The benefits of COVID?

It’s an odd title but it does seem to have had some benefits for me and some others apparently. As many of you will know I sold our house and moved out at the end of March thinking that this would give me an advantage in securing a new house.  It didn’t, not immediately - because there were no suitable houses for sale, due to the effects of lock down. There were houses for sale, but they were usually too expensive, too run down needing too much money spent to make them right.  Or too far from here etc. 

But at last we have found one and we won it, despite having to get it by taking the sealed bids approach. For those who are unfamiliar with this method of determining the best offer, it happens when there too many people after the same house.  They ask for ‘full and final’ offers in a sealed envelope by a certain hour of a certain day. On the hour all the envelopes are opened, eight in our case, and the best offer is picked.  There was one other bid which matched ours, but as we had actually moved out having sold our previous house, and the other people were still in their’s, we were chosen.  There are too many people looking for houses to buy and too few for sale which has boosted prices unfortunately.  Now due to Covid, conveyancing is taking about twelve weeks even though we’ve sold our house and that should shorten the time.  So even though our offer was accepted we won’t be in our house before December!

So we have been living with one of my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter and Millie the black Labrador. We have lived in one small bedroom for over five months and it’s not been easy, but there is light at the end of this seemingly very long tunnel.  It’s just possible that we might move in before December, I hope so, it used to take four to eight weeks before Covid, but due to staff shortages it’s going to take twelve or thirteen weeks, so they tell me.

So, I hear you ask, “what benefit did you find?”  Well I have no office or workshop or tools, so all I could do was ……….THINK.  Thinking without the bother of building, drawing and testing has made me study the whole shebang, the whole picture along with every detail and all that falls between. I’ve re-examined my conclusions and looked for errors, omissions and inaccurate conclusions in my  various hypotheses and I think I have found a way to get to the answer.  I have been here many times before as you also know, but this time I’ve been able eliminate some steps I would have taken if it weren’t for enforced physical idleness. I can recommend a period of intensive cogitating about this subject, it can surprise you when you least expect it.

I can’t wait to get back to building in my new workshop, but I’m guessing it’s not going to happen until next year. You have to be an incurable optimist in this field of research, and being obsessive about it helps.

I’m writing down and drawing all the steps I need to take and planning the process to a successful conclusion, I hope. If it works then I’m certain that this design will match what Bessler did, because so much of it relies on his many drawings.

To those many people who emailed me asking about my progress, if any, thanks for your encouragement and kind words, watch out for my announcement which will appear as soon as I’ve built and tested the design.  

JC