Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: July 18, 2006

5.25am tuesday

can't sleep.
won't sleep.

i think it's fair to say, 'i hate our government'...indirectly at least.
since we first heard about our compulsory purchase order section 16 in sept 2005, i/we haven't slept through a single night.

the whole process has aged me more than having children.
at every point along the way, the experience has been horrible, painfully drawn out and invasive.
it's affected our family in so many gnarly ways beyond the obvious.

we fired our first compensation surveyor because we thought he had a negative attitude after he told us that many people being cpo'd think of, or do commit suicide: 'NOTHING about being compulsory purchased is good: you won't have a good time'.

i've always considered suicide a defeat and i'd never let me do it.
i'm not suicidal.
i can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
but i understand what that guy was talking about.

by now all the grief of the CPO should be well and truly sorted out, but the government's employees who care less (than they could) are REALLY dragging it out.
we should have 'exchanged' contracts over two and a half weeks ago.
everyday i phone our solicitor two or three times a day (which was a challenge in devon as i had to drive up a mountain to get a mobile signal each time...thank god for the r32).
in turn he puts 'pressure' on the LDA's solicitor who couldn't give a damn and works so slowly, he might as well be not working at all.
everyday i'm told 'we're pretty much there' which is solicitor speak for 'don't hold your breath: you will suffocate'.

if we don't exchange contracts tommorrow, i'm going to go on a chainsaw-through-the-LDA spree.
watch me on newsnight.
i've had enough.
i've gone over the edge.

despite the fact we should have exchanged today and didn't (again), me and mrs.perou drove down to our to-be-neighbouring villages and checked out the prospective schools for maximum.
it was a hard decision to make between the two: one of them has under 60 kids and only 8-10 in each class.
all the children were smiling and polite and there was art everywhere.
i guess our only concern is that there only white kids there.
100% white: NO ethnic minorities or mixed race of any kind.
but i guess this is how i grew up anyway: the dis-intergration isn't irreversible..
maximum has had a few years break doing montessori in london till now anyway.

we also called in on our lovely (patient) vendors.
and had a drink by the pool and marvelled at how many plums, walnuts and apples were smothering the trees in the orchard.
also walked the perimeter with a view to improving 'security' for when we move in.

i've been constantly stressed about this whole house thing for the last 10 months.
PLEASE let it be over soon...tomorrow in fact.

btw. in my absence frances has been having a hard-drive spring clean and has been posting up pictures like a crazy woman.
check the NEW/RECENT section for the easiest updates...some of them are (old) gems.
including forgotten masters like this one of my mate paul with chloe sevigny and this of kelly 'can you see my knickers?' (er...yes) brook.