Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest.
Take my advice.
NEVER MOVE HOUSE - EVER!!!!!!! and if you do
NEVER DEAL WITH THE WOOLWICH 
I sold my house in September, I was supposed to be moving in November, then the people at the bottom of the chain pulled out and everything went back on the market. That got sorted quite quickly and they found new first time buyers and about 10 days later the original chain got reinstated with new people at the bottom. Fine, we thought, that puts it back a bit but we should still be moving before Christmas.
Then things started to go wrong.
It became fairly obvious that my buyers buyers were using delaying tactics and that they didn't want to move before christmas as they were really dragging their feet about everything. It got to the point about 3 weeks ago when it became obvious that we were not going to complete before christmas, however we were assured we could still exchange and then move in early January - the 6th was booked.
For the last 3 weeks EVERYONE has been chasing these people to get their survey done and I heard 2 days ago that this still hadn't happened and that the problem lies with the Woolwich - the company the buyers in question are getting their mortgage through. Apparently they are inundated at the moment and they aren't coping with the number of offers they have in and are not getting surveys organised in time. We've chased and chased and had finally found out today that at least the survey has now been approved, though a date hasn't been booked yet. My financial advisor friend told me this morning that she hates dealing with the Woolwich, that they are a nightmare and this isn't the first time she's had a deal slowed down or messed up by them.
Hopefully the survey will happen Monday or Tuesday of next week and we will be able to exchange in the first week of the new year - we have now pencillied in a revised moving date of 20th Jan.
I just can't believe how long all of this is taking - I sold my house in September for gods sake
I never really believed people when they said how stressful moving can be, well believe me it is, I think this is the most stressful thing I have ever done.
As some of you know I have reasons for wanting this move to happen ASAP and the longer it is going on the more panicky I am getting. I'm sure everything will work out fine but at the moment it is taking over my life and I just want it all over and done with.
Happy Christmas everyone and wish me luck sorting this out in the new year.