Welcome to the delurking lurkers! 
Since last Monday isn't long, Pootles, give it some time yet. Especially at this time of year! Things will likely pick up once Christmas is done. And you may not lose the house you want, they could be suffering a lack of interest too.
The fact that you've already had an offer (even if it fell through) is a good sign, chillikat. :) Hopefully it's just a matter of time until the right person comes along for you.
Well, still nothing to report here. Grilled the solicitors this morning and they're still awaiting the searches from the local council, who cannot be chased but do have a deadline of next Wednesday.
However once they get the searches in, and assuming they're fine, then we can move in less than a week if we want to, apparently. 
The solicitors have suggested exchange/completion on the same day, but I might try and get at least a couple of days between them. 
Not sure what to do about removals now. If we book and pay then our removal is guarenteed (and they've been warning me their dates are filling up). But, if we have to move the date (and the date won't be cemented until exchange) then we could be charged hundreds of pounds. Ugh, what to do?!
Still, sounds like we could be down to less than two weeks until we can lose our deadbeat current house and spend our first night in our dream home... 
[crosses everything] [packs boxes]