The house that no one can find
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So, I've moved house. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Granted, it took a few trips to move everything, but despite all the initial toing and froing, it went rather well. In fact, thus far, the only problem we’ve had is that nobody can find us.
We first noticed the issue on the Monday after we moved in. We had arranged to have a new bed delivered and the driver of the delivery van had some difficulty finding the house. As we're on a new build estate, our road doesn't exist on a lot of satnavs yet. Even our postcode is a bit broad. Entering it in some systems will return most of the western edge of Coventry, which isn't nearly specific enough to find one house. Other systems will get closer, albeit at the moment most of them will only find houses on the other side of the street, since they've been there longer.
The van carrying our new bed was eventually guided in via a combination of phone calls and waving. It was the first of many. We've had several other deliveries since then that required additional directions and coaxing. It's got to the point where if we're expecting something to arrive, we keep our phones handy.
So far, we've only had one delivery that hasn't made it. Despite receiving despatch confirmation emails, a text message to say it would be delivered the next day and a text on the day to say it would be delivered at around midday by a man named Brian, one package just hasn't turned up. It was made somewhat more annoying by the fact that we had to postpone other things in order to stay at home all day and wait for it—each with phones at the ready should any directions be required. Two weeks later, the package is still unaccounted for and the sender, whist initially sympathetic and helpful, has gone worryingly quiet.
It's not just delivery companies that are struggling. So far we've only had one visitor, and after driving past the house a couple of times, even he had to call to admit defeat and ask for further clues. We've yet to invite anyone else over until we have the house in order and are no longer living out of boxes. With just a few more things left to either paint or put away, however, we're expecting it won’t be long before we're ready to guide the rest of our friends and family in by phone.
Tomorrow we're due to have two sofas delivered. I'm not yet ready to concede that they'll arrive without more phone calls and waving, but providing Brian isn't driving, I'm quietly confident we'll have something to sit on before the end of the day. Almost three weeks after moving in, the signs are looking more optimistic. The postman seems to have found out where we live without too much difficulty and has thus far managed to deliver letters and the occasional small parcel almost without incident. Perhaps there's even still hope for Brian.