To Buy or Not To Buy, That is the Question...

Friday October 18^th.

Dad wants to buy a holiday cottage on Arran! In Whiting Bay to be exact. It is a very sweet looking, 2 bedroomed cottage, with dormer windows and a lounge kitchen. It is semi-detached and faces East over the Firth of Clyde towards Ardrossan and South towards the Giant’s Graves. It is a really cute looking place. It has a semi-circle of grass round it and a gravel driveway. The bathroom is downstairs built onto the side of the house. It has double glazing, oil central heating and a wooden shed/outbuilding which has masses of room. There is a patio outside the south side which would be ideally placed for a large conservatory along that wall. They asking price is “Upset” at £145K. This means the seller is asking for sealed bids on the property.

He has asked whether I want to join him and Philip in a three was split of the cottage. He is considering an offer of £160K and would expect us each to put up £55K to cover the cost of the purchase, the conveyancing fees and buying some furniture if we get it. I was going to phone Phil any way about it, but when I saw he’s going to be a third owner I definitely did. He isn’t sure to be honest. I don’t think he can lay his hands on the readies. When I bought my house, with Gran’s legacy, he used his to splash out on a huge place at Horsforth; so I imagine he hasn’t got the pile in the bank that I have. My little house was a quarter of the price he paid for his! [In fact I get an investment income from the residue which I could almost live on!]

I called Dad and he’d been speaking to Dead Loss Phil, who would like to join him but… “Can’t afford it!” That tends to be his mantra these days. I guess with a third child on the way he will need some cash, yet I thought he would have kept some back for a rainy day. It turns out he hadn’t expected Phil to be interested at all, but in order not to cause a huge family feud he had asked him anyway! He has also asked Susannah and Peter for the same reason. The sealed bid deadline is four weeks away so we have plenty of time to think and discuss etc. He’s open to a 50/50 split or a 60/40 split or whatever agreement we come to, really. He could buy it all on his own but he’d thought about how much I loved Arran and figured I’d jump at the chance. It is very, very tempting.

I will talk with Laura and Mum. Have another chat with Phil and then arrange to see Dad as soon as possible. He has written out some proposals in the documents that came with the courier I need to have a good look at them. I will get Christopher to cast his love struck eyes over them too. He is also an accountant [at XXX &Y] and in never hurt to get a second opinion.

We discussed it briefly on the drive in to Uni and Loll was amazed that I even had the money to consider such a proposition. Feli thought I should go it for immediately. Her folks have a place in the Pyrenees which they let out for most of the year but to which they used to go quite often. Her Mum and Dad get a regular income from the holiday lettings, that was something I hadn’t even thought about.

Parents don’t half surprise you.

After work we planned what we were going to wear to the Halle on Saturday and I said I fancied the see through black blouse I’ve got, with my black, glittery bandeau underneath. I usually wear it with a camisole under it but the bandeau would be very extreme, especially as it stays on with will power only! I’d wear the bright red ankle boots this time and maybe the black shorts. She told me to try them on to show me what I meant.

That almost made her late for work. The bandeau had two chapel hat pegs sticking through it. I didn’t mean to get aroused, honest. She just had to fondle them, then kiss them through the fabric, then kiss in the flesh and then…. We were almost late for her shift at the restaurant! When I got back I discovered we had torn the see through blouse, so I spent a good twenty minutes carefully repairing the split seam. It reminded me of the time Richard made alterations to an old T-shirt with a pair of scissors. He cut two holes in the front so that my nipples poked through. We has quite a long session after that too!

Enough, I will need a bucket of cold water thrown over me.

Saturday 19^th October.

Swam and walked as per…

Still the Lollster polishes her assignment. Shame it is mathematical theorem etc otherwise I could cast a beady eye across it. As it is, I haven’t a clue whether she is on the right track or wandering in the Dutch Garden.

Mega clean this morning. I mean mega. Laura found me cleaning the storage jars at one point. She made me stop and have some tea. They needed cleaning. She just put the buggers back. When she disapparated back to the study I made sure they were properly clean. One has to have standards or the world as we know it may come crashing around our ears.

I fixed our extractor hood! I took the switch box off again and found where the corroded cable had broken. I don’t know how the cable corroded. I broddled about with the screwdriver. A bit risky I know but I have done stuff with electricity before and not been frazzled. The end of my tester kept lighting up, so I moved the switch box a bit more and found an old bit of wire which looked like it could have been the other end of the corroded cable. My tester told me the old bit was live so I switched the whole lot off, said a prayer and snapped my mole grips on to the end and very gently pulled it. I was able to bring out enough wire to snip off the manky bit, expose some fresh copper and reattach it to the terminal. Before I put the box back I switched the power on and the result? Success! Rah rah rah! I guess it must have been years of moisture that had caused it to corrode.

When Laura came down for lunch I showed her my handiwork. She asked, “What did you do?” So I told her I’d hit it! She believed me for about a millisecond. I have just saved £80 by fixing it.

She was still being mathematically inclined during the afternoon, so after the Times Jumbo Cryptic I took the woofie for a walk. We went up to Greno Woods. Which turned out to be a sensible decision because the heavens opened again and but for the cover of the trees, we’d have been drenched AGAIN.

Showered and fed we whizzed off to the City Hall. In a thunderstorm. Luckily I had the trusty Jennings umbrella in the Quokka so we didn’t get wet, too much. My see through top caused a few heads to turn. I wished I’d had a flesh coloured bandeau; that would have given some of the old fossils heart attacks. The mini and the boots were an ideal accompaniment again. I had my black silk bolero top to complete the ensemble. Laura had done my eyes to look like three stripes of colour slashing diagonally across them which was quite shocking too. We bumped into Christopher and another girl! The dark horse! He never said. He did spend a lot of the time we were together talking to my bosom, which I thought might annoy his new girlfriend until she piped up with the fact that she was pleased her big brother had asked her to come along!

The Sibelius was as good as it always is. The Elgar cello Concerto was excellent. I just love the power and attack the cellist brings to bear in the opening. You are half expecting their bow to break one of the cello’s strings, it is played with such force. The Shostakovich was new to me but very enjoyable. I have a few of his later works but not this one.

Lucy was really sweet. We met them again in the interval [unplanned] and when her brother went off to the gents she said “He has the most massive crush on you, you know?” I told her that I did know and that perhaps she hadn’t understood when I introduced Laura as my girlfriend. I have never seen anyone go so red so quickly. It was like a cartoon effect. She had regained her normal complexion by the time the offending brother returned and we continued to exchange inane pleasantries as though I hadn’t told this little innocent that Laura and I were lesbians. I could tell she would have asked masses of questions if Christopher hadn’t been there so, as we moved off to take our seats, I slipped her one of my cards. It has my mobile number and e-mail address on and a picture of a tiny me clinging to Nape’s Needle along one edge. I wonder if I’ll hear from her.

Laura thought it was funny and said we ought to invite Lucy round, sans brother. I asked her if she meant what I thought she meant. She said that Lucy obviously though the same as her brother by the way she was drinking me in as we spoke, and maybe we could introduce her to the Sapphic pleasures. Much better than my ‘hitting the extractor’ I have to admit. A definite one nil to the Cumbrian.

I asked her, after a breathless few minutes in bed, if she would ever do something like that – invite a girl back for a threesome. She said that made it two nil, if I was still brooding on it. Of course the answer was no! Sometimes my naivety is appalling.

Sunday 20^th October.

We went to Dove Dale today, dodged a few spots, and had a really good stroll along the banks of Isaak Walton’s favourite piece of water. I haven’t been down this far before but the route finding was a doddle and the walking ideal for a geriatric in their dotage to be honest. The guide book recommended a walk down the Dove and a return up the Manifold, so that was what we did.

For a flat walk it was very tiring. There was good cave to explore along the Manifold valley though which sort of made up for the lack of effort needed in the walk or the route. I was so pleased we’d arranged to be at Mum’s for Sunday evening tea though. The cave was huge and apparent had been used for centuries, there seemed to be a fair number of iron tool marks in the walls to my eyes though. It was a Mecca for modern tourists as loads of people came into the cave while we were there. It seems to have been used as a byre in the past as there was a large quantity of cow pooh on the floor of the cave.

We finished off our flask of tea in the cave and used it as a temporary shelter from the rain, too. The rain didn’t seem to be easing any so we trudged on through it back to the car. Gore text is a great fabric really. It is a pity Callie didn’t have a doggy raincoat as she was soaked to the skin when we got back to the car and shivering quite a bit too, despite the fact it was so mild. I might buy one for her!

Mum was intrigued by Dad’s proposal. Her advice [like she’d told me in a snap decision over the phone] was; if I could afford it – go for it. TBH, I am wary of hacking into my savings like that. I know it makes sound business and personal sense but I feel a nagging doubt. I think it is the fact I didn’t have the idea. It is someone else’s. Yes, that someone else is Dad, which makes it 100% trustworthy but….

He doesn’t need an answer straight away. So I’ll make a Cost benefit analysis spread sheet and see what that throws out.

Callie didn’t want to come away from Mum’s fireplace as we got ready to leave. I could sort of see why, in a way. Being an independent woman is not as safe and secure as living in the heart of your family, for an instant I had a brief pang of homesickness! Weird really, as this house I never considered my home. Just a base from which to go to University.

Lollster thought the White Peak wasn’t as exciting as the Dark Peak. She thought it was too safe and unthreatening. 

Yaay! 

There is no wonder I love this girl so much!