Fiona and Bruce are leaving our street after living in it for many years. Not that all the years were spent in the same house. They started off in a smaller house further down the street then, as their family expanded, they bought the end house.
It had belonged to a 97-year-old woman who died with no relatives. Lots of people put in offers for the house but Fiona and Bruce, in offering the asking price, won it and moved in. The proceeds of the sale, by the way, went to local charity, Phyllis Tuckwell.
The people who have bought the house this time slipped a note under the door asking if they could buy it. I assume it was all very smooth and simple.
The new owners currently live in the next road and are on the way up, obviously.
In the meanwhilst, Fiona and Bruce are moving to a penthouse apartment, over two floors with dozens of balconies and outside spiral staircase, in Bristol. It’ll be a complete change of lifestyle and one that I think they’re really looking forward to.
The reason I’m mentioning this, is because tonight we were invited (along with the rest of the street) to drinks to say goodbye.
I’d spent a good part of the day making moussaka, so was looking forward to a bit of a break from the kitchen. Actually, to be completely honest, I’d had a lovely half hour on the sun lounger before we left, while Mirinda was Skyping with Sophie.
We spent a lovely few hours chatting to other people who live in the street, talking about various things to do with Sweden, covid19 and crocodiles in garden ponds.
We chatted to a few of our neighbours who we didn’t really know. One couple have fostered a young boy, which put Mirinda in mind of Camilla and Anders. When she asked them how they were finding it, they paused before answering.
Mirinda commented on the pause, suggesting it indicated a story. They paused before saying it had not been exactly what they’d thought it would be.
We also had a lovely, lively chat with Victoria from 13. And, of course, the wine kept flowing.
It did mean a rather late dinner.
I’d left the top off the moussaka, in order to finish when we returned. We returned at around 8pm and didn’t start eating until close to 9pm. Not that that mattered. The moussaka was delicious and, as a bonus treat, we get to have some for lunch tomorrow.
