Oh it’s all gone quiet over there

Yes… it has indeed gone quiet. Partly because I don’t want to jinx anything, and partly because there’s very little to say.

We have a house. We have, after a little negotiation and one tiny little tantrum from yours truly, agreed a price for fixtures, fittings and key furniture. We have re-written the business plan. We have adjusted the cash flow projections at least 4 times (and I have the archived Excel spreadsheets to prove it): And, just for a change, we are waiting for the mortgage.

Things that I have stopped doing:

1. I have stopped budgeting (oops)
2. I have stopped checking the stats for this blog 5 times a day
3. I have stopped updating this blog
4. I have stopped talking about breakfasts
5. I have stopped reading my ‘How to Run a B&B’ book

I should however point out that I haven’t stopped doing any of these things because I have gone off the boil, or am no longer interested in chasing this project, it’s just that we’re still in chartered territory. We haven’t hit a new obstacle yet, and so there’s very little to say that hasn’t been said before.

If we get the mortgage things will start to motor and I’ll be back on here at least every couple of days recording the trials and tribulations of the next stage of the project, but we’re still very much at the beginning with, as yet, no guarantees that we’ll ever see Stage 2.

It might be a good opportunity at this stage to thank the following people for their support so far:

• My Mum and Dad for tirelessly listening to many many stories about Cornwall, rants about banks, and spending 2 days of their holiday traipsing round guest houses.
• Danny’s Dad for being so enthusiastic about absolutely everything.
• My brother and sister, Danny’s sister, and other family members for avidly reading this blog and getting almost as excited as us about various house features and snippets of news.
• Our friends for putting up with endless explanations about different banks and mortgages, and oohing and aahing in appropriate places when shown photos.
• Laz for his excellent estate agent advice.
• My buyers who, despite having their offer accepted on my flat over 2 months ago, have not been able to exchange, but are still patiently hanging in there. If we ever move the flat is yours – I promise!
• Various mortgage brokers (notably Jeff, Nick, Neil and Adam) for their patience, advice and ability to be friendly even though I phone 50 times a day to get udpates.
• Steve Cross of Cross Estates for getting in touch on Twitter and enabling us to find our new place.
• Proprietors of Porthminster View who put the fire in our belly, sold us into St Ives, and genuinely wanted us to buy their guest house (we’re really sorry that we couldn’t sort out the mortgage in time), and who will – no doubt – introduce us to lots of really fun people if we ever make it to St Ives.
• Twitter followers and blog readers who, considering they don’t know us, have been really supportive and friendly; and given some damn good advice.
• The guys at Escape the City who have profiled us online, even before we’ve actually done anything!
• Future guests, and by this I mean people who have promised to come and stay – don’t worry, we won’t forget!

It’s quite cathartic to write this list as it reminds me of how far we’ve come, and how many people have helped us so far. Should we not get the mortgage at least you still all got a thank you – sometimes people only get thanked in the event of a success and forgotten if it all ends in a bit of a whimper.

What am I talking about? It won’t end! This is just the end of the beginning, and it has all gone quiet but if experience has taught us anything, it won’t be for long.