Now for a change of pace – we’ve moved! The tiny one-room studio in Bayswater served its purpose, but in the end the noise, inconsiderate neighbours and claustrophobic environment took away from the fun of living in London. I sit now instead, gazing outside to a cute little garden and elegant trees (still standing without their leaves). There’s a bird hopping around in one of them, taking advantage of the last vestiges of blue skies and sunlight we’ve enjoyed this late weekend in March. This is the scene I’d initially imagined I’d be looking out on when I moved to London – I suppose it was fairly naive to not have considered dirty concrete ledges and walls would be the obvious option… nonetheless, I think I’ve now found a place of London solace.
After an extensive but disheartening search of rental properties all over London, last Sunday I put in one final effort and discovered a private property via Gumtree.com, located in an anonymous but ‘popular and convenient precinct’. The ad had only been placed online minutes earlier, so we took the chance and called. By the time we came to visit the newly refurbished one-bedroom flat, the lovely landlord had already arranged for a few others to see it. Turns out the flat is off her home, she has a dog (yay!) and the area is gorgeous – very homely, clean, with a vibrant park up the road and minutes from the busy, chic and entertaining Broadway Market which we discovered yesterday.
Despite moving, we’ve had a lovely weekend exploring our new surrounds. It’s a tonic to have a little more space to move around in, along with engaging and inspiring environments to live amongst. There are dogs everywhere (our kind of scene), and yesterday in the pub people even spoke to us – that didn’t ever happen in the middle of ‘town’!
The sun was shining and literally hundreds of people were sitting in the park, staring up at the sky in awe. I must admit, Saturday was a lovely day – for more reasons than one. We feel like the draining energy of London-town has lifted, and we’re excited by the beginning of a new chapter of our life located in this new and fabulous precinct we’ve found.
