City living

  
When my darling first started working in the city he commuted from the country town where we had been happily living for a number of years. We had bought an old cottage with lots of character, including a fireplace in the bedroom (one of my dreams), beautiful views and a place where I thought our grandchildren would be visiting us. Not so. After two years of him commuting/staying in the city several nights a week and our charming son having to board, we knew it was far from ideal - we would all have to move.

Melbourne was not familiar to us, so initially we started looking at homes close to his workplace. In the area, houses were put up for auction with the estate agent giving a price guide rather than being for sale with an advertised asking price. It was a new system for us and we did not like it all. Houses regularly went for $100.000's more than the guide and 'dummy bidding' was common. It was all too uncertain and often appeared dishonest.

We found out that a certain distance from the CBD some homes were offered for 'private sale' rather than auction. So we went to a small agency which had three available, we viewed them one afternoon (never having been to the suburb before) and chose the one near the cycle path so my darling could ride to work. Done.

As it turned out it was another 3 1/2 years before we moved in but what a pleasant surprise once we did. We have easy access to most places, public transport is close, much parkland is nearby and of course ... the cycle path. All wonderful, but not being a city girl I have to continually remind myself of all the blessings as I often feel like a round peg in a square hole and that this was not my natural environment - I need fresh air, lots of space and chooks!

We are very privileged to have our little country cottage and so I had the idea of telling myself that I 'lived' in the country and just worked in the city during the week. Hmmmmmm .....

We have been in this house for 5 years now. The children are older, contented and a joy to be around, dear daughter and her prince live nearby and now with their precious babe due who would want to move? Well, we started investigating. My darling obliged by joining me to looked at other areas, other houses ... thinking, pondering ... and do you know, none of them had all the benefits of where we are now! I think it was a case of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone" but fortunately we didn't have to wait until we lost it.

I now come home and enter the front door with a smile on my face, it is good to be here. In the morning I look into our lounge and think "how nice". Our home is tiny (really!) by today's standards but I appreciate the smallness, the coziness of it which encourages us all to be together and to communicate. By those same standards we have a large block of land and have plans to add to the vegetables and fruit we already grow by putting in an orchard, we have plenty of room for Roger and Jess and although I would love to have chooks again I can happily live without them.

No, I still don't think of myself as a city girl, but I am getting used to life here and really don't want to move. Also I believe it is a good training ground for my future life in the eternal city "as we're marching upwards to Zion, the beautiful city of God!"

PS. Above is a view above the opposite rooftops - there is beauty in the city.
PPS. Judge Judy from the tribunal (see previous post from early November) rejected the planned 3 storey plus 2 storey dwellings a developer had proposed - HOORAY!!!