Well, I can see the ladder...

Our house is beautiful. Everyone agrees on this.

Well, except me. For some reason, I’m not keen on it. I just don’t like it. I’ve liked very other house I’ve lived in, even the flat with noisy neighbours, draughts windows, no heating or double glazing and a kitchen with one cupboard and no windows – draughty or not.

So I’ve thought about buying a house for ages. I want to live somewhere where we can do what we want, where it’s worth decorating, where I can do what I want with the garden. I think I have a slightly idealised idea of home ownership – but I also want to spend money on somewhere I can live when I’m decrepit rather than give it to my landlord. Meshal is very nice but it’s starting to feel like wasted money.

Matt and I have talked about it and on Saturday I rang up the bank and Made Enquiries. We can have a mortgage. Matt and I talked about it further. I want to rush off, look at houses, buy somewhere and hope for the best. Matt wants to save up enough money to pay solicitors’ fees.

As usual, we are doing the fairly sensible thing. We’re saving and I’m looking at houses on the internet and imagining… This is slightly complicated by Manchester being Very Big. I know some places in South Manchester. South Manchester can be split into areas which are unaffordable and areas which we don’t want to live in. North Manchester is cheaper but we know nothing about it. Then there’s Salford on the left and Tameside on the right. Salford’s out of the question as Matt lived there while at uni and doesn’t want to do it again.

So I imagine this state of affairs will continue for quite a few months… We may not be on the property ladder yet but at least I can see the bottom…