Ooo errrr...

[Ally]

He did fancy a doer-upper Jo - but that particular avenue of nonsense has been eradicated!

[JoM]

Thank God for that!!

[Ally]

Quite!

[Kaz]

He did fancy a doer-upper Jo - but that particular avenue of nonsense has been eradicated!

[meriad]

I agree about taking your time. See what the valuation brings and then have look at what's out there and then take it from there.

Two question I will throw into the mix though are:

1. how would you cope without a pool - I'll be honest I think that's the one aspect I'd hate to give up if I lived in a hot country; and
2. would you still have space for the boys / guests if you downsize?

I know you shouldn't plan your life around others (well maybe to some extent) but I'm sure that grandchildren will feature in your life at some point and I'm certain (given how lovely and close you all are) that visits to you and Don would be an 'as often as possible' occasion x

[Ally]

1. Not having a pool will never, ever ever be an option.

2. If we do downsize I'd want 3 bedrooms for friends and family to come and go as they please.

Then we'd need 2 bathrooms......

I wish we could take our house, lose a few rooms and make the ones left a bit smaller.

[JoM]

Do a lot of private homes have pools? And apartments would have a large communal one?

I'd imagine it's cheaper to have one installed over there than it is here, I suppose it's more of a an everyday building matter whereas here you'd need to find someone who specialised in pool installations.

Joe's friend has an indoor pool but they can't afford to heat it so only the children would use it, but now they're growing up they're seeing sense and not wanting to go into a cold pool either.

[Kaz]

Ally

Blimey Jo, they've landed themselves with a bit of a white elephant there then I think you either have to be rich or very hardy indeed to have a pool here

My Uncle Chas used to have one, it had a huge cover over the top! He was a builder though and built it himself, and electricity was cheaper in those days

[JoM]

I think they're a family that never learn from previous mistakes Kaz. They live in a huge house at the other side of the common to us and it's quite an unusual set up in that they live there with Luke's grandparents and his uncle and family. It turned out that I was at school with Luke's Dad and his uncle and at that time they lived somewhere else and had an outdoor pool! We used to be invited around in the Summer for pool parties but none of us could bear to go in that one either

[Kaz]