I don’t like Mondays

'with apologies to Tori Amos, it's been a bit of a bum start to a busy week. Our building's landlady is a lovely person who just celebrated her 87^th birthday. She's full of energy and manages the entire building well, but is starting to worry about whether the years will catch up with her at some point soon. A reasonable concern, and she wants to make space for a caregiver if she needs one, unfortunately meaning that I'll need to find a new place to live within the next six months.

It's a pity: I only finished transferring the lease from the expat agreement in August, and I've grown fond of the river and the views of the city beyond. The passing boats have been a nice backdrop to daily activities, and the neighborhood has been great. It's unlikely that there's an equivalent place available along the river near the city, so it's going to mean a more wide-ranging search to define something balancing desires for ambience with constraints of geography and budget.

I learned that the market in tightening up in town as well: the A2 bottleneck through town is going to be relieved by a new tunnel, starting construction next year. Apartment buildings, holding over a hundred units total, will be demolished along the road during the project, so those tenants have all been asked to vacate by January. That will throw a lot of people onto a limited market in the coming months: I hope it doesn't turn into a race for the bottom.

It's a lesson in not being too quick to call a rented flat "home". Expatriate life is inherently nomadic, but I'm still not used to the yearly ritual of picking up my 13 boxes and finding a new nest for the coming year. The only bright spot is that each move has been a trade-up, and there's every reason to hope that the trajectory can continue.