Contract of Sale

A quick picture of George Street in Hastings Old Town (horizontal street with shops), just to remind you where we are at the moment; good ol' Pud Lady's getting well spoiled in all directions. We had a special mission yesterday while we were waiting for things to progress in the house-buying sector, we had to go buy a specific item for a special lady (no names no pack drill, we will reveal all when a special day (for her) is with us). Mum gave us instructions and Tom pointed us in the direction of the excellent, non-chain, shops which proliferate through Hastings Old Town.

We scored the 'item' in pretty much the first shop Dad went in, so we could then spend the rest of the hour's parking ticket wandering up and down alleys and the olde back streets which climb the cliffs behind the high street-front houses. Down here is a tiny flag-stoned 'twitten' climbing the hillside called Cobourg Place. Too narrow for cars and with frequent bits steep enough that they are replaced by steps, the top of this 'street' is where Pud Lady and the late Stamp Man lived when they were first married and had only so far produced Dad's elder brother, Tom. Apparently the removal men did not love them very much (!) and they got very fit pushing prams and any shopping up the mountain, not having, in those days, any car. This is 1955-56 we are talking about, so Dad was barely an evil glint in Stamp Man's eyes. The picture barely does it justice only showing the bottom few yards - Cobourg Place goes round the corner and up, up and up to where you can see the dark green tree top centre of the picture.

Also yesterday the two bits of paper arrived which allow the house-buying to progress. These were the Contract of Sale, which everyone has to sign to tie in the buyers (Mum and Dad), but weirdly not yet the vendors, to the deal. Also the second International Draft which is the balance on paying for the house in Euro. We all drove to Diamond's yesterday to find Mum so that all the signing could be done, and Mum and Dad had fish and chips as Diamond was off out with John to Canterbury for the evening.

Today, with the vital documents signed by all parties, Dad posts them off safely to the Irish Solicitors. Once they arrive that's it. We are legally bound to buy the place. No escape unless the vendors choose not to sell to us, so it feels like a real milestone. Needless to say, though, it is not the end of the affair or indeed of paying for things - no sooner does Dad email the solicitors to say the CoS is in the post, than they are onto us again for another International Transfer, this time for their own fees for doing the conveyancing. Still, other than this, we beleive we are now all up to date this end and can only sit back while the searches go on on the Irish side (presumably for new motorways, mining subsidence, bankruptcy of vendors, environmental stuff, Rights of Way etc), same as they all did over this side when we were selling in Faversham.

Exhausted

Deefs