Moving update

The survey should finally be done on our house next week. My parents are distraught today as their buyers pulled out after deciding the survey didn't give a 100 per cent, perfect clean bill of health. No house is in perfect condition, and the problems with mum and dad's could easily have been rectified - mum and dad would probably have happily done the work themselves, but I get the feeling these people were looking for an excuse. Shame they wasted everyone's time in this way - still, one tiny crumb of comfort is that mum and dad hadn't paid for a survey on the house they hope to buy. We can but hope they find a new buyer before the house they had an offer on is sold to someone else.

One small worry for us is that our buyers still haven't given their solicitor the money for the searches required - we sent our cheque to our solicitor two weeks ago when we instructed them. Hopefully the delay is down to the imminent arrival of a new baby in their family and not for more ominous reasons (another reason might be that our estate agent has only just told them that the chain is complete). If all goes to plan - and the news from mum and dad is a harsh reminder that house moves rarely go to plan - we hope to exchange by the end of next month and complete in the first week of October.

Elsewhere, a second wave of explosions - thankfully smaller and with no apparent casualties - has hit London. The Ashes have started, and England once again show a lack of backbone with the bat - having bowled out the Aussies for 190, they slumped to 21-5 when I last looked. It's embarrassing, and Vaughan should apologise to the English public on behalf of everyone - including himself.