Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out

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you can't please everyone, all the time

i was standing on the steps of our house today, in my 'working-round-the-house' clothes

been grouting the endless cellar floor

a lady stopped by the gate and asked an often asked question: 'can I ask you? is this going to be flats?'

'no, it's a house' I said, expecting the answer, 'oh: that's great it's not going to be flats: that would be such a shame'

instead I got, 'how many bedrooms?'

to which I answered '5...ish'

and then the lady unexpectedly said, 'don't you think that's bad? it should be flats: there's lots of people needing to live somewhere'

'nope', I said, 'it was built as one house and I think it would be VERY wrong to split it into flats'

'has someone bought it?' asked the lady

'yes', I replied, not wishing to illuminate her further

she walked away shaking her head before turning round to take in the full view for a while.

I've always liked to live in big old houses.

I rented an old fire station on old street first, then a loft on curtain road.

me and lucy's first purchase was a ruin of a victorian factory in hackney wick, which had been on the market for over a year: no-one wanted it so we got it got for less than a one bed flat.

then we moved out of town in 2006 and moved to a knackered old farmhouse in kent, with 33 acres (that had also been on the market for over year because no-one wanted it)

before this place, we were renting a wing of a Jacobean mansion in 250 acres of woodland

and now we're here in this Georgian mansion house, which we are taking the (extreme) trouble to repair and renovate

should I feel bad about it?

isn't it ok for people to live where they can afford to?

and live how they want, without negatively impacting on other people's lives?

people are strange.

we do not come from wealthy families: what we have we've worked for.

I am disinclined to apologise

Perous Secret Diary - Keep Out: October 04, 2019