Below Belief

It was a pretty hectic week – we moved house, planted our vegetable patch, had some people round for a BBQ, went to work, continued to tidy and finish the house and to top it all off we cycled 60 miles from London to Brighton on Sunday in the British Heart Foundation charity annual bike race.
It was great fun – although the early start (5.15am) plus 6 mile cycle to the start at Clapham Common and the 54 miles and many hills in between were a real challenge. We were all done by 12.30 and after a slap up meal laid on by the hospitable Aunt of one of our team mates “Strictly Come Cycling” (thanks!) we headed back to London in a van.
The finale of the day was a street party in our new street – not quite in our honour but actually because one of the sets of neighbours’ further down the street is leaving for Hong Kong. Fabulous opportunity to meet a few new people (desperately trying to remember names etc) and for them to meet us. And very grateful to be fed and watered so well after such an exhausting day. Bed by 10pm…

Sorry about the gap there. Had no broadband for a few days until we moved in and got set up. So bumper update tonight. Catch all the action over at www.grosvenorgardens.com where “we move in”.
We reached the culmination of a plan we made 15 months ago to make an offer on a crazy wreck of a house in Sheen, sell my flat, move in together in S’s, do a complete renovation on the place and finally move in to our beautiful house.
The builders are still with us – every day pushing us that bit closer to living here on our own – but we are, to all intents and purposes installed in the finished article.
Who would have thought a 20 minute viewing of a dirty, infested, unloved property would be enough to inspire us both to take on this massive project which has changed us and our lives forever? Now we have a base, a foundation, a community of great neighbours and a place we can genuinely call our own – to our design – in this world.
And so I turn to unpacking the many boxes – most of which I’ve been without for 9 months. I have had a sort of allergic reaction to my own possessions. Some are nice to get back – and remember fondly. Others seem so out of place – from another time and no longer appropriate, I throw them out with disgust. Perspective changed. Yet more bring a tinge of sadness from a life forgotten, dim and distant already despite my (relative) youth – glimpses of the odd past dream. New ones replace them. And a new future beckons.
And to more pressing concerns, like the various new snags we’ve uncovered as we’ve actually lived in the place – rather than just walked around it, looking…
before/after: