Be the change...

Sanctus1 and Be The Change presents the Change the Dream Symposium



Where on Earth are we going?And what can we do about it?These are two of the questions that lie at the heart of Change the Dream. It explores the link between three of humanity’s most critical concerns: environmental sustainability, social justice and spiritual fulfillment.Using video clips from some of the world’s most respected thinkers, inspiring short films, and leading edge information on the state of the planet and its people, the day allows all of us to gain a new insight into the opportunity we have to shape the direction of our world with our everyday choices and actions.

Monday 7 May (bank holiday), 10.00 - 4.30
Nexus, Dale St., Manchester, M1 1JW
0161 236 0100
Cost: £10 (£5 unwaged) - any profits will be donated to suitable charities.Fairtrade tea/ coffee provided. Lunch not included – bring or buy your own.

For bookings and info, please email bethechange@sanctus1.co.uk

Offer accepted!

So, we went out to look at houses again yesterday, to make sure we really did want to buy the house next door.

First house - on the street round the corner - lots of space upstairs but it felt like a family house - the people selling it were our parents' age and it just didn't feel like what we wanted.

Second house - two doors down from the first house. And we loved it... See the link above and download the brochure to see photos. It's beautiful! It just felt like a good house to be in. The cellar is nice. The attic is nice. The only real downside is the bathroom has no shower and no window. The first one can be easily rectified, the second one lived with. We realised we wanted this house.

Third house - the house next door - I'd expected to go and be wowed again and measure a few things and then put in an offer. Instead, we felt very embarrassed going to have a second look, the sort of second look you have when you're planning on putting an offer in, at a house we now didn't really want. And it wasn't as nice as we'd remembered.

Fourth house - we were very embarrassed here as we only went to see if to get a price comparison for the house next door. Really, we were using the owner, and now we were using him to further plans we now didn't plan to carry out. We were in and out in 4 minutes.

Then we went home, talked about it and decided to put an offer in on the second house. I had a fairly sleepless night and then spent about two hours this morning trying to get the estate agent to answer my phone and accept my offer. In the end, I walked round to the estate agent. They can ignore the phone ringing, but not me sitting there. The receptionist took my details and put the offer to the vendor, who accepted it, and then took it off the market. An estate agent is going to ring on Monday morning to sort out where we go next.

So, we've had an offer accepted! I'd feel more excited if there wasn't so much work to do! I now need to find a solicitor and apply for a mortgage. I can't send off my mortgage application without the solicitor's details, as far as I can tell. I've never employed a solicitor before. My sister is having a nightmare 7-month house purchase because her solicitor is rubbish and I'd like to avoid that... I'd like to get mortgage advice from a broker for choice. No-one works at the weekend and we go on holiday on Wednesday. Feeling a little stressed. So I'm going to go and look at pictures of my beautiful house again and think about where I'll put my furniture...

I am loving Facebook!

Over the past week or so I've been enjoying doing Facebook. It is another social networking site, but I really quite like it. Add someone as your friend and then anything they do shows up on your profile. So if they make friends with someone you know, you can then ask that person to be your friend. Suddenly I have lots of friends I'd forgotten I had. It's very affirming.

You can find me with my email address, which is sarahstuart25 [at ] googlemail.com. And be my friend...

Very exciting!

I saw some monkeys with my brother and sisters on Monday.

I'm going to be on a radio show that my friend Fat Roland is doing.

And on Saturday we're going to look at this, this and this house and also this house which is, conveniently, right next door.

Hadfield is pretty and I would love to be in the countryside. But I really love being able to walk to work. Not so much when it's raining, to be honest. But now spring is here, it's really quite pleasant.

See how I have remembered that blogging is about "stuff I've found on the internet", not "make a dull list of everything I've done in the past fortnight, cunningly in reverse order"?

I have been quite busy recently, but really I haven't been blogging because I don't have much to say...

I decided not to apply for the job I was thinking about due to the commute, but am keeping an eye out for things closer to home. Work has been going ok and I do love what I do, but am still frustrated by the person I work with and wanting to have much more responsibility. We'll see.

Matt and I went to Tintwistle and Hadfield yesterday to assess their suitability as places to buy houses in. I have been talking about buying a house for about 4 years, but it does feel like we're finally getting to a position where it's financially viable.

I went to a beautiful wedding on Saturday - friends from Sanctus 1 - the service was a mixture of traditional and new stuff, the reception was a lot of fun - and we even managed to arrive on time!

On Friday night (I appear to be going backwards in time here...) it was my dad's 55th birthday and semi-retirement do. My family managed to behave quite respectably and it was a lot of fun, particularly seeing my brother and sisters and brother-in-law again. I am very proud of my dad and sad that he's leaving the fire-brigade - there aren't many jobs as cool as that for a dad to do!

And hasn't it been lovely weather! It does feel spring-ish. Which I like.

Matt and I went to York last weekend and had a good time - visited lots of museums, walked for miles, ate good food. I am going to try to make sure we go on holiday a little more often than we have done up to now.