Week 3

I may have mentioned this before, so apologies. Since I've become a lesbot of leisure, I've had all the time to do what I want. The only major downside to this is that all of my playmates are fully fledged National Insurance contributing kind of people. And, more importantly, they're not here in Belgium!

So occasionally I've felt like Bea Smith in solitary confinement in Prisoner Cell Block H. But at least she got visits from Vinegar Tits and

old Lizzie during the day ;-) However, everything is starting to settle in now. After a very relaxing and social Easter weekend, I feel like I've been recharged. I think part of that was also down to the excessive consumption of chocolate, and I did manage to get out for a ride despite the weather.

We also went to view an apartment at the w/end which I just fell in love with. Unfortunately for me there was an 'optie' on it (pronounced 'opsie', go figure). Sarah decided to only point this out after I'd said optie to the estate agent about, oh, 10 times. Gotta love her ;-) The optie means that someone else has a hold on the apartment for a week. I tried the old Scottish charm which seems to have paid off - woohoo! Just found out yesterday that the apartment is mine!

It's got a beautiful terrace -essential for successful continental living. But I think that it was the homing pigeon sheds and allotment in a neighbours garden that really swung it for me.

Whilst we're on the subject of apartment hunting, the photos of the inside of apartments are a very important part of the marketing of a property. A seller should want to utilise each photo to provide maximum impact, to compel the buyer to imagine living there. Right??

Perhaps Belgians have different priorities from me because I've seen some of the most random collection of property pics. They've ranged from unfinished apartments with all of the kitchen units still in their boxes, construction sites, nice looking stairwells, water pipes for your washing machine, a garage door slightly open, a garage door fully open, and building sites. I've even seen the odd person in the background cooking or doing their ironing.