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millionreasonsWe are moving house. Our flat has been snapped up and our offer on a house in Forest Gate has been accepted, just in time for the incipient housing crash, no doubt. We will finally have a garden (and a cat). Although I'll still be working here, it'll be odd not to be in Stoke Newington full time after 9 years of N16-existence, the longest I've lived anywhere - apart from Doncaster and I had no choice in that.
What I'll miss:
1) The long, south facing windows, spreading sunlight across the flat. Lying in bed in late May watching the swallows swoop.
2) Walking down Church Street of a Saturday afternoon.
3) Crossing over the main road to Springfield Park and then down the hill to the marshes, cows grazing in the summer, sheep on the reservoir roof. The magic fish and concrete Stonehenge.
4) The Hassidic Jews - Purim, Lag BaOmer, and Succot have become as part of the calendar as Valentine's Day, Shrove Tuesday, Easter.
5) Being able to get a bus to just about anywhere.
What I won't miss:
1) The upstairs neighbours and their incessant banging, DIY (I suspect one of their friends is using the flat as a workshop), shouting, arguing, choir rehearsal, prayer meetings, speaking in tongues, washing machine at 3 a.m., kids staying up 'til 4 in the holidays then crying every morning.
2) Hackney Homes and their incompetent laziness. Painting the outdoor railings thrice in two years but never re-touching the indoor ones, spending £6,000 on six shed doors, £36,000 doing some rewiring, never answering emails, holding meetings when people are at work, rude letters. I thought a council flat would have better management than a private freeholder; I was wrong.
3) The kids in the summertime. None of the children on the estate are underage drinking feral monsters, but the NOISE of them in the school holidays. In the playground, all day every day, shrieking. Their boredom by week three.
4) We live between two main roads so not a day goes by when I don't hear a siren. The aggressive driving, rat-running, and 4x4s skidding over speed-bumps.
5) The 253.
What I'll miss:
1) The long, south facing windows, spreading sunlight across the flat. Lying in bed in late May watching the swallows swoop.
2) Walking down Church Street of a Saturday afternoon.
3) Crossing over the main road to Springfield Park and then down the hill to the marshes, cows grazing in the summer, sheep on the reservoir roof. The magic fish and concrete Stonehenge.
4) The Hassidic Jews - Purim, Lag BaOmer, and Succot have become as part of the calendar as Valentine's Day, Shrove Tuesday, Easter.
5) Being able to get a bus to just about anywhere.
What I won't miss:
1) The upstairs neighbours and their incessant banging, DIY (I suspect one of their friends is using the flat as a workshop), shouting, arguing, choir rehearsal, prayer meetings, speaking in tongues, washing machine at 3 a.m., kids staying up 'til 4 in the holidays then crying every morning.
2) Hackney Homes and their incompetent laziness. Painting the outdoor railings thrice in two years but never re-touching the indoor ones, spending £6,000 on six shed doors, £36,000 doing some rewiring, never answering emails, holding meetings when people are at work, rude letters. I thought a council flat would have better management than a private freeholder; I was wrong.
3) The kids in the summertime. None of the children on the estate are underage drinking feral monsters, but the NOISE of them in the school holidays. In the playground, all day every day, shrieking. Their boredom by week three.
4) We live between two main roads so not a day goes by when I don't hear a siren. The aggressive driving, rat-running, and 4x4s skidding over speed-bumps.
5) The 253.
