Mission accomplished

Arrived in Stornoway Monday luchtime and headed straight for the Hebridean Estate Agency who had a rental property I wanted to see and who state on their website that they have other properties available that are not advertised. That turns out not to be true! Enquired about the one I had seen on the web and was told that the landlord didn’t want anybody viewing for at least another two weeks, even thouugh it  has been advertised for at least two months. Another at Garrabost wasn’t available for viewing until next week and another ‘will be coming soon’ but not not yet. Truth be told the young lady didn’t seem too interested and I came away thinking that this was going to be a wasted trip.

The other two agents were closed for lunch so I retired for coffee and tried to quell thoughts that I’d wasted my time. Western Isles Properties had four rentals available three of which were not suitable and the other which was way, way, overpriced. For £700 a month I could get a flat in London! So, dragging my heels, I wandered into Kenneth MacDonald who don’t mention at all on their webiste that they do rental properties so I was expecting little. Lo and behold they had more rentals than the other two combined. So I made arrangements to see three of them today (Wednesday). They were all over the island at Bernera, Shawbost and Scalpay so I needed to hire a car. That’s when fate stepped in and I didn’t get to see any of them!

I wandered up to Lewis Car Rentals and found a notice ‘Shop Closed - for rentals phone ….’. I didn’t want to waste my precious mobile credit if it wasn’t necessary so I turned round and headed for MacKinnon Self Drive Hire. They didn’t have a car but had a small van for £20 a day which suited nicely. I booked that on Monday and came back Tuesday morning to sign the form. It was Mrs MacKinnon herself who saw me and as she was taking the details she asked if was up here on business. ‘No, I’m trying to find a house to rent’ says I and she says ‘We’ve got one, if you come back when I go for my lunch I’ll run you up there’. So off I went on other business (of which more to come) and I returned at 1 pm. The house was a three bedroom with the usual other rooms plus a large dining room (which we wanted to store all our boxes that we didn’t need to unpack). They were in the process of completely refurbishing and the house was immaculate - looked like a new build - and then she took me into the living room and I stared (almost open-mouthed) at the view right across the whole of the Eye Peninsula (Point) and way over the Minch to the mainland. For those who know Lewis the porperty is in Newmarket.  ’How much do you want?’ I asked. She quoted £100 a month more than I really wanted to pay. I said ‘Yes’!!

The Estate Agents’ all said ‘We’ll need two references’. I don’t have references having last rented a property in 1973 so I though that might be a stumbling block. ‘I don’t have any references’ I said to Mrs MacKinnon ‘but I’ll pay you the whole six months in advance if you wish’. ’Och, no’ she said ‘ that’s not a problem, I’ve met you’. That’s why I wanted to come up here and sort it on a face to face basis, the folk here quickly know who they can trust. The upshot is that from 1st July Sandy and I (and her mum) will be (almost) fully fledged Lewis residents - a month before the countdown date! If Lewis car Rentals had not been shut it would never have happened. Praise be the hand of Fate!!

There’s more to come but I’ve just got a message that my time’s up in five minutes. How come you can borrow a book for two months but only get half an hour on the Internet?

I’m off home on the 7am ferry tomorrow morning and should be back home before 6pm so I’ll blog about the really exciting news then!