Conmen are everywhere

We have now been in the new house for just over a week, and unfortunately chaos is still the order of the day. Fairly organised chaos, but chaos nonetheless.

The day of the move started bright and early as I was picking up the van at 0730. First port of call was m'Julie's mum's house, where we loaded the van, pausing briefly to sign the lease agreement and collect the keys of the new house, before taking the first load.

After we'd unloaded, myself and Drew then headed off to Big Yellow for the first trip. We worked well and it wasn't long before the van was loaded to the gills and making the 8 mile trip back to the house. We then had the second trip, finally finishing the unloading at 0030, all of us knackered and all of us ready to sleep.

Again, it was a bright and early start as I had to take the van back and then it was back to try and get some order into the piles of bags and boxes that we were now facing.

And this has been the order of the day for the last week, although it has been mainly down to m'Julie, her mum and Drew as I was back at work on Monday.

Unfortunately, today we received a letter from the letting agents, and it appears that our previous landlord is now trying to rip us off. According to his calculations, the "dilapidations" that we have caused to the property are in excess of our deposit and therefore, this will not be returned. Unfortunately for him, I am not very tolerant of conmen, especially one who is trying to charge us for hanging a painted a door that was purchased, pre-painted, by us and re-hung long before we moved out.

What this now means is that I will answer the letter and if I believe that I am owed a rebate from the deposit, I suspect that I will have to pursue this through the small claims court. To be honest, this is something that I could do without, on top of everything else.

On the upside, it is likely that we will have the kitchen in enough of a semblance of order so that the whole family can sit down at the table to a proper Sunday lunch tomorrow. I say whole family, as Maggie is staying this weekend, but we may be missing one, as I will need to collect Alec from Tunbridge Wells, and if the threatened snow arrives, I have no doubt that the entire country will grind to a halt again.