Maureen insists that despite the fact that he won’t speak to us, Mortgage Lender #2 is going to come good. She said she’d call with the good news in ten minutes… 20 minutes ago.

At this stage I can’t share her enthusiasm. Despite a run of good fortune in the last 24 hours* things are just running too late. It seems unlikely that we’ll get the mortgage today - the last day required by the sellers after trying for the last 4 weeks.

* Visa approved in 1/8 of estimated time, bank transfer of deposit to US in a mind numbingly short 6 hours, visit to US embassy for power of attorney over in 30 minutes, UPS Ukraine announce new 1 day service to US just as we need a document there on Monday