Since my move, I’ve been feeling well and truly gouged, financially speaking. As regular readers know, the removal firm held my goods hostage until I forked out over £200 extra, though I have had half of that back, and my car insurance charged me £20 just to change my address – it takes but a minute on a computer, and there are no paper copies involved, nor postage. I will not be renewing with Lloyds car insurance.

The Ship’s Dog is chipped, and the company, Tracer, want almost £20 to change the address on their system. Again, no paper nor postage. What a racket!

We registered with a new dentist, and although I had a check-up in March or April, I was advised that without a check-up, they wouldn’t take me on and by the way, cough up £21.60 please. In wales, my last check-up cost me a mere £14 and the Deckhand was free due to being under 25. His check-up also cost me £21.60. The dentist asked if I’d like a clean and polish, but I politely declined stating that I’d had same done in March and didn’t need a check-up at all and advised her of the above. She looked at me askance and seemed genuinely surprised that I was told the above. I’m going to try and claim it back.

Despite giving the council all the information they needed, including a cover letter detailing I have a student living at the address, I’ve had the Council Tax bill, however they haven’t included the 25% discount we enjoyed in Wales (single occupancy or student). This will cost me well over £200 a year extra if they don’t do the discount in England. I have to chase that up once we have a working phone line.

Then there’s the water bill. In Wales, they advise what the bill is, and give you the option to pay 12 monthly direct debits. Here, the bill covers up to March 2019, however I have to pay it in full by November for a rental that we might not even be in past December depending on the landlord. I’ve snail mailed them, advised the above and the fact that I’m on a low income, and asked if I can pay over the whole term. They’ve now been in touch and have confirmed that I can pay over the whole term. Just a shame this wasn’t sorted out before I had to part with over £80. Last time I try and sort something out online…

Our energy provider, E-On are being a pain too. I tried to contact them by phone and couldn’t get past their stupid automated call screener; it either didn’t recognise my account number or my accent. I filled in an online form, gave all the info they needed to set up my account, and 2 weeks later, have received a letter telling me to get in touch to provide meter readings or I’ll be sent an estimated bill. We have a Smart meter! The bill shouldn’t be estimated at all. I’ve snail mailed them too and gave all the info, again, and suggested if they can’t set up my account to let me know, and I’ll approach a different provider. They do things weirdly round here, and at this rate, I’ll be high-tailing it back to Wales once the Deckhand graduates! Breathe…

Mum is back in hospital, and they’re keen to discharge her, though my sister is adamant they control her meds beforehand, as she’s home for a few days, a week at most, and is then admitted again as she’s taken a turn for the worse. She insists Dad (her husband) is there and is waiting to take her with him. Man, it’s tough being up here and not being able to visit. It would take me a whole day to visit – 280-mile round trip, and a few hours to visit. It would be exhausting so for now at least, I have to be content with my kid sister keeping me up to date. Her carer, my niece, is contemplating selling the house and buying a flat. This will meet with some consternation and possible legal action if she tries this whilst Mum is still with us; officially, it’s still Mum’s house and home! Families…

The Deckhand seems to be enjoying being home and it’s nice to have someone else take turns walking the dog, and even doing some cooking, and someone to talk to. For his part, I think he likes not having to do the laundry in the, frankly, crappy campus laundrette. I absolutely love being within a five-minute walk of the town and despite some empty shop units, it’s well serviced with a good range of shops. Our nearest supermarket is a good size, and we recently discovered a Tesco Extra within a few miles which is huge!

The garden is somewhat disappointing in size, and lacks much greenery, though my plants have broken up the drabness of it. Others have similar small gardens though seem to have made the most of them and even have trees or large bushes in them. A neighbour’s tree overhangs part of our garden by a good 3 feet, it has pretty white flowers on it that smell amazing, so that’s good as far as I’m concerned. Also, their ivy has grown over our wooden fence, almost to ground level so that adds some greenery. A different neighbour has a huge tree with lovely deep red leaves, and within sight of our garden, is a mature, huge flowering cherry tree that is visited by many birds. There is a single plant in the bed that belongs to this house; a green frondy thing, other than that, it was quite sterile until I moved in lol. I’ll buy some herbs soon and put those in pots along our 6-foot high fence. That’ll break it up a little too. I can put up with it, knowing it might only be for a couple of years.

We’ve had a builder in to renew some roof tiles, planned and paid for by the landlord, but they told me the whole roof needs replacing which will involve having a skip outside the house, scaffolding too, and a few days of work. The builder assures me it’s watertight, so I’m hoping it will wait until after we leave. Parking is bad enough in this street; with a skip, and the builder’s lorry too, it’ll be a nightmare though further down the street is a car park for residents, I just won’t be able to see my car. If it’s replaced whilst we’re here, I will suggest a rent reduction for the noise and inconvenience caused. Still, if you believe in that sort of ‘stuff’, we are where we’re supposed to be, and must make the best of the situation.

We can hear quite a bit of traffic, and regular sirens; we’re on the main drag to the local A&E, but what I notice the most? The trees. Our previous council seemed hell-bent on cutting down as many trees as they could get away with. Here, they like trees. The main A road has a raised ‘bed’ in between the lanes and this contains mature trees. We have at least a dozen trees at the bottom of our street and a playground with green space. Saturday morning, I went on an exploration with the dog and found a footpath with a dozen or more mature oak trees along it; my son says a mile further on, there are loads of trees but it’s too hot to walk that far, as far as I’m concerned. We also have 2 parks nearby with green space, and more trees than I care to count. I love trees in case you haven’t guessed…

Sunday morning, I sat in the garden at 7am, at the patio table, and enjoyed a coffee and some poached eggs on toast – bantam eggs from a local farmer who sells at the market; totally delicious. What a nice way to start the day. It’ll probably be the coolest I’ll be all day as apart from a short shower, we’ve had no rain since we moved in; man, it’s been hot here and no let-up in sight for the next 2 weeks. Guess it must be summer.

Finally: We are once more connected to the world. I go on about the internet sometimes, but 4 weeks without access to it at home, nor a phone line, nor streaming TV was quite difficult. The library, whilst useful, is very limited access and there are time constraints too, and the university meant a 3-mile drive and parking difficulties. I checked emails late last week, though now have 22 to wade through.

Enjoy the rest of the week, we’re just chilling and relaxing, trying to keep cool.