nine men's morris

Work from home. Max brought back another artefact from his work. He milled a nine men's morris board and playing pieces. I really enjoy the game, the rules are very simple but the game is fiendishly difficult: make one mistake and you lose. 

In the morning we went to the solicitor to sign the contract for purchasing a flat. The next step in our journey is nearly completed. Buying a flat in Germany is surprisingly straight forward: you say you want it and if you are quick enough (at least that's my impression) you get it. There's been some backwards and forwards with the bank and the estate agent but all that is sorted now. We are getting a nice flat about the same size and age we had in Edinburgh. It comes with original tiled ovens (merely decorative now and possibly a pain) and, huge bonus, with a balcony. It needs a new kitchen and redecoration. I also want network cables in the wall. We got the official extract from the land registry (extra) and need to wait and pay various bills and then we should get the keys. The experience at the solicitor's was very strange. He had to read all the 20+ pages of the contract out loud for us. We then signed and that was it. I might have mocked the need for stamps in Germany, but getting a document with seal is pretty cool.