Del Arun in Arundel: a postscript

I finally sold my house last week – many thanks to the always-cheerful folk at Glyn Jones & Co – which means it’s time for my alter ego of Del Arun to fade away into the sunset. Mind you, I’m not saying goodbye to Arundel completely; I can’t resist the Gallery Trail during the festival or Corpus Christi at the Cathedral… and I still haven’t been to a cricket match in town.

Anyway, thanks for reading and for your comments & support. If you’re curious about what happens next, you’ll find the ‘real me’ online at markbridge.info

Time to call it a day, Del

My house sale didn't happen because the buyer wanted to negotiate a substantial discount - and I didn't want to offer one. Well, that's not strictly true. I didn't want to offer another discount.

So I've found a tenant and have become an accidental landlord. Surprisingly quickly, too. Apparently there aren't many little houses to let in the middle of Arundel. And I've moved into my girlfriend's place, which is over the border in East Sussex. It's not very different from West Sussex, although my mum thinks there's a military checkpoint on the county line and we all drive Trabants here. (Given my history with cars, a Trabant wouldn't be a bad idea. But, as usual, I digress).

All this means I think it's probably time for me to say goodbye to Del Arun, what with me not being an Arundel resident any more. I'll still be reading my favourite PurpleCoo blogs but 'Del Arun' is taking a break. Thanks for all your support. Really - thank you.

Mind you, this doesn't mean that I won't ever blog again. I'll let you know what happens next!

Back to Square One

Anyone who's been watching the progress of my house sale - myself included - will have been getting increasingly concerned over the last few weeks. Well, pretty much as anticipated, the sale's fallen through. My buyer attempted a spot of last-minute gazundering (although the amount she wanted reduced from the asking price was hardly a 'spot') which wasn't acceptable. Neither morally nor financially, some would say. Still, there's also good news in Arundel. The baker shop has re-opened: it's now "The Baker Girls" and is staffed by a couple of lovely ladies who insist on offering free samples of their cakes.

What, you still 'ere?

Yes, I’m still here. This house-selling thing has moved beyond frustration into resignation. With any luck I’ll sell the house this month, although my buyer’s on holiday at the moment. I think my estate agent is the one who really needs a holiday…

Slowly but surely

I’m still here in Arundel. As is the “For Sale” sign outside my house. But things are moving in the right direction. I have a potential buyer who’s not part of a chain, who’s arranged a mortgage… and whose mortgage company surveyor came to visit this week.

I’m starting to think about the things I’ll miss – although, to be honest, I’ll still be in a position to see most of them anyway. The Corpus Christi flowers, for example, which will be covering the floor of Arundel Cathedral next week. The Arundel Festival, scheduled for the end of August. And walks down the river to the Black Rabbit.

There’s also plenty of excitement ahead, too – so stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment from Del Arun!

Still standing

Well, my house still isn't sold. It's all a bit frustrating but at least I'm not part of a chain. I blame the property market, the weather and the slightly mercenary streak I have. Meanwhile I shall keep tidying the garden, vacuuming muddy footprints off the carpet and baking unnecessary loaves of bread. (Okay, I made the last one up!)

It's a sign!

...and there's other news, too. Someone's coming to view on Wednesday morning. I'll make sure I'm out.

The word is out

Apparently my house is now in the estate agent's window. I say "apparently" because I've not looked yet, even though it's just a couple of minutes down the road. It's also on their web site and on rightmove.co.uk. I'm having the HIP energy assessment done on Monday... and I've just planted a couple of primroses in the box at the front of my house. Wonder when I'll get my first viewing?

On the market...

We Gotta Get Out Of This Place...

Yes, it's true. After much thought and conversation, I'm putting my house (or "two-bedroom character cottage", as I prefer to think of it these days) on the market. My plan is to head over the border to East Sussex, a county that has the benefit of containing my girlfriend.

Anyway, I was visited yesterday by my chosen estate agent who measured the house with his sonic tape-measure. Cool or what? It's only a step away from David Tennant and his sonic screwdriver. Before you know it, he'll be showing Dalek Sec around. "Yeah, lovely place but I’m not sure my friends can handle the stairs..."

Still, I digress. I've never really sold a house before. There have always been odd circumstances that involved other people doing it for me. So I'm looking forward to this. Sort of.

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures of Del Arun and his incredible disappearing house...

The Jewel in the Crown

The jewel in the crown. That's Arundel. No, really. Forget about Queen Victoria and India, we mullets (oh, alright, I'm not really a mullet because true 'mullets' need to be born here) are the keepers of the true jewel. I have that on no finer authority than the Daily Telegraph itself.

From 11th January 2008:

Property market: Britain's top 10 country towns

Small market towns are becoming increasingly desirable, as much for their natural beauty as their shops and schools. Caroline McGhie seeks out the best, and finds Arundel the jewel in the crown.

Arundel, West Sussex. The jewel in the country-town crown. "It is trendy, picturesque, arty, cosmopolitan, and feels like a village," says Molly Miles, of Cluttons. Arundel crowns a hilltop overlooking the Arun estuary, a dreamy cookie-cutter skyline created by the Norman castle which was owned for centuries by the Dukes of Norfolk.

"Older residents are called Mullets, like the fish, and newer ones tend to be musicians, artists, single divorced women who want somewhere fun and safe to live," says Molly. Londoners have been gravitating towards it like bees to honey since the early 1990s.

Plastic Bag free, not free plastic bag

It looks as though Arundel is trying to become a 'plastic bag'-free town, following in the footsteps of Modbury. Don't get me wrong, replacing 'free' plastic bags with reusable or recyclable bags makes sense... but isn't this a very minor environmental concern in a tourist town such as Arundel?

This is a town, let's face it, that has more than one "lifestyle" shop selling things people don't need. But where's the campaign to replace them with useful shops that would discourage people from driving to buy elsewhere? This is a town that encourages tourists to visit for no better purpose than drinking tea and looking at the castle. That's an unnecessarily large carbon footprint we're generating, don't you think? This is a town with a Farmers' Market where some of the retailers will travel around 100 miles to sell their local produce... and countless visitors will drive to Arundel - past their local shops - in order to buy here.

Yes, I've shopped at the lifestyle shops. Yes, I've enjoyed tea and cake here. Yes, I shop at the Farmers' Market. And yes, all that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

So good luck to the campaigners. I probably won't be at the meeting... but I'll definitely be outside the chocolate teapot shop with a placard.

Still here

Jep has gently pointed out that I've not been blogging much recently. I'd already noticed - it's not that I couldn't be bothered - but I've not had much to say recently. I've been reading but not writing.

I'd started blogging, as did most of us here, with the little-lamented Country Living blog competition. One of my friends had pointed me towards it. I'd fairly recently moved to Arundel... which was borderline "country", I reckoned... so, with a little encouragement, I decided to give it a go. Besides, I thought I had a reasonable chance of winning.

I even kept going when the competition ended, this time encouraged by the refugee PurpleCooers. Well, it was fun. But I've recently had less and less to say. Why? I can offer an assortment of excuses - seeing girlfriend, busy working, thinking about moving house, perceived lack of audience, not wanting to give away too much about myself - but I'm not sure which is the real one. I'm also feeling detached from the whole thing.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this. I'll either come up with something that'll get me writing more regularly... or I won't. But I won't disappear without saying goodbye!

The top 100 alfresco venues

I was pleased to see that Arundel's Black Rabbit was one of The Guardian's "top 100 alfresco venues" in Saturday's newspaper. It doesn't promise a gourmet dining experience, just a decent pint by the river (and an above-average choice of pub food, too). I'd recommend walking down the river and returning via the road - there aren't any street lights but at least you won't fall in.

Missed the train

Thursday turned out to be a slightly frustrating day. Not enormously interesting either, but I'll share it nevertheless. "Steam Dreams", a company that runs steam-hauled railway excursions, said it had a train coming through Arundel in the morning. I'm not a train-spotter - but I'm more than happy to enjoy a photo-opportunity. So I set off down the river with my camera until I found a vantage point alongside the track. Waited. Waited. Waited. Gave up after half an hour, along with a few other camera-equipped enthusiasts. At least it wasn't just me. One of them said he thought the train may have been diverted via Littlehampton.

So when the time came for the scheduled return trip in the evening, I wandered down to Ford, where the Littlehampton and Arundel trains go. Rather than hanging around at the railway station, I sat by the river near the railway bridge. (In fact, I sat on one of the bridge supports over the river. Great view but slightly worrying when an inquisitive wasp came by and I couldn't move out of its way).

Anyway, the steam train didn't turn up. It would have been a good place for a photo, though...

Going up...

Once upon a time - oh, alright, in 2005 – I decided I’d rather like to live in Arundel. Because I work from home, I reckoned my essential criteria were simply a nearby post office and a railway station. I also wanted to be relatively close to the majority of my friends and family, which effectively ruled out Assisi and Bath – despite my fondness for both.

Anyway, one of the houses I looked at was on Tarrant Street. A terraced two-bedroom cottage with a spiral staircase. Yes, a spiral staircase. As far as I could tell, it hadn’t been sympathetically renovated (or even unsympathetically renovated) since being converted from two one-bedroom cottages, which helped to explain the two-foot thick wall jutting into the lounge.

Originally on the market, if I remember rightly, for £225,000. Open to unreasonable offers, hinted the estate agent. I offered £167,000. No deal. £175,000? No deal. I wandered down the road and bought somewhere else.

As a curious type of soul, I’d been checking property prices in the area using OurProperty.co.uk. One day in 2006, I decided (in one of those internet off-on-a-tangent moments) to take another look at local prices. Well, I wasn’t surprised to discover the spiral staircase-equipped house had eventually sold for £175,000. Nice to see I’d guessed right.

Over the following months, I noticed there was a fair amount of building work going on. Hardly surprising, I thought. It really did need a new kitchen and a fair amount of decorating – and I’m neither particularly fussy about décor nor an enthusiastic cook.

And then, last week, I noticed a ‘for sale’ sign outside. So I wondered about the price. It’s for sale in one of the local estate agents for £289,950. And that's the end of the story. I’ll let you choose your own punchline…

Confession

Remember how I said my childhood wish was to have a Land Rover?

Well... er... (shuffles in an embarrassed way)...

Let's just say I can now cross that one off the list. And they took my only-had-it-for-a-month 'old car' in part exchange. There'll be no more talk of car problems now, I trust.

Cast your votes

Arundel is a decent-sized town. So where would you think the Polling Station was when we were voting for the town council yesterday. The Town Hall? A school, perhaps? Or the swimming pool?

Over 70% of West Sussex Air Pollution Is Produced By Motor Vehicles

“Over 70% of West Sussex Air Pollution Is Produced By Motor Vehicles” says the sign on the back of the 700 Bus. “Be part of the solution”.

Forgive my pedantry but unless this is a pedal-powered bus you’re PART OF THE PROBLEM AS WELL!

Del Arun: Our Man in Arundel

Living in a village or small town has its frustrations and its rewards - often different sides of the same coin. The local newspaper has mercifully little truly bad news... but there's a letters page that's regularly full of grumbles about petty bureaucracy. Yet this week there's a 'parish pump' news story that actually answers a question of mine.

Frank, the owner the grocer’s shop, has a Newfoundland dog. B-i-i-i-g dog. (Think 'Nana' in Peter Pan). Lola - for that's her name - usually sits in the back of Frank's van outside the shop, watching the world going by and occasionally drumming up trade.

A few days ago I noticed some hand-drawn "Get Well" cards for Lola in the shop window. And now the West Sussex Gazette - an excellent newspaper (and I mean that without irony or sarcasm) - has explained why. It seems that Lola was attacked by another dog earlier in the month. Fortunately she's much better now.

I'm genuinely pleased to have the answer - especially as it’s good news.