A packed day

Yesterday, we spent the day driving around the south-east of England sorting out various things for the new home.
First stop was our solicitors, where we handed over a very large sum of money, the last payments on the new home. We get the keys next Friday, all things being equal, which, talking to the vendors, they should be. We’re lucky that Sharon and Graham, the couple selling to us, are really lovely people, and have helped to make their part of the transaction really smooth. They’re off to Canada next summer after Sharon has given birth to their first child – which helps us to keep our own adventure in perspective!
After the solicitors, we headed north to Croydon, calling in at the splendid Wing Yip store on the Purley Way. Hels had never been to Wing Yip before, and was as amazed as I was the first time that I went there – aisle after aisle of the most amazing ingredients for oriental cuisine, ranging from huge sacks of rice and noodles through to bulk bags of baby squid and cuttlefish.
From there it was on to IKEA for meatballs, followed by a research session on sofabeds (decision made, subject to checking the measurements of the new living room when we go round there on Sunday – though the design isn’t on their website, so I can’t show it to you) and dining tables (a shortlist of three, with one that was preferred, but again subject to checking the measurements) and chairs (pretty certain on these). We also stocked up on some Christmas decorations for the new home too and, as is usual in IKEA, found it easy to spend £50 on not very much at all.
After that, it was back into the car to "scoot" (for which read "crawl") around the M25 to BlueWater, which was beautifully lit for Christmas, to visit John Lewis. We were fortunate enough to have received quite a sum in John Lewis vouchers for our wedding, sufficient to purchase a HotPoint fridge/freezer and a Tricity-Bendix tumble dryer. The tumble dryer is a damaged ex-display model reduced in price by £50, but still with a full two-year guarantee. Bargain! Both will be delivered in the days immediately following our arrival at the new house.
We also had some Habitat vouchers which we used to purchase some towels (not very exciting, but very functional), as well as some House of Fraser vouchers. We planned to use these to buy a new vacuum cleaner, but were not impressed by the choice in the House of Fraser store at BlueWater, so we’ll wait until we’re next in Chichester and will check out the range in Army and Navy there.
All in all, not a very exciting day for you to read about, but we feel that we’re really making progress on getting things together for the new home. Of course, we have absolutely no money at all now, but isn’t that the lot of every new home owner?