Moving On

It's official now.
We're moving.
And someone is moving in here.
All sorted. As they say here.
At the beginning of April.
They're good at the property game here. They do it all quickly and efficiently.
And despite the recession, both the for-sale market and the for-rent market is brisk.
When I first started looking for somewhere else to rent, the first agent I met told me that if you see somewhere you like, you gotta jump on it quick.
I thought that might just be agent talk. Because last year, when we rented this place, it wasn't like that at all.
But he was right. Good places go quickly. I can see them going.
The place we're moving to had only been on the market a week when we got it. As soon as I saw it, we put our offer in. It was the only place I saw that was worth the move, for us.
Our place here went just as quick, a week, maybe less.
They called today and said they had rented it, and they only started showing it last Thursday.
The for-sale market is even tighter, here in London, anyway. Lots of buyers; not enough houses. Who would've thunk it.
We went to our new place over the weekend to take another look at it.
I think we're going to like it much better.
It's a house, albeit a small one.
Feels like a house.
With a front door, a hall closet, and hell, a hall.
No neighbors downstairs, which will be a relief.
No steep stairs to get to the living area.
And then more to get to bed.
A patio to eat outside on, on those long summer evenings when the sun can actually come out for an hour or so.
Only two floors instead of three.
It's in a grittier area though, but only slightly. Near a building that's been vacant for a long time.
Looking forward to moving.
Starting spring in our new place.
Turn the page on this hard year.
Best thing about looking for a new place to rent was that I saw where Colin Firth lives -- with his Italian wife. (what else?).
One of the agents showed me after I told him that I had seen Firth in my local sushi place, getting take-away sushi.
Ever since that night, I wondered where Firth lived. I read he lived somewhere in my neighborhood.
I would look at the rows of identical houses though, and wonder, does he really just live in one of these?
The agent showed me his house.
It's a big detached house, not like the thousands of others around here at all.
With a big garden around it.
Worth several million, the agent said.
I should hope so.
He is Colin Firth. He won a BAFTA last night.
I mean, gimme a break.