We lived for 25 years in the same house in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a big house with a big garden. We now find ourselves perched like eagles on the 14th floor of a towering inner city building, which does nothing to reduce my swaying vertigo problem!
They say you should never get a flat above the 5th floor because fire-engines' ladders can only reach to the 5th floor .... Think that's a joke? Read on about how well I can cook with gas ....
Our imposing front door
There are 4 apartments on each floor of the building. So we have a quarter of the floor for our flat. We have not met our neighbours yet, but we have SMELT them - They sure cook some strange smelling food!!
The kitchen
Before we moved in, we had the flat deep-cleaned and the cleaning company suggested they insect-proof the place. I felt that any creepy crawly that managed to climb up 14 floors to get to our flat deserved something more than instant death, but I was outvoted by the entomophobics (those who scream like little girls when faced with any kind of creeping, flying or scuttling insect) in the family. Now we have little orange blobs of gel stuck around the door frames and skirting boards. It looks bizaare, but it must be working - I haven't seen any six or eight legged creatures up here yet! Must work for elephants and tigers too - haven't seen any of those either!!!
We were lucky enough to be able to choose our own furniture - which we did with much gusto and much flashing of cash. It took us all of one week to fill the flat and empty the bank balance. Everything in the flat looks crisp and bright and new - about the oldest and most bedraggled things are the humans!
Lounge Before ...
Lounge After!
1 comment:
Oooh, it looks lovely :)
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