It’s just
over a week since we moved to the city centre and although it’s been stressful
at times (I wouldn’t want to repeat it any time soon!), we’ve been remarkably
fortunate that everything has worked out pretty well.
Living in
the heart of the city comes with both positives and negatives (and we knew that
before we even contemplated moving).
On the
negative side: it’s much noisier and I’ve become almost blasé about hearing
people making their way home at 3am – and always, it seems, with the volume
turned ‘up’… laughing, arguing, shouting or, in one case, growling (a man
attempting to perfect his loud growls in the middle of the night – something I
personally don’t recall ever doing!). There seems to be strong desire for some
motorbikers (always male) to ‘rev up’ furiously for absolutely no reason other
than trying to attract people’s stares. Our apartment’s development (there are
some 165 units scattered around the site) seems sadly lacking when it comes to
recycling – it almost feels as if we’ve slipped back 20 years: there is a line
of big rubbish bins in basement, but just differentiated into ‘paper+cardboard’
(mixed) and ‘everything else’… allowance for the recycling of plastic, glass,
or tins (I accept that food waste might also be difficult, but absolutely
nothing on that front either). I think we might be challenging this state of
affairs over the coming weeks! And, of course, we also know we’ll miss our
local Southville community and all the independent shops and businesses (but
hey, they’re less than 30 minutes away).
But on
the positive side, we have the harbour a four minute walk away from our front
door; we have access to buses to ‘everywhere’ (with bus stops all within a 5
minute walk); we’re in easy walking access to so many places (Old Vic, RWA,
Temple Meads station, Royal Fort Gardens, Queen Square, Watershed, St George’s,
Cathedral, College Green, Saint Stephen’s church, Brandon Hill). I love waking
up in the very centre of the city and also walking out of the front door and
feeling ‘in the heart of the action’ (me? action?!).
Downsizing
has been pretty challenging (and continues to be so). Friends, who have also
recently moved, have told us that, even though we THOUGHT we’d downsized, we’ll
have to continue the process once we’ve moved (and they’re SO right!). Our
kitchen at Mount Pleasant Terrace worked brilliantly and so adapting to our
‘new’, smaller version is going to be very difficult (and will take some time
to get it ‘right’). Both of our bedrooms are currently stacked around the
perimeter with a multitude of large plastic boxes… the living room still has
something like 37 boxes of books awaiting a home (ie. but we need to build
shelving first!). There are DOZENS of pictures we ‘need’ to get hung. There are
walls to re-decorate. Curtains/blinds to be hung. There are electrical
alterations needed. There’s a new carpet to be ordered… oh, and a new dining
table and armchairs… and additional wardrobe space. I could go on… and on.
In the
meantime, we’re constantly wondering where we put things… Which unopened box?
Which corner of what cupboard?
But that’s fine… we knew it would be
like that. So, when it all gets a little too much, we simply wander out on to
the balcony with a glass of wine and turn our backs on the chaos… and also
acknowledge how lucky we are to have what we have (and each other).
Photo: view from the balcony looking
at the development’s garden area (in the distance).
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