I'm not one for remembering stuff out of books that well- I can reread a novel every 2 or 3 years and still not quite remember what's happening. But there is one line from Memory Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams that sticks in my mind and is particularly apt at this moment: "Always carry your home with you in your head, that way you'll never get homesick."

We've lived in our house for three and a half years now. It was our first home together and we did a heck of a lot of work on it. Students had infested it for the previous 20 years and the landlord had been the sort of chap who rather than clean the place had just laid layer of foam backed carpet on top of layer of foam backed carpet until the ceilings seemed a little low.

We stripped and painted every room, we recarpeted every room, we fitted a new bathroom and a new kitchen, we had a new boiler put in and we attempted to do something interesting with the garden. With the exception of the boiler (and the new fuse box) we did it all ourselves and with the further exception of the bathroom (which was our two week summer holiday project) the rest of it was done in the evenings and at weekends, fitted around work. It was exhausting but it was a heck of an achievement. I'd never wielded either a paintbrush or a drill in anger before we started but by the end of it I was hanging new doors and wiring in new plug sockets (thanks Dad for putting that socket on the light ring and not the power socket ring, I can still smell burning flesh).

And now we have accepted an offer to sell the place. It's been on the market for about 9 months and people have been too stupid to buy it. It's been the cheapest 3 bedroom house in St Albans for all that time. But at the weekend we accepted an offer for the full asking price and it's now time to move on.

There will be a lot of memories that we take with us when we moved. Hopefully there will be a lot of clutter that we leave behind too J

So, if anybody knows of a country cottage within half an hours drive of central St Albans on the market for around £300,000, let me know eh?