A retirement weekly review. I‘m not sure how I’m going to start this retirement blog except to say I’m going to keep it short and to say that it’s largely ‘a writing as therapy blog’* about a very mixed week. Let me start with the positive or as positive as it gets this week.
You will remember if you’ve been paying attention that I’ve been having some musical challenges this past couple of weeks. OK I admit they’re largely self-inflicted but they have definitely been stressful. Once again a bit like the Land Rover keys saga I wrote about recently. It just went on and on, and this is a bit of a theme, I was dissatisfied with the service I received.
I’ll keep it really brief and just say I changed the ‘equipment’ three times, had to keep ringing them to see if the replacement gizmo had arrived when they said they would ring me (it had) but didn’t. There were leads / cables and memory cards that were needed for the final solution which I had to go back for. And so on. But this is the positive bit of the week so just let me say, at this point, that the latest gizmo is home and beginning to work. There’s more to come but at least I’ve made a start on this solo jazz band project that I invented.
Some people might say I need to slow down but somehow life won’t let me. For example to the second part of this week, not yet over. This concerns getting planning permission for changing the barn from an artist’s retreat / studio into a dwelling. It wasn’t my idea and getting it doesn’t help us one jot because we won’t a) change it and b) sell it. The only benefit would be to the children when they inherit a property that would probably double in price if it were a ‘house’ or had permission to become one.
To cut a very long story short (aren’t they all in this blog). The planners said no, that wasn’t a surprise although our planning consultant who was confident they would have to say yes under changes in ‘permitted development’ – if it’s classified as an office they must give permission for change of use to a home, was it seems surprised. It seems his advice was plain wrong. His first bit of crap advice.
Guided by the same planning consultant we went to appeal. His very definite, but wrong, advice was to ’certainly’ do so. They also said no, but for different reasons. Apparently his response was, as we’d already made it a home we couldn’t have permission to make it a home. Does that make sense to you? It didn’t to me.
The planning consultant sent me an email telling me of the decision and suggesting, in light of it, the local planners would be on our backs for what we had done. In short we have spent a lot of money to be in a worse position. He didn’t want to talk about it until Monday, it was now Friday. A weekend of worry stretched in front of us. I read his email out to him at this meeting. He admitted it was not well written and apologised.
We met on Thursday at the barn (see picture) with same consultant and my architect chum (it was his idea in the first place) who came with him although I wasn’t clear why. I’m going to give you the really short version of this meeting. I went into the meeting feeling like the wronged party (i.e. I’d been given crap advice) but came out feeling it was my fault and was accused of being angry. No I f&x***$% well wasn’t. But I was then. Mrs Summerhouse said I was school-teacherly which I know was meant to be helpful but on reflection (that night), didn’t feel that way at all. Oh bugger.
So that was this week, a week of ups and downs I think you will agree. And mea culpa, I brought it on myself or rather allowed others to bring the stress upon me. As we drove away from the barn, back to Leeds, we asked, what’s the moral here (does that sound familiar?). The best we came up with was, be satisfied with what you have. But then I wouldn’t have a one man jazz band if I’d have operated on this principle. Hang on I haven’t got that yet.
Retirement weekly review summary
*I’m never one hundred percent sure when I set out on this writing as therapy business whether it might not actually make matters worse. So now it’s done what is the result? Do I feel better? Well yes, somewhat, but not entirely. Isn’t that so often the way of the world?