‘with apologies to Tori Amos, it’s been a bit of a bum start to a busy week. Our building’s landlady is a lovely person who just celebrated her 87th birthday. She’s full of energy and manages the entire building well, but is starting to worry about whether the years will catch up with her at some point soon. A reasonable concern, and she wants to make space for a caregiver if she needs one, unfortunately meaning that I’ll need to find a new place to live within the next six months.
It’s a pity: I only finished transferring the lease from the expat agreement in August, and I’ve grown fond of the river and the views of the city beyond. The passing boats have been a nice backdrop to daily activities, and the neighborhood has been great. It’s unlikely that there’s an equivalent place available along the river near the city, so it’s going to mean a more wide-ranging search to define something balancing desires for ambience with constraints of geography and budget.
I learned that the market in tightening up in town as well: the A2 bottleneck through town is going to be relieved by a new tunnel, starting construction next year. Apartment buildings, holding over a hundred units total, will be demolished along the road during the project, so those tenants have all been asked to vacate by January. That will throw a lot of people onto a limited market in the coming months: I hope it doesn’t turn into a race for the bottom.
It’s a lesson in not being too quick to call a rented flat “home”. Expatriate life is inherently nomadic, but I’m still not used to the yearly ritual of picking up my 13 boxes and finding a new nest for the coming year. The only bright spot is that each move has been a trade-up, and there’s every reason to hope that the trajectory can continue.
