His House

We have finally moved into our new place. It is bigger and nicer than our old one. I am crazy busy unpacking and organizing things. Trying to make this place feel like home. I know in time I will be successful and it will feel as comfortable and cozy as our last place.

Except for one thing. It's not his house.

We left his house and have moved on to one where he never was.

Where he never existed.

A fresh start? Or something else?

I feel like we have somehow left a part of him behind. My beautiful son, who we never got to take home from the hospital. He only existed in that home, not in this one.

Even though he never got to see it with his own eyes, or smell it, or crawl on the floor. He was there with us. He was alive there. It's the only place he ever had the chance to be alive.

Hearing our voices there from within my womb, living our lives, planning for him to be a part of our family. That house had hope and dreams and possibilities. All of which came crashing down on that horrible day last August when we found out that he was gone. That night when we had to come back to that home and pack for the hospital,,,, for his birth.

That place where we cried so many tears over his loss.
That place that felt so empty when we came home without him.
That place was the only place he ever was.

And we've left it.

Does that mean we've left him behind as well?

Have I Mentioned That I Hate Moving?

Here I go......... I HATE MOVING!

As I have talked about previously, we have to move. Not out of London, just out of our flat. Why you ask??? Because a certain celebrity (who shall remain nameless like everyone else here on this blog) is buying our place. So we are being evicted by a celebrity. Hooray for us!! Well not really. Being evicted by a celebrity sucks just the same as being evicted by a normal person (or "civilian" as Liz Hurley would say).

We have to be out by the beginning of July so there is still time but I'm starting to panic slightly. We've been looking since March and have found nothing suitable. We are spoiled and picky. We live in a fabulous part of London and we refuse to even consider another part of town. We love our cute little flat and want something just as nice. Is that asking too much??

Our street this winter when it snowed. Who wouldn't want to live here?

Except that the market is different than when we moved here over 5 years ago. Fewer people can get mortgages and so more are renting. Which means supply is down and rents are up.

I am currently working with 2 estate agents who are both operating with a very "casual" attitude. Basically they email me properties. I email them back saying that I want to see them. Then they never email me back. So I call them and they act like nothing is wrong with them never getting back to me. I feel like I'm constantly chasing them. Me, chasing them to help them make money from helping me. What is wrong with this picture???

Finally in desperation I have found a relocation agency that will do all the work for me. Except she can't show me anything from the two agencies I'm already working with. Apparently there is "turf" and "rules" around this sort of thing. Seriously?? They can lay claim to me as a customer even though they have barely lifted a finger to help me? I don't care who helps me with what, I just need a new place to live.

So needless to say, it's been frustrating.

But I'm trying to be positive because the relocation lady is going to take me out tomorrow and show me a whole bunch of places. Hopefully I can find something I like. Because with everything else going on I really don't need to be so stressed out about where we're going to live.

Moving

Not moving on, just moving. As in we have to find a new place to live. Yuck, I hate moving. Is it slightly more glamorous that we're being forced to move because a celebrity is buying our place??? I'm not so sure.


One of the not so great thing about being a renter is that you are at the mercy of the property owner. If they want to sell then you have to move, it's just that simple. So when we got the call a while back that someone wanted to come and view our property I had a funny feeling that we would have to find a new place to live soon. Turns out I was right.

I love where we live. It's a cute (read: small) 2 bedroom flat in the heart of a lovely village here in London. Our flat is a small part of the very large house next door and there's even a door that goes from our place to theirs (kind of like adjoining rooms at a hotel). As a result of the properties being connected, we live on a very nice street with other houses. It's not a block of flats so we don't have anyone above or below us. We have our own front door and a small garden in the back. In London this is really hard to find.

We rent from the family that owns and lives in this very large nice house. For the past 5 years it's all been great. But they have decided to sell.  As it turns out, the buyer is a celebrity. I thought she looked familiar when they came by to look at our place but I wasn't sure. Afterwards I found out from the owners who she was. I also found out that she doesn't want renters living next door. This B-/C-list celeb wants the whole place to herself. I'm sure even my spectacular skills of keeping the extra key in case she gets locked out and ability to feed pets while she's away won't sway her decision. So we have to move.

Great, like we don't have enough going on already! One thing I can say about my life is that it is never boring.