Moving Target

This week, I will be moving out of the rented flat that my boyfriend and I have lived in for the past four years.  We are moving about seven doors down from our current place (albeit technically into a different road), so maybe not too much upheaval, but it still feels pretty momentous.

So, we will be transporting our things from our current ground-floor Victorian one-bedroom, to a top-floor Victorian one-bedroom in the next road.  The new place is a tiny bit smaller, but I think better laid-out so in fact we may be able to use the space we do have more sensibly (and it’s a good time for paring down my ever-growing Collection of Crap); it’s on the sunny side of the road so we’ll get a lot more light streaming in; amazingly, for the first time in our six years of living in Brighton (and our third Brighton flat), we will be able to see the sea!

The ‘old’ flat has been lovely and a place where we’ve got loads of good things done.  We have wonderful neighbours, who I hope we’ll stay in touch with and still see around the place.  We rented it from friends, which has felt cosy and comfortingly lo-fi.  We were supposed to stay for six months and quite happily hung around for four years.

It feels like the flat where we’ve learned to grow up and settle down a bit.  Our previous place, right smack in the middle of the Lanes, was a bit Party Central – we had two artist friends staying with us in our (one-bedroom!) place for much of the time that we lived there, including Steve (The Wizard), who stayed for nearly a year.  We made way too much use of the local off-license’s ‘two bottles of wine for a fiver’ deal, bought way too many of our meals from the pizza place over the road, and smoked way too many cigarettes around that kitchen table.  It was fun, and perfect for the time, but it was also the perfect time for it to end when it did.

Since we’ve moved out to Seven Dials – all of ten minutes’ walk away, but to a road with trees, where all of the buildings are residential rather than above shops – life has taken a welcome turn for the quieter.  It’s been a good place to work and to read.  We know our friends in the local pub and in our amazing local shop.  I’m pleased we’re staying in the area for the time being.

The plan is to take all of those good positives and move them into the new flat with us.  Moving house is also, I find, always a good time to think about the things you want to get done while you live in the new place.  In addition, I am looking forward to being high up again – I love being on the top floor and, weirdly, find I seem to write better whilst looking down on the world!

So, goodbye, Number 22.  Hi, Number 73!