Downsizing
For medical reasons we had no choice.Our mobility problems made it impossible for us to stay in the 4 bedroomed house, our lovely home for the last 20 years. What could we replace it with was the big question. After much dilly dallying we decided to rent out our house for one year and rent a one bedroomed flat to test the water so to speak.
We settled on a ground floor flat in Chichester. Although the rent 12k a year seemed a bit over the top,as is everything else in Chichester.I wasn’t too impressed with the nine pages of small print either, laughingly called ‘The tenant’s agreement’.
We were happy enough for the first couple of months
But therafter things started to unravel. The dishwasher started to crack the dishes,the refrigerator left a puddle of water on the floor every third day (dangerous when you’re dodgy on your feet) The estate agent told us the fridge and dishwasher were our responsibility and the owner left them in the flat as a goodwill gesture, fortunately they were the only goodwill gestures we discovered.
.We were without hot water for two weeks. The extractor fan sounded like a boeing jet taking off and was driving the wife crazy. Taps were dripping, the toilet didn’t flush properly,The French win- oh what the heck nothing worked and the owner had the brass neck to deduct 85 quid from our deposit when we left. She discovered a spider’s web on the lampshade and a bit of dust on the upper wardrobe shelves. This was our first experience of renting and you can be sure it is the last.All I can say, it served its purpose.
However things have improved since February 2023 when we purchased our 2 bedroomed flat just a 3 minute walk away. We were so anxious to get away from the horror hole that all the features of paramount importance for our next place were ditched.We’ll take anything, but we wouldn’t compromise on the essential requirement of a ground floor property.
We did indeed have to compromise and now own a top floor flat some seventy or eighty feet in the air.I was a bit apprehensive at first staring out of the window to see tiny people below with cars looking like Corgi matchbox toys and felt a need to hang on to somebody. I’ve never been a fan of high up places.
Six months on and everything has changed. We live in a
different world. I like nothing better than to sit by the open window with a slight breeze fanning my face and watch the seagulls glide past. They make a lot of noise but the way they harness the air currents to display their aerobic skills is fascinating.
I watched a pair of sparrows building a nest under the gutter. The male sparrow sits on the outside looking left and right as a watchdog and you can understand why he is called a cock sparrow with his ’ you want trouble make my day,body language.
Unfortunately the chosen spot is also the watering hole of many of the larger birds including the Magpie.I fear their new home will also become a sort of horror hole and worse still, be their undoing.
I am amazed at all the insects that seem to live up here. There have been bumble bees,wasps,Daddy long legs, mosquitoes and even a spider who has weaved his web precariously under the guttering..I would imagine his decision to climb all the way up here is on a par with me deciding to shin up the the Eiffel tower,”Not on my list of things to do before I die,-yet.’ Of course eight legs must be a big plus.But time is not on his side with his life expectancy in the region of 2 years,much curtailed if he gets involved with a bit of nookie.Although a spider in Australia lived to the ripe old age of 46.he must have had a very celibate existence.The weirdest things always happen in Australia.
To continue on the subject of spiders,it has occurred to me that this spider may have poached a lift in the removal van with our furniture.My admiration for {him or her} is slightly diminished if this is the case.He might be responsible for the web on the lampshade that cost us 85 quid.On the other hand perhaps he couldn’t stand the deafening noise of the extractor van or maybe he had grown to really like us.Anyway we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.
There have been other advantages in downsizing not really thought of before.The flat is in a large retirement block and unusually it is mostly managed by the residents even though there is a resident manager.The annual administration charges seemed high at first until we compared the annual cost of running a 4 bedroomed house. We discovered significant savings in several areas and more importantly we discovered life is so much easier.There’s no hassle and the residents are very friendly.
The same cannot be said always for nature’s smaller creatures. I discovered a buzzing bluebottle fly in the kitchen. This involved a frenzied hobbling back and forth battering the walls with a folded daily mail ,until I cornered the imposter sitting on my ready to eat slice of walnut cake. I was looking forward to devouring that with my morning coffee.
I hesitated briefly but decided I would make the sacrifice and battered the cake to a pulp. The fly didn’t have a chance and he would never have known his departure from this world would be in a walnut cake coffin. I was about to dump the lot in the dustbin but then thought the fly would make a tasty meal for our spider friend. He deserves a reward for his corageous climb.
Balancing the walnut flavored morsel on the end of my crutch I carefully opened the window and dropped it onto his web. I had a feeling of warm satisfaction at doing something good,a bit like those people who hand out food parcels to the needy.
Shortly afterwards the sparrow fluttered by our window and the spider and its tasty meal vanished. Ah well! Charity doesn’t always come up with the best solution. The following morning I saw a magpie sitting on the gutter looking full of intent.The sparrows have not been seen since,I fear the worst. One of the residents told us she had witnessed a seagull in the communal garden chase a pidgeon into a bush and drag it out by the neck, plucking its feathers and trying to devour it while it was still alive.’those birds are so vicious,nature can be so cruel ‘ then told me the lady next door had also died.
’No really! How sad,I never met her.’
‘ Well, death is all around us,’ she said.
I hasten to add the seagull wasn’t involved with the neighbors demise,She died of natural causes.