We’re still house-hunting on and off when suitable properties come on the market.  On Saturday the estate agent emailed me to say there was a bungalow available for our price range ‘near’ Diss town centre, which we had specifically asked for.  However, there were new regulations in these Covid-19 days… the estate agent would wear a mask and gloves, and Sam and I were required to wear a mask and gloves.  We also were not allowed to touch anything in the property, and  could only be at the bungalow for 15 minutes.

Hey ho, it was time to adapt to the ‘new norm’.  We had bought fifty surgical masks soon after Christmas, and now it was time to break open the pack.  My handbag now carried a mask and a pair of disposable gloves, as well as a bottle of hand sanitiser.

We arrived at the bungalow and the estate agent was already there. As soon as he saw us he put on his mask, and so reluctantly we put on ours. We both wear glasses, and straight away our lenses started steaming up.  Great.

The bungalow was tiny and was at least a 2 mile walk into Diss, and a nasty smell of drains filtered through our masks as we entered the kitchen.  One wall by the sink was damp, and there was still what looked like the original 1970s wallpaper throughout the property.  The estate agent stood the regulation 2 metres away and asked us what we thought.

Through my foggy glasses I looked at Sam in his mask, the estate agent in his mask, and at the sorry state of the kitchen.  I’m afraid I got the giggles rather badly.  It’s still a bit strange to me to have to walk around wearing a surgical mask, and I haven’t got used to it yet.  The mask thankfully hid my grinning features (but not my shaking shoulders).  It’s never a good idea to look at Sam when you’re trying to suppress a giggle, as he senses the state you are in, starts giggling himself, and makes it ten times worse.

Oh dear.  I just had to get out of that bungalow in double-quick time.

We’d only been back at home for half an hour when the follow up email arrived from the estate agent.  Were we interested in buying the property?

Er…no.

Image by Juraj Varga from Pixabay