A didn’t go sign paperwork this morning.
No worries, no worries. It’s not because we lost the house. The contract just had a bunch of weird crap in it that we had to sort out. For example, it said that we weren’t supposed to use nails. Then it stated that we can only use picture hanger hooks to hang pictures.
Ummm, the only picture hanger hooks I’m familiar with require what??? Nails.
So, we went back and forth with the contract for a few hours and waited for the estate agency to get in touch with the firm to wire the deposit to finalize the Deal. Then we headed out to the British Museum for the day.
It was raining, (You can see the guy across the street trying to stay dry with only a newspaper over his head. Good luck, buddy.)
so I stopped for coffee and A ran down the street to buy an umbrella. He was gone a loooong time.
By the time he finally got back, I’d gone through several options of how we could get there and what else we could do since it was supposed to rain all day. E was already going stir crazy in the room and when we put her in the stroller and went out the door to our room, she was completely happy. I was NOT taking the child back up to our room.
We decided to grab lunch in the restaurant attached to the hotel. But A was soaked. Evidently his raincoat isn’t waterproof.
Lunch was fine, but ridiculously expensive. And the service staff (like everyone else in this town) spent most of its time making eyes at Elena. People here LOVE babies, I guess.
Anyway, we went back up the room to get E down for a “nap” and I sat down to do this and A watched a movie.
About an hour after we got into the room, I opened the curtains and it looked like this.
I checked out the forecast and it looked like all of the rain was going to miss us. Woo HOOOO!
We got ready to go out and walked along the Thames, went by the Royal Courts Of Justice, which we toured on our last trip here, and moseyed over to Freemason’s Hall to see if we could grab a pint and some food at the pub across the street. We were just waiting on a call from Daniel to let us know that the money transfer had come through.
We strolled past the Freemason’s Arms (I think that’s what it’s called) and were walking down an alley to find some food when he called wanting to know where the money was.
It was our understanding that he was having his transfer person talk to our transfer person and that we didn’t have to do anything other than finalize the contract to complete the deal.
Nope. A was supposed to contact the money wirer and get it taken care of on his end. AND, we found out we needed his new bosses signature on the lease since it’s actually a corporate expense.
And as luck would have it, the boss man is in the US and was just getting into work when we were at the close of business UK time. There wasn’t any way everyone could have everything to everyone else today.
I have to say though, once A got on the phone with his peeps they shot into action and we did get everything to them so, A says it shouldn’t be a problem.
I won’t lie, I’m a little nervous. But there’s nothing we can do about it now.
If it’s meant to be, it will work out.
I do want to give kudos to A’s company. They absolutely understand how expensive it is to live and work in London. They have done SO many things to make our lives easier…this house hunting trip, two trips home a year, and a very generous housing allowance, among other things.
I am particularly grateful for the housing allowance. Rent here is outrageous and there’s no way A and I could have covered the deposit and six month’s rent.
To put it into perspective I’ll give you a scenario.
When I graduated from college, my part of the rent at my first apartment was $425/month. The British rent by week, and when you break it down that way, I was paying $98/week. At the current exchange rate that’s approximately £45/week.
The company that we used doesn’t even offer anything less than £175/week. That’s $350/WEEK - just $75 short of the MONTH’S rent I was paying in my first apartment.
Looking at the numbers makes me sick to my stomach. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
So, to combat the concern, I’m just trying not to do the exchanges in my head any longer. It’s a lot less stressful when I pay 2 pounds, 85 pence for my iced latte instead of 5 dollars and 70 cents.
Anyway, we got what we could worked out and headed back to the hotel to pack up. Our car arrives at 5.30 in the morning. E is asleep and hopefully she’ll stay that way….
