House Hunting

Now we're on our next step - finding a flat of our own. We've been sharing the same room for over a month now, so it will be great to have luxuries like: a quiet place to read ... a room we can send Sarah for a time-out when she's crabby ... a real desk ... and all the broadband we can eat.

Yesterday Margo was strongly advised by her coworkers that we not live in Colchester. It's not such a small town and her face will be known soon enough. Clients can be verbally abusive; even staff translators have had bad incidents. So we're looking into some of the smaller communities nearby, or perhaps even Ipswich which is further northeast and a larger city. We're looking for something that's a close car commute for Margo but also near a train station so that I can commute to London or Ipswich. We also want a furnished flat - it would be silly for us to buy roomfuls of furniture because we'd get killed spending dollars, and then we'd have the pain of liquidating it when we leave, and we're still sore from just doing it in Portland.

So Sarah and I will be pounding the pavement visiting lettings agents to find good matches. Fortunately we're a short walk from a dozen or more offices so it's easy work.

I like Colchester a lot, though. I swear there must be a hundred pubs and restaurants here in the town centre, and lots and lots of shopping. There's also a great 23-acre park that includes a castle and cricket ground. Sarah and I are next off to a swimming centre that includes a kids' play area.