House hunting

or, in my case, something smaller.

I have been hunting for somewhere to live - no, I have not found anywhere yet. At present I am living in the house I shared with the Senior Cat. It was his home and the only reason I lived there was to care for him and my mother when she was alive.  Had it not been for the Black Cat the Senior Cat would have been able to leave me a life interest in the property but that has not been possible. I need to move.

I also contributed my fair share to the household expenses but, as I don't have the major expense of a car, I have managed to save something. Middle Cat and I have been hunting. There are two major websites which provide "property alerts" for places within my price range that might also cover the other issues I need to address. Middle Cat knows a real estate agent who is also watching the market for us.

We went and looked at a place yesterday. In terms of location it would be excellent. It is close to local shops, doctor, library and train. Those things are important if you are not a very mobile sort of cat. I could pedal to all those places. 

There are two bedrooms, one of which could easily be turned into a study/workroom. There were some minor issues, such as the lighting, which could be fixed. (The lights would have been very dim at night which is not a good idea for an aging cat.) 

Middle Cat and I explored. We opened doors and drawers, knocked on walls, tried windows and looked around the two metre square garden.

And then we had a look at the kitchen. Not big but we did not expect big. It looked good - except for one thing. There was no stove...no oven...no cook top. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

The place currently belongs to a professional man who is about to retire to somewhere on the south coast. He has been living there for almost forty years. He has managed without anything to cook on all these years. He apparently took the stove out when he moved in and has managed on a small microwave and a sort of tiny bench top oven.  Somehow he has survived.

Would it be very "sexist" of me to suggest that a woman might have done something more after all these years?