November 2002

Friday 22nd November 2002

At long last after a lot of hassle and frustration, we finally exchanged contracts with the buyer of our flat and the seller of the one we're moving into. It's a real relief as the uncertainty was not only unbearable, but was getting expensive too. Fortunately, we managed to squeeze an extra five thousand pounds out of the guy who's buying our place. That will easily cover the extra expense we incurred after he originally let us down. We will be moving a week next Thursday - plenty of time before Christmas.

I'm on my way to London at the moment for a BLOTTO AGM. Blotto is the British Lager On Tap Tasting Organisation, something I personally initiated and was president of back in the nineties. It's time for a long, cool beer to celebrate!

Tuesday 26th November 2002

We had a very difficult day yesterday! After calling in on several and telephoning many solicitors, we were having no luck finding one prepared to help us out. We had a legal document that had to be signed by Yuki and an independant solicitor, in connection with buying our new house. Despite Yuki's ever-improving English, most were not prepared to even test her understanding of the document. After quite a stressful day, and many phone calls, we managed to find a solicitor in a very big London partnership, who could help us. This man, himself has a Japanese wife, and so probably could relate well to our situation. Not only did he have patience, he was also able to understand Yuki's explanation of the document given in Japanese. We are ever grateful to this man, who through his kindness has enabled our dream home to still become a reality. Thank you Graham.

During our day's search we visited some solicitors in Finchley, an area with a big Japanese population. I'm not sure why they have settled in that area, but I thought (wrongly) that it might be a good place to find an understanding solicitor. It was quite strange seeing lots of Japanese people in a place so void of tourist attractions!