A second new DVD and CD rack has now arrived and should be constructed soon. Which means the last two boxes from the move are ready to be opened. So after 3 months, almost to the day, we will have finally completed our move from Kilburn to Harrow.
This afternoon we put in our registration documents for the local medical centre, which is just a ten minute walk away, bringing to an end any official connection with Kilburn and West Hampstead.
The house has been transformed. The internal re-wiring is complete, with some external wiring to the shed being finished off tomorrow. The loft repairs were carried out during the week following up the surveyor's instructions. We have had a new laminate floor put in downstairs, a made-to-measure bi-folding door between the lounge and the kitchen installed, and four book-cases and shelving units put up. A new garden fence was erected a week ago.
New bedroom and dining furniture arrived before the Christmas break. We have ordered new blinds and curtains, plus a stairway carpet which will all be fitted in March.
We have now exhausted our improvement budget, and we are now pretty exhausted ourselves at making sure all the works actually happened, mostly to time and within budget.
Time to pause and reflect on what we have achieved in three months.
But it is not only the physical changes to our home environment that have occurred. Our new daily and weekly routines, with me working from home again after a three year gap has made a big difference. I am now waking at 6.30am to walk to our splendid Victorian Hatch End swimming pool for a few lengths before getting home to make sure Nana is on her way to work at 7.35am. Breakfast, and a peruse of the online newspapers on my iPad is complete by 8.30am, and I can start work without the stress of the daily commute. Bliss!
We have been exploring the delights of Hatch End, which has about a dozen excellent restaurants with a wide range of cuisines. There are still a few to try but no duds yet. We now know where the buses go and how to fast connect from Harrow-on-the Hill or Harrow & Wealdstone stations to old haunts in zones 1 and 2. We actually got back from the Hampstead Theatre on Thursday evening, door-to-door, in precisely 45 minutes. So we are not on the edge of civilisation at all, but instead finding a new greener place to breathe and relax in.
To cap it all, a walk with my sister on Sunday led to us finding Pinner Park Farm, which is a working beef-rearing farm about 15 minutes from my front door. Yes, real cows less than a mile from my home!
Am I missing the old flat? No, I have fond memories but the past is the past. This is my life now. My home is in Harrow, and I think I will be here for a long time. I am a member of the Harrow Liberal Democrats and completed my first leafleting round in a target ward last week. Everything was on the flat, no multi-occupied buildings. A leafleter's dream.
All I am waiting for is some warmer weather so I can tackle the gardening with more enthusiasm, and enjoy the option of taking in the sun in my own back yard.
What stimulated this piece was seeing some opinions on a Camden website bemoaning the cost of property in Camden. Yes I know it is ridiculously expensive, which is why I could not buy a house there.
Market forces still dominate the decisions we all take in our daily lives. We can choose how to spend or save our money in a million different ways. I cannot afford to buy a bottle of champagne every day. I cannot afford first class rail fares. I shop for bargains in Sainsburys and Morrisons and rarely try finding food in M&S or Waitrose. I decide what is affordable.
Why then do people bemoan the fact that there are certain areas where you cannot afford to live on an average salary? Make a home in an area which you can afford and seek out the benefits of living in a new neighbourhood. I did, and it has made me happier than I have been for a while.
