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poking about
Apr. 11th, 2014 11:25 pmWe looked at another house today. It had character (the original part of the cottage being about 400 years old.) and it also had some thought towards the modern. The family that owns the house, gutted it when they bought it five years ago, and really did it up right. (plenty of sockets and well insulated) The house has this separate garage/hayloft that is on a common green, so hey plenty of storage. It was a lovely home.
I suppose you are waiting for the "but..."
Yes.
It had plenty of bedrooms, and there is hypothetically room for Mr. Jenner's office, and so on.
But, the ceilings are really really low. I mean yeah, I know this is England, and older buildings are often shorter, but this was really short. There were spots where Mr. Jenner had to stoop just a bit. I began to think of Senor Onion in his teen years. A kid who is already fairly tall and is taking after his uncles. "oh great, we will spend every week in A&E, and and he will feel like he is living in a hobbit house." And that is it. It is a hobbit house. I felt claustrophobic in a number of rooms. A lot of small pokey windows and even on this bright beautiful day, I began to think of what the house would be like on a dark day in January. Again it is that thing, where I have to think of the worst moments in a house and what I could live with. And the garden is so tiny. It is a garden that is more suited towards a retired couple who don't want to spend much time tending to it. It isn't the kind of yard meant for kids to run around.
I have time. I don't have to find a house today. I am getting a better idea of what I want for our future house.
That cottage and its claustrophobic impressions struck me when I was at my sister in law's place today. She lives in a 700 year old cottage that is smaller than the house we looked at, but it felt roomier than the house we viewed. And this is with a million house guests at the moment. Her sister is down visiting, with three of her kids, and one of her grandkids. (she started having babies young, and her daughter had her first pretty young too.) It was a gorgeous day, so we sat out in the garden. Miss Biscuit ran around with her twin cousins, and the baby cousin. He is just two years old and a real cutie. He was wearing a pair of overalls that had once belonged to Senor Onion. (I've passed along a number of toys/clothes to my sister in law's grand-nephew, because hey, it helps me get rid of things, and he is also built a lot like Senor Onion.) He looked so cute. It reminded me of Senor Onion at that age.
(at Christmas when he was two.)
Senor Onion ran off with his cousin E, and E's cousin (who is about a couple years older than him.) and they all went wading down in the stream in the ravine beyond the garden. It was a delightful moment to know he can go off and do that without a lot of supervision. He made dams, explored things, got fairly dirty and came back soaked, but he had had fun. A neighbor (who had grown up with my sister in law and her sister) stopped by with her 5 month old baby. Yes, I got to hold a baby. Miss Biscuit was pretty excited that she got to kiss a baby. She also got to kiss a guinea pig. (George Pickles was sitting with one of my sister in law's nieces and accepting a fair amount of attention as well.) So there were babies, small children, older children, teenagers, and Mums enjoying the lovely Spring weather. I had brought a cake, and so we had some of that, and cups of tea. Excellent way to spend some of the Easter holiday. They told me about visiting witch museum, we talked families, books, television, and gardens.
The rest of the afternoon the kids played about at home, and we had the windows and garden doors open. Pretty satisfying Friday
I suppose you are waiting for the "but..."
Yes.
It had plenty of bedrooms, and there is hypothetically room for Mr. Jenner's office, and so on.
But, the ceilings are really really low. I mean yeah, I know this is England, and older buildings are often shorter, but this was really short. There were spots where Mr. Jenner had to stoop just a bit. I began to think of Senor Onion in his teen years. A kid who is already fairly tall and is taking after his uncles. "oh great, we will spend every week in A&E, and and he will feel like he is living in a hobbit house." And that is it. It is a hobbit house. I felt claustrophobic in a number of rooms. A lot of small pokey windows and even on this bright beautiful day, I began to think of what the house would be like on a dark day in January. Again it is that thing, where I have to think of the worst moments in a house and what I could live with. And the garden is so tiny. It is a garden that is more suited towards a retired couple who don't want to spend much time tending to it. It isn't the kind of yard meant for kids to run around.
I have time. I don't have to find a house today. I am getting a better idea of what I want for our future house.
That cottage and its claustrophobic impressions struck me when I was at my sister in law's place today. She lives in a 700 year old cottage that is smaller than the house we looked at, but it felt roomier than the house we viewed. And this is with a million house guests at the moment. Her sister is down visiting, with three of her kids, and one of her grandkids. (she started having babies young, and her daughter had her first pretty young too.) It was a gorgeous day, so we sat out in the garden. Miss Biscuit ran around with her twin cousins, and the baby cousin. He is just two years old and a real cutie. He was wearing a pair of overalls that had once belonged to Senor Onion. (I've passed along a number of toys/clothes to my sister in law's grand-nephew, because hey, it helps me get rid of things, and he is also built a lot like Senor Onion.) He looked so cute. It reminded me of Senor Onion at that age.
(at Christmas when he was two.)
Senor Onion ran off with his cousin E, and E's cousin (who is about a couple years older than him.) and they all went wading down in the stream in the ravine beyond the garden. It was a delightful moment to know he can go off and do that without a lot of supervision. He made dams, explored things, got fairly dirty and came back soaked, but he had had fun. A neighbor (who had grown up with my sister in law and her sister) stopped by with her 5 month old baby. Yes, I got to hold a baby. Miss Biscuit was pretty excited that she got to kiss a baby. She also got to kiss a guinea pig. (George Pickles was sitting with one of my sister in law's nieces and accepting a fair amount of attention as well.) So there were babies, small children, older children, teenagers, and Mums enjoying the lovely Spring weather. I had brought a cake, and so we had some of that, and cups of tea. Excellent way to spend some of the Easter holiday. They told me about visiting witch museum, we talked families, books, television, and gardens.
The rest of the afternoon the kids played about at home, and we had the windows and garden doors open. Pretty satisfying Friday
