We have now been living in the house for a month. How quickly that has gone. We are still finding our feet in the house with trying to get the heating right so we are comfortable and it’s not costing us a fortune.

Nikki has had two interviews already but sadly didn’t get the jobs, she has also applied for others but not heard anything from them. It’s their loss.

We went to visit friends near Dudley. We normally catch up with them once a year but it’s only for a couple of hours but now we’re about an hour and a half away we could spend the night at their place and they can do the same when they come over this way. That way we get longer for a proper catch up.

About four doors down the road from them is a nice ol pub, proper local pub. Just does drinks and crisps and peanuts, no food. But out the back of the pub is a Thai restaurant which we had booked.

I needed to move my car from where it was parked and Tony said put it in the pub carpark. Good plan and of course he had to come with me and of course while putting the car in the pub carpark we had to nip in for a pint and then another. You have to have a balanced diet.

Tony gets a call from his wife about coming back to take his tablet. I asked him what’s the point in us walking back to the house just for him to take a tablet when Nikki and Jo are coming down the pub anyway. So he called back and put the suggestion across. Sorted. We stayed in the pub and Nikki and Jo walked down to meet us.

As I said it’s a real ol proper pub with log fire and locals coming and going and the beer is only £4 a pint and wine is only £4 a glass. I don’t know if it’s this price because the staff can only count in fours so makes it easy for adding up the bill or it’s just great value. The pub nearest to us is £7.50 a pint. If one pub can do it and survive why can’t the others?

After having a few drinks we went out the back of the pub into the Thai restaurant and had a lovely meal. I must say it’s one of the best Thai meals I have had apart from when we were in Thailand.

My garage was looking a mess with stuff from the camper in it but not sorted so I bought some racking and started sorting it out ready for the next lot of stuff to come onto the garage which was down in Devon in a store. I love having a garage and have probably spent more time in the garage than in the house.

A trip to Devon was needed to empty our store there which we have had since selling our cottage 16 years ago. We hired a van for two days as it was too much to do in a day being a 500 mile round trip plus loading the van up and emptying it to get the van back.

A brand new VW Crafter fitted the bill perfectly. We picked it up at 4pm just as it was getting dark. It has one of these touch screens with all the controls on for the heating etc. what’s wrong with dials on the dash. They tell you to keep your eyes on the road and then put these touch screens in modern vehicles.

We were going to leave the next morning at 7am. I will add at this point I hate driving in the dark and if it’s raining and dark I struggle because of the lights coming the other way etc. so what was it doing at 7am that morning. Yes it was dark which we knew but I thought it will only be an hour then it will be light but it was also raining. But needs must we have things to do.

The journey was ok only hitting traffic on the M6 which was expected and having a couple of stops. We got to the store at 12.45pm nearly five hours after leaving home and started loading up the van straight away. Nikki had strict instructions to just put stuff in the van and not keep looking and saying oh do you remember this and that. Van loaded up in just over an hour. The first time that store had been empty in 16 years and the first time we had seen some of the stuff in there.

An hours drive back to the motorway where we stopping for the night in a travel lodge. All booked in and Burger King next door provided us with our tea. Needs must. We planned to get up again the next morning and get on the road for 7am and stop at the service area just north of Bristol for breakfast.

Now I get up early so my body clock was awake at just after 5am so I was wriggling and wanted to get going. I asked Nikki if she was awake, the reply was I am now. Come on then let’s go now, are you serious, yes, so we got on the road for 6 am. Got to the services, had a bacon roll and got back on the road.

Got back to the house at 10.30am unloaded the van into the garage and took the van back. Job done. Another pile to sort out in garage.

I had a plan for my sorting.

Pile one….into house

Pile two….to the tip

Pile three….boot sale

Pile four….stay in garage

Hour after hour, day after day I sorted all the stuff out. But to be honest I enjoyed it although it would have been nice to have some heating in the garage as it was only 7. 5 degrees in there with a high of 9 degrees.

Nikki went away for four days to see her sister and boys so I was left alone to feed myself so it was basic food and more garage time. But it’s all done now, well it will never be done because there is always something to tinker with in the garage. We went to the tip with a car full yesterday, I have a boot sale pile, some stuff has come in the house and the rest is put away so my plan worked out ok.

The guy who lives next door on his own and runs his own business said about going for a pint to a pub he uses. Of course I said yes. Nikki was away so it saved me cooking. A real nice old pub with good beer at very good prices and good food. Guinness was only £4.20 a pint. So I had a chicken curry with a pint of Guinness for £10. Bargain.

He has apple trees in his garden and has said if we want any apples just help ourselves. There are some on the floor so Nikki sorted a few out and made a crumble. The other neighbour has given us some damsons from her trees and apples so it looks like next year we will be eating a lot of crumbles and pies.

I have also set my new BBQ up on the patio so it’s all ready to go on a nice day. And that means not just summer but anytime of year if the weather is kind to us. Maybe Xmas day?

So that is us up to speed with house living, or garage living depending which one of us you speak to. No pictures this time, I don’t want to bore you with pictures of a full garage and then a sorted garage.