It’s always worth remembering that it’s good to talk

As the famous old slogan goes, “it’s good to talk”.  Given the short sound bites on social media that we’re told our society is now addicted to, maybe there should be a call to bring that advertising campaign back.

Anyway, I digress.  The reason it came to mind is that I’m currently going through the joys, yet again, of the stressful experience of moving house.  Somebody asked how my house sale was going the other day.  I launched into a despairing description of going away for a long weekend, only to come back to find a garden almost unrecognisable to the one I’d left and in dire need of some tlc so as not to scare away any prospective buyers.

This led to a group conversation and stories about our house moving experiences.  Two of the best included a peculiar smell emanating in a house just after it had gone on the market.   The cause was eventually found to be a decomposing mouse in an  inaccessible spot underneath the floorboards.  Leading us to wonder exactly what that inviting smell of fresh coffee or baking bread is actually trying to mask!  And how about a helpful estate agent omitting to advise the sellers of a viewer’s appointment?  They turned up for their pre-arranged teatime viewing in time to find the seller’s young children wearing their spaghetti bolognaise and the kitchen looking about as far removed from the tidy, calm, clean scene we’re advised to present as you could imagine.

A bit of humour and shared experience had the effect of dissipating some of my angst and reminded me that everyone goes through it at various points in their life.  We usually get to the other end relatively unscathed to tell the tales, be they good or bad. Talking of which, there was also the story of a seller taking forever to answer the door.  Instead of inventing a reason, she went on to tell the viewers that it was probably best if they had a look at the garden before the house as she’d just paid a ‘little visit’ to the cloakroom beside the front door – so it is good to talk but maybe, on occasion, not always entirely candidly!