Pulling Back the Curtain... The Move

One neat thing about writing in this blog is it's our message.

It's reality as we dictate, in black and white...

I wrote the earlier Schengen article weeks ago, but saved it, knowing our time to write would soon be scarce. It came in handy, but now it seems out of place, especially given our bud Eric is here.

So, time to really write reality.

These go to 11

We're moving this weekend. We "close" on our new place tomorrow evening. If we had a stress dial, it would be at 11 (and set there). We didn't plan our move to be 1 December - it was supposed to be late August, then became end of September, then tentatively 17 November, but ultimately pushed to 1 December. Again, not how we planned -or wanted-, but this is how it is.

Mostly it's To sum up in quick bullets:

• Earliest delay was lift construction -delayed from Dec 2006 to last month!
• In contract negotiations, the Seller welched a few times, causing more delays.
• Final delay was Seller's new flat was delayed, so he pushed our move-in date back 6 weeks.

All this and pregnant, too???
No matter. In our final round of negotiations on 1st October (at the time, the deadline for moving in), we pushed and pushed hard. If you know Maylia, she can make a compelling arguement.

Still, Seller refused to budge. Threats of a lawsuit were empty since he wanted only 2 more months, versus 2-3 years for a court battle.

By the end of 4 hours at the table, even the Sellers' lawyers were frustrated of the Seller's lunacy - and they fought on our behalf. You know its bad when lawyers get frustrated.

How has this affected us?

• May has flu, averaging 3-4 hours sleep per night for ~3 weeks.
• Ella has flu & running nose for past ~2 weeks
• Yesterday Ella started complaining her ears hurt...
• ...and today's visit to doctor's labeled May with bronchitis and Ella with early ear infection

But between local friends and Eric, a rental van and some good luck, we might just move in to our new place tomorrow night. We thought you ought to know what's really going on around here...

Next time you hear from us, we will have set up Internet at our new flat ...so it may be a while.

Until then, take care.

love, us