Location, Location, Location!

If you haven't seen Phil and Kirstie's eponymous property show on telly, it can be quite fun. In fact, Laura and I made heavy use of a copy of their 2007 "Britain's Best and Worst" special that we found on the internet. Anyway, it's finally time for our family to jump into the housing rat-race, so Laura and the kids spent 8 hours yesterday touring a prodigious 15 homes in our target area.

She said they found 2-3 they quite liked, many others that were "adequate", and only a few that genuinely turned them off. As one of their favorites was only 5min from our temporary housing, last night we walked back to have a look at it as a family, and I shared their enthusiasm for the home and the neighborhood. No certainties yet, as they have yet another roster to walk-thru this morning, but hopefully firm news on that front will be forthcoming.

Coincidentally, we received word yesterday that our airfreight shipment was likely to be delivered next week, and the seafreight could soon follow by early December. Those are actually considerable improvements upon the schedule we were initially given (of 6-8wks and 2-4mo, respectively), so definitely something to feel good about.

In truth, other than the nerve-inducing but essentially innocuous 2mo slip in my work permit processing (perfectly understandable as I applied during the summertime rush, and only two weeks before the biggest set of rule-changes in UK immigration in 50 years), we really haven't encountered any major snags in this process at all. Rather remarkable really, when you consider the amazing selection of potential fail-points, opportunities for miscommunication or misfiled forms, etc. We truly have been blessed, both by providence and the phenomenal help and expertise of all those who helped guide us in this venture.