Thursday 5 June 2014

continue the story, our second renovation.

Hirwaun Road in physical terms was an easy renovation.  A builder did most of the work and we were sans children. I painted walls, made curtains, aquired some modest second hand furniture to bulk up our wedding monies brass bed purchase and one good sofa bought on interest free credit over the two years it took to get plans approved and building work completed. The garden though neglected and filled with builders detritus was small and easily tamed.  Emotionally and financially it was draining, we made little capital on it as the builder was a cheat and a lier, our fingers well and truly burnt.

So three years on Mike left behind his PHd and research and embarked on a job in I.T.  I set aside my teaching career and a newly acquired law diploma and embarked on motherhood. Rather too quickly we sold the house so I decamped to my parents rather snug three bedroom semi, pregnant again plus the baby, a cat and a pregnant dog.  Mike lodged in Wolverhampton returning to West Wales for weekends.  I was in my early thirties many of my friends were already settled into comfortable family homes but I had chosen to fall in love with a younger man just starting out on his career.  Wait I would have to and wait we did.

For this our next house took longer to purchase than we could ever have planned for.


Canterbury Road,
Wolverhampton.


7 comments:

  1. It looks like a very pretty house.
    We have bought, renovated and sold too. What a lot of work. This time I have made a (short) list of renos to which I will agree. Believe me, it is very short!

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  2. Thank you, Pondside Yes I make a shorlist but invariably it goes out the window when something grabs your heart. Also I find it very hard to live with someone elses taste and design ideas so best to buy a wreck at least that way I can afford to make the house what I want it to be. Goodluck with yours.

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  3. Catching up...............Lovely house, reminds me of one we bought near Bordeaux, with a presbytery attached and 7000 sq mtrs of land. All very beautiful but too much, at our age. We sold it very well after two years renovation and then built our own in Brittany, that's another story!

    Reading back over your March posts I was interested in your thoughts about the French education system . For many years I was a teacher of children with SEN in Cornwall and at that point there was plenty of funding. I did all the testing and would never have allowed Dyslexia etc to be unrecognised. I think nowadays there are no designated SEN teachers which made it very difficult for class teachers. I also worked within our local French village school and was very impressed by the discipline and focus..
    Will keep coming back!

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    1. Thank you, Elizabeth, I remember the house you built and would have loved to have seen the one you renovated.

      The SEN provision in Britian is constantly being tinkered with and cuts made. It all seems a bit muddled to me now and it works really well for some children especially if they cause serious behavioural issues in the classroom but others don't really get the right kind of support.

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  4. What a wonderful house. You asked about my refrigerator. Yes we do like it and it is a Samsung.
    Penny
    www.thecomfortsofhome.blogspot.com

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