Auction Day
I was in Iceland on the day of the auction, so Huw had to bid on our behalf. I gave him my log in details and we had agreed our budget. The auction started at 12pm and ran for three hours until the closing time of 3pm. There were 60 people watching the auction so there was a chance we would have some strong competition.
At 10.30am I was due to meet up with a tour group for a trip into a glacier. We arrived at the mouth of the tunnel at 12pm (1pm UK time), and I sent Huw a quick message to make sure he was logged in and watching. Then I went down the tunnel and lost signal for the next hour, so I had no idea what was going on. It was a brilliant tour.
When I came back out an hour later not much had happened - a few bids, including a couple from us but very slow. No one bids seriously early on in the process as there's no real benefit, but there was now only an hour to go. I was jittery and on the edge of my seat. I didn't want to keep messaging Huw - he was in charge of bidding and our fate rested in his hands and I had to just trust him! The bus trundled down the mountain for 45 minutes with me desperate for news as to whether we were still in the running or had been outbid, but I assumed he would have told me if that was the case.
When I got back to the visitor centre I decided to grab a pizza while I waited for Lyndsay to pick me up. At about 2.50pm she joined me in the cafe and we sat and stared at my phone waiting for news as the end of the auction approached. We were still winning at 2.50pm but 3pm came and went and there was no confirmation so I guessed there had been a bit of a bidding frenzy. If people bid at the end of an auction the closing time is extended to give other bidders a chance to get their best and final bids in before it closes. My heart was thumping and I was desperate to know if we'd got it. Then at 3.02pm a text - 'Wow I'm shaking'. What did that mean? He was teasing me! Lyndsay and I were on tenter hooks. Then, a screenshot - Congratulations! You won the auction lot. Oh my goodness - it was ours - a house in Wales - that we planned to share at some point in the future, all being well. I was in shock, and by the sound of it Huw was too!
I found a map from 1840 which shows the cottage was there nearly 200 years ago. So, we have the opportunity now to caretake and conserve a beautiful piece of history, and our current plans are to do just that. We will reimagine, restore, reinvent and relove this little hovel. But I’m under no illusion as to the enormity of the task we have committed ourselves to, and this sort of thing will be a real make or break project for us as a couple. What we’ve really bought is a dream and, Huw says, time doing something productive together … and maybe a happy future together too … and I think that’s worth the investment. Will we make a great team, work together and rebuild something amazing out of the rubble? Or will we be crushed by the weight of the work involved? Only time will tell, but we're optimistic!
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