Everything's been moved and we're all settled into our new place! We were assisted in the move by a good friend of mine and her boyfriend, who also lent us his driving skills and his car for an hour on the Friday night and the next morning to transfer just about all of our possessions from the old place to the new one. This time it was a little too far to walk/roll everything over, and we're so thankful for his help. It took another two days to clean the old place, get the last few bits of stuff moved over (Derek brought home an amazing amount of stuff on his back and in each hand one afternoon after a long day of cleaning), and get organised here at the new place. Moving the cable, internet and phone over was no trouble -- they disconnected our service at the old place on Friday night and had the technician in here first thing Saturday morning (apparently we'd normally have to pay extra for that, but I think it was a gift to us as an apology for not being able to supply us with reliable telephone service for the prior two weeks). But now the keys have been handed back, I've learned the necessary bus routes for when I need to get a long way from here on my own, and with all our stuff put away it feels like home!
So why do I love the new flat so much? Here's a few big reasons:
Warm and Bright
We're up on the third floor (what would be called the fourth floor back home), which is also the top floor of the building. The buildings around are all about this height and we see a ton of sky when we look out the window. This is in direct contrast to the old first floor flat, with a bedroom window that looked at a grey cement-block wall three feet away, and a living room window that looked out at the tall office building across the street. We used to get half an hour of direct sunlight at most through each window in June and July, but always on a sharp angle. We'd get indirect sunlight bouncing off the office building's windows into the living room which was quite nice. But spending my first few days here constantly thinking I was leaving lights on in all the rooms has made me realise just how dark that flat must have been.
The sunlight is having a lovely effect on the new flat's temperature. It's so warm! A little too warm in the morning and at suppertime, to be honest. One reason for the hot morning is a southeast-facing window and the sun rising before 4:30am. I'm thinking blackout curtains may be in order. Between the cement wall and the original wooden shudders, our old bedroom was cool and pitch black at night until we decided to get up. Now my body wakes me up at 5, thinking it's time to start the day! The other thing is that here in the UK, duvets are what's available to sleep under. Ours wasn't nearly warm enough for the old place, and now we're too warm in the new one. And yet I can't find a simple blanket the size of a bedspread anywhere, other than fancy-ish quilts and blankets that cost over £100 at the department stores downtown. So I'm still working on this. It's warm in the evenings because our living room is on the opposite side of the flat, and with a big bay window. The table is in the bay window area, and the sun starts shining in around 4pm and sticks around for 3 or 4 hours, making eating a hot activity that necessitates the closing of curtains. But I'd sure rather be warm than cold in my home!
Finally, we have those two coveted items that are all too rare in Edinburgh flats: double-glazing and gas central heating. The boiler got fixed on Monday, and we got to experience how fast and efficient the central heating really is. There's a heater in every room, including in the washroom (which was one of the coldest places in the old flat). Double-glazed windows keeps the heat in and the cold Edinburgh wind out, so the sun is able to heat up the right half of the flat in the morning, the left half in the afternoon and evening, and the heat stays inside for us to enjoy. Amazing.
Our building and the surrounding identical buildings have been built within the past ten years. Our old building was built in the 1860s and renovated in the 1980s. This place has insulation in the walls and roof, working windows with that all-important double-glazing, lower ceilings which keep the rooms warmer, clean carpets and linoleum flooring, many electrical sockets in convenient locations (including on both sides of the bed so that we can each have a bed-side lamp), and waterproof tiles and fixtures in the bathroom and kitchen. Electrical wires and cables were in place when the walls were put up, so there are only a few wires running down from the ceiling or along the skirting boards, rather then coming in through a hole cut into the window sill which is the common way to wire traditional tenements here. Our old bathroom was done all in wood, and consequently had rotting areas along the base of the bathtub and mould stains on the paint work. I also feel as though not only was the place very clean when we moved in (which our old place definitely was not), but that I'll be able to easily keep it clean and feel good about the level of cleanliness of my home. With the original wood floors with their large cracks between them and old, unclean furniture and rugs, the old place never felt comfortably clean to me as a whole.
Near the Train Tracks
I'm learning that many people wouldn't agree with me on this one, but being so close to train tracks is something that I love. Being close to the train station was very important to us when we were looking for a new place. Derek will be commuting to Glasgow everyday for school, and that's about a 45 minute train ride, so we wanted to make the rest of the commute as short and simple as possible. Happily there was a large new-built community with numerous flats regularly becoming available, and I was able to spot a good one at a better price than most. Now Derek will have about a 6 minute walk to the station with no streets to cross, rather than over 15 minutes fighting past numerous pedestrians on their way to work, countless tourists and fellow commuters on narrow footpaths and getting stuck at several intersections.
What I am really enjoying is hearing the rumbling of the trains going to and from the station. I love it. It makes me think of my grandma's place back home which is located on the far side of a field from train tracks. I find the rumbling very peaceful and almost reassuring, as it takes my mind right back to her place, and so I feel very lucky to get to hear them in my home here. And I just heard another one :)
Well that's some of my initial thoughts and feelings about our new home. I have absolutely no second thoughts about moving, as I'm so much happier here already. The summer's off to a great start.
1 comment:
Looks great!
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