Somewhat unexpectedly, Jeremy and I find ourselves on the verge of moving house. This partially explains the silence around this site lately: we’ve been flat-hunting!

We’ve been meaning to move to a new flat since—well, pretty much since moving to Brighton. The place we’re in now was only meant to be temporary, but complacency got the best of us, and five years on we’re still here in a tiny apartment with rickety windows, no central heating, and no hot water in the kitchen. On the plus side, it’s in a very central location, it’s bright, and some of our best friends live right upstairs.

It’s probably that, more than anything, that’s kept us here, and it would have kept us here even longer if fate—in the form of construction work—hadn’t intervened. The building we’re in is going to be converted from two flats into one big house, and since we and our friends are all well past the studenty house-sharing age, it’s time for us to go our separate ways (though hopefully those ways won’t diverge too much).

Flat-hunting in Brighton was a bit of an eye-opener. I harbored the delusion that if Jeremy and I were willing to pay a bit more each month, we’d be able to have a considerably bigger, more modern flat. But it quickly became apparent that, for the price range we were looking at, we could have big and crummy or small and nice. After looking at some big flats that were absolutely dismal, we decided small and nice was the way to go. And after just over a week of pounding the pavement with the local estate agents, we put a deposit on our new home: a lovely one-bedroom first-floor flat (with a tiny balcony!) that is literally 30 seconds from where we live now.

We should have the keys to our new place in just over two weeks, so now the real fun begins: packing, and shopping for furniture. One of these things is slightly more fun than the other, so I’ve been haunting the Ikea website and mentally moving imaginary furniture around unseen rooms. It will feel like playing house when we first move in, but I’m sure that once we get a comfy sofa, a nice kitchen table and some pictures on the walls, our new house will be real home.

Further reading…