Ah the bliss. I spent an hour sitting at the garden waiting for the boys to turn up (started half an hour before they were due since I had just cleaned the bank), only to find they were not coming. Great thinks me - I can scuttle home and deal with all that paperwork I have been procrastinating about for all too long. So I do just that, but check my emails first (you know, in case something has happened that might impact on the paperwork) and discovered an email from a former colleague asking for my contact details. Naturally I got all excited at the prospect it might involve some work, but sadly that was not to be. Like me, she has been sitting on her hands for far too long and just wanted a gossip.

The gossip lasted for an hour and a half, after which I pulled the plug as clearly it would have gone on into the evening had she been given the chance. This meant I then had to walk the dogs again  (who had been over-excited at all that talking that was not directed at them), by which time I was hungry, and reached for the bread to make a bacon and egg sanger, only to discover there was no bread left. So back into town for bread, home to walk the dogs again as they have a pavlov's response to the car pulling up, and finally to settle down to deal with stuff.

That didn't quite go to plan either as the forms from the insurance had to be completed by the plumber (remember the one who took three weeks to send an email), and the various other things also required further effort. The good news is that the tenants have decided to stay another year and so have been given permission to do so. I have sent them a gift hamper of real ale and associated munchies as a belated housewarming gift to apologise for the eleventh hour reprieve. It should arrive tomorrow, all going well. It's the Stratford Real Ale hamper (him being a young tradesperson I took the assumption-based decision that wine was not going to be as well appreciated) from this website (which looks like a good one if you plan to send stuff to people in the UK). Hope they like it. I have also given them my email address to avoid delays resulting from being stuffed around by the property managers who I have instructed to replace the boiler which has been playing up for ages. Hopefully this time it will not involve fifty emails and resulting confusion and frustration as I have asked them to please obtain the quote and provide that, together with bank account details and amount required (it will require an additional gas check once installed) so that it all goes smoothly. That way we might actually achieve something in under 6 months which seems to be the average period before I get any action normally.