Tenterhook time

I am not a person who enjoys being on an edge, either physical or mental, but so often, in a variety of experiences over the years, I have felt taken to the very edge of a horrendous precipice before the situation has changed for the better: for example, once upon a long time ago, I was finally offered a job I could take (even though it was 105 miles from where I was then living) after six months of hunting, when I was down to £200 in my bank account and had a mortgage to keep paying. There are other examples I won't bore you with!

Today feels like we're very close to that edge again, waiting to hear whether our house purchasers have finally got their mortgage confirmed, after unexplained delays, the very existence of which we were uninformed of until last week. If they have, then our own purchase can go ahead; if not......... 
The immobilier, who is supposed to be managing our sale, said she will phone us today. It is already 13.13 and the phone has not rung, despite 13 being my best number.

So we have progressed, if you can call it that, from being on the edges of our seats to being stretched pretty much to our limits. Now I recognise that tenterhooks were employed (in the process of making woollen cloth) for the benefit of the cloth - so that it would keep its shape and size as it dried on the big frame - the tenter - but I'm not sure it's quite so beneficial for keeping us in psychological and emotional good shape, rather the reverse; and I don't subscribe to the view that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

The word 'tenter' apparently comes from the Latin tendere, meaning 'to stretch'. Stretched as we are, a bit of tenderness from the Universe wouldn't come amiss please, other than the delightful first sighting of a Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly on our buddleia bushes.

p.s. 
Two hours later: We have at last heard that our purchasers have got their mortgage. Hu-bloody-rah. However, they have to wait ten days before returning some paperwork to their bank (who knows why; apparently it's a legal requirement), and only then do the bank let our Notaire know, so that she can complete the paperwork for the sale and request the release of funds so it goes through. The upshot of which is that the earliest likely completion date has slipped by another week, to about 3rd August. But of course that won't be confirmed until about a week beforehand. I'm all for spontaneity, but such short notice, when there's so much to arrange, seems (Frankly) bizarre to me.

Oh, and by the way, The William has today received his Carte Vitale. I've long since stopped counting the years & months since our application. Everything comes to s/he who waits???....................