The house has been in scaffolding for the last couple of days, as workmen have been repairing some of the brickwork around the perimeter of the house.
Much of this brickwork hasn’t seen any repair since it was first put in place some ninety odd years ago, so I think next spring will see us performing extensive restoration work on the exterior. Some areas, however, couldn’t be delayed until after the winter, so those were tackled this week. The second floor balcony, the first floor bay window and the ground floor conservatory front wall were all repaired, so we should hopefully now stay watertight during the upcoming winter.
We’ve been in the new house for just over a month now and, at this point, it’s hard to imagine that we ever had any doubts whether buying and moving into the place would be the appropriate course of action. The three of us all love it and feel very much at home here. It’s hard to imagine being anywhere else now.
I love to sit in my office, listening to the Sonos, and look out the window at the autumnal scenes of bakfietsende mothers bringing their tiny tots to playschool. Bronzed leaves, driven by the wind, cascade across the street; spiders crawl over webs spun across the window frame; people arrive for work and exchange a momentary glance with me. Perhaps they’re as curious about me as I am about them.
We’re still missing the touches of a lived-in home, but that will change when we get our artwork back from the framemaker’s and hang it up. I’ll also continue to haunt the local auction rooms in search of items that just seem to belong in our home. Too many of our walls are bare at the moment, but we need time to grow into the place.
For now, the world outside my window is a living tapestry.