Repetitive Stress

Almost a year ago, I was starting on the long (and, as I now know, endless) road to getting my house ready for sale. After the failed-sale disaster that followed in the summer, and a break over Christmas and New Year (albeit a break of sorts, during which a shower room was created) it's time to start doing it all again.

By and large, I have stayed optimistic, cultivating patience that I never knew I possessed, but the last few days have been difficult. I was planting up pots in the back yard the other day: violas, and other little  bedding plants to act as gap-fillers and soil-concealers from wicked cats Hamish, and it hit me hard that almost one year on, I was doing this again, getting things ready for another round of viewings and hoped-for buyers.

The thought was deeply depressing. I don't want to be doing this again; I don't want a repeat of the parade of time-wasters gawping politely at my home, devoid of any intent to buy, just being curious because the pictures in the brochure looked nice. And I don't want to stay here while it happens, as it will.

The very keen couple who viewed twice, and then sent his parents round to view too, have taken a loss on their own newly-sold property, and can no longer afford a house in this street.

No one else is looking just now; the market, the economic outlook and therefore the prospect of a quick sale are all gloomy. I could be planting the yard pots in another year's time, another year older. I can't bear the thought.

So I am seriously considering trying to find a house to rent for the time being in West Somerset, the area where I want to settle, and just moving, cats, dogs and all. I don't want to rent out this house, preferring to leave it part-furnished and on the market, available for me to use when I returned to visit/do maintenance. I know that friends and neighbours would keep an eye on it in my absence. Surely it must sell some day! If you've done this, I would love to hear your views.

Of course, rental properties that will accept cats and dogs might not be easy to find, or be affordable. I would have to live very frugally indeed, but I would have done something, made a move in every sense of the term.

Perhaps this is a crazy idea. I shall put it away for now, and give the Budget, Easter and the early hopeful days of Spring a chance to come and go; if there is still nothing happening on the sale front, I shall have another think about it. Perhaps I should remain patient and hopeful, and suppress the urge to act....

But oh, some days just keeping a good attitude is hard!