I know we’ve only been here nearly two months, but I’m really starting to like Stanmore. Sometimes it really feels like somewhere out in the suburbs, with its wide, quiet streets and big impressive houses. Most of those houses have been broken up into apartments like ours, but they’re still impressive.
I get jealous of those houses and wish I could have one whenever I pass a really nice one. Then I remind myself that a) I will never be able to afford a house that big; b) I’ll never need that much house; and c) very few of them are full houses any more. I still like to imagine living in one of them, though.
One of these little terraces is more our style. There are a fair few of these ‘Castle Houses’ around, so it must have been a popular design at the time. The little tower-like design at the front makes me smile, and they’re probably only two or three bedrooms so it’s not like the place would be full of empty rooms. It still is probably too expensive for us, especially at the moment, but it is a slightly more realistic dream house.
I feel like I could take photos of the houses around here for days. For every impeccably presented mansion is a rickety terrace full of different colours and textures and personality. I feel weird stopping and taking photos of places, but sometimes I can’t help but notice pretty houses and want to try and capture what it is about that that is interesting.
Of course no photo post would be complete without some pictures of flowers. I love the orange and white rose (it smelled amazing, too), but the next time I walked past that house on the way to buy groceries it was gone. I remember my Mum having a rose bush that grew red and white flowers like that, and it is such a striking flower and I can’t help but be drawn to it.
Also, here is a local cat. s/he seemed unimpressed that I had interrupted his/her roll in the grass. It lives across the street, with our friendly neighbour and his four other cats and his little dog. It is a huge cat, one of the biggest I’ve seen around here, and there are a lot of cats around here. One day I will make friends with them all.