We sold our house in Blackpool last month. After deciding to get rid of it at Easter we finally handed the keys over a few weeks ago. We revelled in the trashiness of Blackpool for a few years but decided that its classy neighbour Lytham St Anne's was where we would really like to live. So what if the average age in Lytham is 55 and the newspaper of choice is The Daily Telegraph, at least there are little deli's, chi-chi shops, big wide avenues lined with pristine gardens, a beautiful beach and a victorian pier. And, when one fancies a bit of rough , Blackpool is a 15 minute drive. So we started shopping for some property.

One month after easter we put our London house on the market and sold it after 3 days. Good eh? Today, and 3 flippin' months later, we finally exchanged contracts with the buyer and the associated stress has made me grey and addicted to ibuprofen. Anyway, after 20 years in London I'm leaving with my tail between my legs. London has chewed me up and shat me out but I'm wiser, richer and fatter than when I arrived. We want to fall in love with London again and that's not going to happen if we continue living here (they even sell 'London Is Shit' t-shirts in Brick Lane now). Future visits will last two days and involve west-end hotels, theatre, boutiques and supper at the Ivy cos that's the real London.

We've bought a detached bungalow in Lytham St Anne's.



We bypassed semi-detached and went straight from terraced to detached (I know you're not supposed to do that but fuck it). Darrens job is mobile and his boss is ok with him moving to the north-west and so, this Friday, we will enter a new era. No mortgage either! Woo hoo!!!
So far in 2007 I've seen in the New Year with Celine Dion in Las Vegas, chosen redundancy at a 20 year old job, trained as plumber, trained as a tiler, bought a van, watched a lot of daytime telly and gained two stone.
The men with the lorry will be here in 48 hours and there's still loads to do so I better go. As my next post will not be from London maybe the name of this blog should change.