We are looking for a house. It has been revelatory, if not apocalyptic.
For one, all flats look the same. Same tiles in the bathroom, same colours in the kitchen, except for the one with the pink walls that would have made a lucrative brothel.
I swear there was one with not a single straight wall. “Where am I going to put the bed?” I asked. “Placing furniture against walls is very passé,” the owner said and the estate agent nodded in agreement.
Unfortunately my sofa is not polygonal. It’s just a regular sofa, boring perhaps but it allows you to sit at a right angle if you want to.
Another one had the fireplace in the kitchen. What am I going to do with a fireplace in the kitchen? Put the copper pot on every morning to prepare a hot bath? Dry my socks at night?
Up to now, there was one that M liked and I hated. I hated it because it had a view to the aerials of other apartments. It was on the top floor but in its case, that was a disadvantage.
“Actually, it does have a nice view” the owner said. “You can see it from the roof” (we have flat roofs to stick our aerials on). The roof had been turned into the Greek equivalent of the English backyard. Each family was entitled to a couple of square meters of space. There was a short wall around that space. The owner said we could have summer lunches there under the (imaginary) tent. What if other families are having their bbq next to ours? I don’t even know the proper etiquette for that. Would I have to offer them some of my vegetarian commixtures? What if they are having fish? That would stink, wouldn’t it?
The other problem is that M and I have very different views on what a nice flat looks like. I thought we had the same beliefs more or less, because when we started living together, he found the place, I saw it and said okay, and the next day I brought my suitcase and gnome collection in.
It’s different now. I see a place and imagine where everything goes, whereas he inspects the windows and says “Nah, let’s go, the windows are rounded, I don’t like rounded windows”. Or, “did you see the mirror in the entrance downstairs? So last year”.
So, we are still looking. Sometimes I think M is one of those weird people who like to see houses without any intention of living in them. Add the credit crunch to that, and you have a nice, big, fat zero.
October 11th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
You crack me up even when you write about apocalyptic things - when you moved your suitecase and your gnome collection
Yes, it’s very hard to combine one’s preferences especially when choosing something so specific as a house. There was almost a civil war in my house when in time to choose a place for our holidays (for 2 weeks!) so…I can imagine.
These days my biggest craving is a house with a garden, even the tiniest bit of soil would do.
Oh yes? You don’t put furniture in the walls now? So where do we put it? In the middle of the room and then we circle it around?…lol
October 11th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I love you my darling~
You bring joy to my life.
Good luck on the house hunting.
We are truly blessed.
Love you
Jeanne
October 11th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
If I was having that much trouble finding a house, I’d forget hiding beneath a mushroom, I’d be eating the “magic” ones. ;D
October 12th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Even after all these years with M, perhaps it might be helpful to consult a Manspeak Dictionary of Terms and Behaviors. I have Funk and Wagnall’s version and it says, in reference to house hunting, that “instantly finding fault with the most miniscule of ammentities signals a man is not ready to move from his current abode…” and it goes on and on and on from there, ad nauseum. I feel your pain, my dear, from the top of this post to the bottom
October 13th, 2008 at 6:29 am
You deserve a fine place to live!
October 13th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Why do you have to move? Or is it a don’t-have-to-but-it-might-be-that-time kind of thing?
Searching is always hard, but when you find the right place, all the wrong places just become things you laugh over.
Good luck, hun.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Crag, we have to move because this house is not big enough anymore. We need one more room (a study) because all 3 of us study, write and read.
Thank you friends. I found a mushroom in the forest this past weekend. Now i have to carve it to make room. xxx
October 15th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
i love this post because i’m having the same difficulties with my husband. SOOOO hard to find a place we both agree on! He dislikes apartments for the weirdest reasons too!
October 21st, 2008 at 7:24 am
But you will eventually find a place that you both like. Don’t stop looking until you do. I wasn’t as enamoured with the house that Jason and I bought as he was, but it definitely grew on me. And once we’d given it a good clean and brought all our stuff into it I liked it heaps more. Now I love it!
October 27th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Sounds tricky….
Florida has houses i know you would love : )
any luck yet?