead. the buyers' solicitor had decided to take the day off and, in spite of her working for a national network of lawyers who deal with house buying and selling, no-one could be found to deal with her work. then, to really put the icing on the cake (a saying, dear readers), the buyers said their surveyor had valued the house at £20,000 less that the contract price. they wanted to knock £20,000 off what they would pay.

himself hit the roof (this is a saying, dear readers. it means got a little tetchy. and then some.) he is not at his most patient just now. these people appear to be relying on the peeps' desperate situation to make a fast buck. they are not borrowing 100% of the price of the house. indeed, they have a very large cash sum to put down from the sale of the man's house. so the argument that the valuer has put a lower price on the place is academic. in the current property market it could rise, or more likely fall, by this amount in a week.

but for the peeps this is a major problem. and on top of all the other problems is just a little bit much. the peeps cannot sleep. it is now 4.30am here in the uk. the peeps are sitting in bed. himself is reading the times history of the world, for the third time. this is a large book and is not what you could call sensible bedtime reading. himself is in the habit of falling asleep when reading in bed and with a book like this there is a risk of a broken nose if it falls onto his face. herself is laptopping frantically. my lady friend and i are sitting watching and trying to hypnotise one of them into fetching breakfast.

i can only hope the dogs that are moving in here managed to persuade their owners to be nice people and stick to what was agreed. this whole business is beginning to leave a rather nasty taste in my mouth. and, given some of the things i have eaten over the years, that is saying something.