Friday 26 July 2013

Well the last person didn't turn up as arranged. Its so annoying when this happens and the least they could have done was it inform the estate agents.

One of the houses round the corner which was sold subject to contract, is back on the market. It seems one of the people who came to our house put a bid in for theirs and was accepted. It sounds like the person who had sold her house recently but was some £50,000 short and failed to get a mortgage being over 65 it would have been difficult. Its not worth getting stressed out over this, I believe it will happen eventually
                                                                                                              Keep calm
Our friends who are selling their apartment are having worse problems than us, as they live three flights up the stairs are putting people off, and several viewings have been cancelled , presumably by people coming to look earlier to get a feel of the place. They have just reduced the price a second time to try and move it.

                                                                                         Sheffield - we want the piece and quiet

We have decided to freshen up our landing and hallway with a new paint job. Unfortunately all the painters who we have contacted are booked up for at least the next two months, so we will have to continue our search and hope a painter can come i the next week or so , one has said that if he had any cancelled work we would come first. Had a bit of luck yesterday with a painter who only lives 20 houses away, he came to give us an estimate and said he could start the job within the next 10 days, thanks Kevin Bradshaw.

Its been a bit too hot for our liking, being over 30 degrees on several days, although these last few days we have had some spectacular storms. Last week while coming back up the A1 from an airshow at Duxford we ran into a storm which forced us to lower our speed to 20 mph as we couldn't see much due to the heavy rain and also we aquaplaned a few times, lucky nothing else near us.

One thing this weather has done is to make the flowers come up in abundance, although late they do look superb at the moment. Lots of wild orchids in the Peak District.
                                                                           Early Purple orchid
                                                                              Bee Orchid

Just read that Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley have been included in the worst 100 places to live by the produces of the book Crap Town.


Just started another blog on the Skies in Shetland, please take a look at

shetlandsky.blogspot.co.uk  see right hand side for direct link

Tuesday 16 July 2013

We are now onto our 13th couple who are due to look round our house tomorrow evening.We never expect very much from the younger couples as they always want larger gardens. I may have said before we have a very tiny garden which would possibly suit someone older or who has a very busy life.

Its hard to think about our move to Shetland sometimes especially when you cannot pin a date down. As time goes on it moves our move further down into the winter months as you can nearly always expect around a 3 month gap from agreeing to sell to actually moving. You have to get on with life and plan ahead, I have even got talks booked by the RSPB into next year so i cannot afford to turn down any work. If the moves comes sooner, then things will have to change quickly. We  have even stopped looking at houses for sale in Shetland as we may fall in love with one that we have no hope of getting.
                                                                               Otters - Fetlar is a great place to see them
You have to be realistic, we cannot afford to rent our house as some people have suggested as we will have to use some money from the house sale to move and store our belongings, we estimate over £10,000 in total to actually cover the move.  Not cheap but we are fully committed to going to Shetland.

In the meantime I can live the dream through the illustrated talks I will be giving on Shetland, I have several booked for the rest of the year and people are always interested in hearing about the history and natural history of the islands.

On Sunday night  BBC Countryfile covered the life on Fetlar, coverage from the TV has been very good over these past few years. Fetlar is always a place we love to visit, its not always clear and sunny but the wildlife never fails to impress with the Red necked Phalaropes and red throated Divers on the Lock of Funzie and the numerous waders.



For us, talking to Bobby Tullock and Bill Oddie a number of years ago down at the hide at the Mires of Funzie, just highlight again how much people enjoy the natural world and all that goes into it. Shetland is blessed with an abundance of wildlife, superb countryside, a closeness to the sea we are looking forward to and a people with an interest in what happens to the wildlife

We got talking to a couple of people who had moved to Fetlar, they said it was the best thing they had done. They too had to move into rented accommodation for a year and had just bought a house in the middle of the island, where most of the 80 + people live. Living in a small community you have to get involved and that's our plan too

Tuesday 2 July 2013

A dream so far away

No matter what your dream you always seem to be reliant on other people, in our case a buyer for our house. Just the other day someone e-mailed the estate agent wanting to come and view our house. I said straight away that this was a time waster and it proved so, with the estate agent trying to make contact several times without success.

With several houses now having been sold in our area it just leaves three up for sale including ours, which is the cheapest. Our main problem is the very small garden which seems to be putting people off, but they all liked the large conservatory which is more use in our climate. Nothing we can do about the garden, but I believe that ever house has its price.

Two we have seen recently in other parts of Sheffield, have been on a main road which is busy all the time and very difficult to get in and out of the parking area. The other, lots of steps from the front door, straight onto the pavement, with very small garden- both have just sold. We need to be patient and it will come.

I always love the fish and chips in Shetland with the Happy Haddock winning our vote in Lerwick. The chips are very tasty and with a whole fish and a half it make it a great meal, combine this with eating them in the car down at the harbour and you cannot beat the combination.



No such luck in Sheffield, there seems to be no taste to either the fish or chips.

We didn't have chance to have Fish and chips at Frankie's, but everyone recommends them, look forward to the next time we are in Shetland, or better still when we have moved up there.

We will have tears of joy when this happens, much like this ship that called into Lerwick harbour