09.4.13 - One, not Five hundred, Seven!*

The time to move into our flat is coming at last – hopefully Saturday.

I have had feedback that there’s not enough day-to-day stuff on the blog, so here’s a flat update. Our possessions were stuck on the sea for a long time due to a strike at the docks, stopping us moving in. The flat has had loads of work – painting, crack-filling, fixing odds and sods, repairing the fence that fell in the storm, a massive clean indoors and out. Further pics of a full flat will follow.

The item pictured is the first ‘nesting’ thing we’ve bought to try to make the flat ours. Claire said very early she wanted a hammock. This launched me on a funny correspondence with a ‘dai lok’ (‘big landmass’, Chinese mainland) businessman called Seven. I found him online, via a wholesale garden furniture site, and asked on the off-chance if he was willing to do just one.

After some heart-stopping misunderstandings where I very nearly ordered 500 hammocks, we got on the right wavelength. He fell over himself to be helpful, took our specific requirements, then built it from scratch. His emails are incredibly upbeat, covered in exclamation marks and full of endearing phrases – he wrote to me on 1st April to wish me a “Happy April Fools’ Day!!! Hahahaha!!!”; he finishes every email with “hope you have a nice time!”

So here it is. Built from scratch, assembled by me (:-s), 3 metres long, sent by post from China. All for under £100. Will be buying much more from China methinks…

*NB - Claire came up with this title, and wanted everyone to know this :)