Watch This

We've finally cracked it. Last week saw the coming of the two biggest milestones that we had to meet, if we wanted to move in August. The confirmation of the pending redundancy was explained last week, and on Friday we agreed a price to sell the house to a keen young couple.

I have a meeting next Monday to finalize the redundancy and agree the package that I'll receive, but that should be relatively academic now that the green light's been shown.

We are obviously restraining the excitement for the house until we have exchanged, which should be quick, as we expressed the desired expedience in the acceptance of the offer. We also pushed to complete in August when we leave, which will mean that we don't have to find somewhere to stay in the interim, to which they have agreed. I'm glad that we suggested this, and doubly glad that they agreed to it.

Now that we've succeeded in getting these two big clinchers out of the way, we can now look forward to the next big ones.

Firstly, we have the small issue of accommodation when we get there in August. We are going to the Isle of Wight at the end of June, to look for a rental property that we can have for three months, starting in August.

But until we know which school Dylan's going to go to, it will be hard to know where to live, as ideally we would live near to the school. So in the same week we will arrange appointments with the four schools that are on the short list. Pick one, and then go get a house.

That should be some week.

I've decided that when we get there I'll take a couple of months off work, so that we can settle in and get the lie of the land. I hope to write quite a bit as well.

I also had an email at the weekend from my first client giving feedback on the big session that we had. She is delighted at how it has changed the way that she thinks, acts, feels about every situation. She feels positive about everything now, and this is a big change, and she has really changed some of her old habits. This really makes me feel good, and spurs me on to generating the same impact in others.

To celebrate the beginning of our new life, and to reward ourselves for the effort that we've put in to get this far, we have bought a lovely watch for me and an eternity ring for Claire. 'An investment' as I said to myself to justify the expense, but I actually think now that it's more than that. It's a convincer to myself that I'm on the right track, and that the future is whatever I want it to be.

I feel so positive now about the journey that I've been on, and the way that it now makes me feel. I am so much happier than before and really excited about the next bit. It really is an adventure, and one that I'm relishing.

Location:Redesmere Dr,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom

Back of the Net

A fanfare of trumpets are played by angels, who hover over their ethereal thrones, whilst protecting the common man from his fates. The sound that is generated is triumphant and jubilant, and washes over the listener. Never sharpening the listeners attention, but somehow consuming them in an aura of light.

Can you all feel it?

The decision has finally been made by the powers that be, and I've been consigned to a life of freedom. My good behaviour has been rewarded and my sentence has been cut by thirty years.

I received notice of this milestone moment yesterday afternoon, but the details of it are still in question. I have a meeting on 6th June where it will be formally presented, and from there my notice period will begin.

As described previously, the six month notice period that I'm entitled to will be wavered by me in order to receive immediate departure. But my manager yesterday explained that the final end date would be more of my choosing, which will suit perfectly, and I hope to string it out until the end of July.

It is a great feeling to finally have that weight removed from my shoulders, and now the only remaining paving stone to place at the corner of our new life is the house sale. We had an offer yesterday, which we dutifully rejected, and then instead of a counter offer on their part, we had nothing back. So we left it with them over night, and are waiting for their sleepless limbs to pick up the phone this morning and beg for us to take more money. If this does not come, then I think we will capitulate and accept their lower offer for the sake of the big picture, and at least then all certainty will be lined up.

I shall endeavor to let you know as this unravels. It is finally turning up a gear and the nearer it is getting the more exciting it becomes.

Location:The Ave,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom

The crowd are on the pitch...

Great progress has been made in the last week, and we are now on the cusp of a great breakthrough. It is imminent and the anticipation is very exciting.

We obviously have nothing in place yet for the big move in August, and although we are remarkably calm regarding this, a little tension has crept in on my part. But I've assured myself with the knowledge that I've done all that I can do.

The last week has seen great movement towards the goal. Things have started to happen on three fronts, and another confidence boost on the fourth.

The Job

Finally the big man has come back from his golf tour of The Conga, and sat down and given his attention to my project. He has now agreed with the principle of canning the second phase of the project, which means that it will not progress any further than this summer. Happy Days.

A great bit of influencing on my part for the last year to try and orchestrate this turn around, and definitely one that I should owe to the power of positive thinking and holding a goal in your mind.

This immediately prompted my manager to write an email to HR explaining my situation, and enquiring what the process should be and asking for advice on what to do.

I await the reply this week, and I have a meeting with him on Thursday to hopefully confirm things.

Splendid. Innnnnnnn... 1. As they would say on Bullseye.

The House

After the odd couple visited last week and went back on their offer, we have now had three viewings from the same couple in four days. They either clearly like the place, or they're slowly robbing us. We are still hoping it is the former.

Yesterday, the last visit, was with their parents and we are assuming that they are contributing in some way to the deposit and wanted to have a quick look themselves. The couple themselves are very much like Claire and I when we bought the place, and I have a good feeling about them.

We are expecting an offer today to come in, and I just hope that it is reasonable. More to follow on this later.

The Change Institute

I saw a client twice last week to carry out a time line therapy session, which concluded on Friday night after a two and a half hour session. This was for money and should lead towards some referrals as well.

I've had some really good results with my first client, and this has spurred me on to get more and more business.

My website is nearly finished now. It is online at the moment but I still want to make additional text and formatting changes before I'm happy to leave it.

The Book

I have had a reply from Martina Cole's agent who has read the first three chapters of the book. Bearing in mind that Martina Cole is the bestselling author in the UK at the moment, this guy should know his onions.

He hand wrote a reply that included, "although I'm not accepting new work at the moment, I very much enjoyed your book. It was like PG Wodehouse. Please persevere in getting an agent. You have talent."

I'll take that. I feel like I'm getting close to landing something soon. It's just a case of getting myself into the right time and the right place. It will happen.


So, all in all, a good week. As well as this stuff, Sophie learnt to stand all by herself and I was backstage at The Charlatans, meeting them and chatting with them. What a week.

The job and the house both await big decisions this week, so I'll let you know here when they do.

Location:Redesmere Dr,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom

House

The light burst through the clouds in my last post, opening up a small window to the heavens. There was finally progress found on a dusty path. But now the clouds have closed back in, and to be quite honest with you, it's pissing down again.

The offer was finally agreed on Wednesday last week, and the couple had arranged to come back round on Saturday morning to have a second look.

They were a very strange couple. I don't want to prejudice the reader but they were weird. They were in their fifties, and were the academic types. You know the people that look dirty and woolly, and crumpled, but look very intelligent as well. The types that if they only had a smattering of social technique they could really have been something.

The man was tall, and rangy, like an old marathon runner, and strangely he had earphones in when he arrived at the door, and the woman looked like a librarian.

I think we ruined it when we clobbered her with three superstitions in about twenty seconds. Firstly, Dylan ran around her waving peacock feathers in her face (apparently this is bad luck), then I pushed past her on the stairs to get to the loft ladder, and then finally she walked under the loft ladder to get upstairs.

If there is any truth in these old wives tales then we certainly gave it a thorough test.

So, the clouds came back covering the sun when Monday morning came round.

Strangely, Mr and Mrs Strange made a strange decision by telling a stranger (an estate agent actually) that they still wanted to buy the house but they wanted to drop their offer to that of their original bid. The reason for this was that they would need to replace the kitchen and re-decorate some rooms.

Without getting too house proud, the kitchen is perfectly useable, and anyone that buys any type of dwelling expects to do some sort of re-decoration when they buy just for subjective taste. It is not normal to knock that off the price, not when the price has already been deducted from the asking price anyway.

So we have told them in a Churchill type way to get on their bike, and get out of town. They will either come back today with the original offer and realize how uncivilized they have been, and understand our adherence to principles or they won't. If they don't then we already have another three viewings lined up.

I didn't want to get in to a position of accepting the lower value and then lowering it again in a couple of weeks because they also want to do a loft conversion, and install an aviary in the third bedroom.

Nothing is simple, and in the type of market where you can shake someone's hand and then they can quite happily renege on it, you will always get this type of lily-livered skullduggery.

I'm currently reading Yes Man by Danny Wallace and it is a very positive, inspiring book. It is humorous but a good message I think. It was the one that was made into a film with Jim Carrey. So this is also affecting the way that I'm looking at things at the moment.

Also, I just want to say a public apology to my Nan for forgetting to send her birthday card in time. I've just noticed what date it is and this has made my heart sink. So, to my Nan, "Happy Birthday, I love you and the card will get their soon."

Location:The Ave,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom

Shift Change

Did anyone else feel anything yesterday?

Was there a tremor or a small shift in the matrix?

Our world moved a little bit as the components of the universe turned and twisted more into our favour. I have always hung true to the belief that all of the factors of our move will happen in accordance with the overall plan, and yesterday there was a definite alignment going on.

The biggest result by a country mile was the offer that we have had on our house. A beautiful, foresighted individual has offered cheekily below the asking price and started the ball rolling. He came round on Saturday to view the house, and is allegedly a cash buyer. The one thing I'm wary about is that he doesn't know why he wants the house but there's something about it he likes. He won't be buying it to live in but to rent out, I guess.

Either I need to have a reality check and reinforce that people like this exist, or he's a gangster and he's desperately trying to rid himself of a bag of money that has been taken from a Securicor van. So I await to hear more to confirm.

We have asked the estate agent to get him to up it a bit more before we will accept the offer, as we have only just reduced it by 5% for the summer sale it's now in. So we are waiting for this to manifest itself into another try on his part.

We have also had another viewing yesterday and another viewing tomorrow. So we may be fortunate and get them into a position where it's a case of, "Who wants it?" - "Show me the money."

The other spanner that we are throwing into the mix is also the timing of the sale. Ideally we don't want to move until we actually have to move in August. So we would like a drawn out sale, this is something else that we need to try on with who ever wants it.

So, from last week when none of the building blocks were in place, it does look desperately close now to a major part coming in.

I have also quelled any concerns that we were beginning to get regarding the schools situation in the Isle of Wight. After speaking with the County Hall (which sounds like it's in Dodge City) they were very helpful. Firstly, they are aware of Sophie's place at Medina House School already, and had been discussing her a few hours before I rang, so this was comforting. They are now going to get in touch with Stockport Council and arrange for the Statement to be transferred to the Isle of Wight and for the necessary preparations to be made even before we have an address.

Also, Dylan's preference school has had 22 applications already, but there are an incredible 38 places left, so this also doesn't seem to be a problem. Again they said that even if we don't have an address until August we can ring the school in July and tell them to expect us.

I completed the therapy pre-framing pack yesterday for The Change Institute, and played a gig in the evening for special needs teenagers with Dale. (Aura2)

All in all, yesterday was a good day, and the dry run which I'm now relying on with work to complete successfully is on track as well.

I definitely felt a shift in my world, and the energy is beginning to be summoned to the call, like an army of gods rising against the underworld. Or something like that...

Location:Chorley Hall Ln,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom

A Birdie in the Hand...

"What?" shouted the man in the yellow polo shirt, as he was interrupted mid-swing by his assistant.

They were on the fifteenth hole of an exclusive course in The Congo and the match was tense. Sir Higginglothan was winning by two and had just missed a birdie chance, and this was the time for the CFO of Astrazeneca to make his move.

The sudden interruption by his assistant was intolerable and what was worse was the knowledge that it must be something that requires his attention. Tiger Woods didn't have to put up with this sort of behaviour.

"Sorry, Sir, but you have a phone call, and they say it's urgent," said the assistant dressed in full suit in the blazing Congo sun.

"Very well," and moved his hand to take the awaiting mobile phone.

"Yes," barked the CFO.

"What?" questioned the CFO.

"Which one?"

"Oh, that, yes I remember. What about it?"

"Have you made the necessary checks?"

"Well, stop it quick then man."

"Good bye."

The CFO hands back the phone to his assistant and, after some more tutting, he steadies himself back down to birdie his putt on the fifteenth.

Although I'm sure I've used some poetic license here, this is pretty much the conversation that needs to happen to end the second half of my project. This should have happened last week and instead has been delayed to this week. So I wait in eager anticipation for the decision that will change our lives.

We had a viewing on the house on Saturday, and although this went well, the usual issues arose. Garden too small and no off road parking. So, we have decided to be included in the estate agents Summer Sale. Which basically means a bit more promotion and marketing and a reduced price for a month. It's only 5% and this will be absolutely fine when we shift it. So, we will now begin to give this more of a push, and I'm sure that it will go shortly.

Another Change session tonight to look forward to as well. Some more money in the bank, and some valuable experience for me. I'm going to try and go hi-tech today by using the iPad to hold my necessary information so that I'm not rustling papers and ruining the mood. So I'll see how that goes and assess whether it works or not.

Plus this would not be a true account of my mood and progress towards the move unless I mention the amazing feat of the Galacticos that won through 3-1 winners against Plymouth, thus opening a berth in the Championship for next season. When we move in the summer, there will be Championship football to watch, which compared to League One is almost a dizzying concept. Isn't perspective an interesting thing. The last time we went into the Championship it was a terribly dark day, but now it feels as though the angels of heaven have stood aside and beckoned us through the gates of pearls. COYR.

Also, this weekend I must have said to ten different people what our plans are for the summer, and offered the same weak answers about what we're going to do when we get there. It is all very flakey at the moment but my resolve is still firm, and I'm one hundred percent sure that this will all come off. We just need one decision to be confirmed in order for the ball to start rolling, like in Indiana Jones when the stone ball moves for the first time in three thousand years, this is pretty much the same thing. It will all make sense in the end, I promise, when we get there and achieve everything I've been wittering about, this will be one massive advert for positive thinking and visualisation.

Isn't it interesting how the middle of BELIEVE is LIE. I'm sure there are many things to be said about that, but I can't be bothered to embark on that road in this post. So, I will reinforce instead... BELIEVE.

Location:London Rd,Alderley Edge,United Kingdom