home again

Well, we're back at home again, it's great. The shower works, we have central heating and we have a washing machine and tumble dryer. No more visits to the laundrette. Hooray! We still have no kitchen though, although it's built and the units are in place, nothing is plumbed in, so no fridge, no sink, no oven. They have promised these today. I have put on so much weight from eating sandwiches and takeaways, oh, and not going to my dance classes or walking 45 minutes to work. It has all added up to several pounds of lard around my middle. Ok, more than several...maybe several kilos.
There is dust everywhere. It's never ending, but fairly satisfying thinking that each time you hoover, there's a bit less of it. It's been exciting walking along our familiar streets again, a bit of a rediscovery. Athough Putney was my home for about 12 years as a child, it didn't feel at all like home going back there for about six months. The road my dad's flat is in is long and dark. It doesn't feel like a community, it is composed almost entirely of flats, mainly privately owned. The only exception being a wonderful gothic style house, I think calles Rosslyn Heights. My and my friends used to fantasise about living there. One friend said that his grandmother lived there, but I never quite believed him. Our house is in a street where I know most of my neighbours, and you always see someone you know when you walk down the road. It's wonderful to be home.

going home soon

Back to blogging after spending far too much time playing Scrabulous on Facebook over the past few months. Our house is almost ready to move back to, but not quite. When I say not quite, I mean that there is still no bathroom, and still no kitchen, In fact the rooms are there, but no actual appliances eg no shower, no oven. 

So today was the official  completion date and it's not ready. My brother is over from the States, and we are all staying at Dad's. Me, Phil, Rob, Charles and William. 

Dad of course is down the road at the nursing home, which is another story altogether, although a large part of today - when Phil and I should be going back home, will be spent being with my brothers and making some big decisions about Dad and his flat.

So we are sort of packing to go home, and also hesitant. Although not super comfortable at Dad's, it's more comfortable than living in a building site. 

So it will be goodbye to Putney. Very bizarre actually living here again. Putney is great, but wealthy and alien compared to how it was when I was growing up. The house my parents saved up for and bought for 9,000, is now worth millions. In a strange circular coincidence, my dad has moved to a nursing home only a few houses further down the road from our old house.

Putney is lovely to walk around, and full of memories for me, but I'm glad I'm going home to Brentford and all our friends any day now.