Now that we are through Lent and Easter has come and gone, the anticipation has seemingly increased some. While I was online viewing rental properties last night, it occurred to me that we are approaching a time when what we see online might actually still be available when we arrive. This managed to have both an exciting and distressing effect in the same instance. Exciting because I can now allow myself to look at a specific property and attempt to determine what it would be like to live there and distressing because they are still very few options that meet our specific needs.
As we have progressed through the past few months we began to identify things that we needed to keep with us, store here in the states and others that we could part with. At the top of the list for staying with us are our two dogs, Daisy and Ginger. As many of you know pets in my family aren’t really pets at all but extensions of the family. My Father will often lament that if there is such a thing as reincarnation he would prefer to come back as one of my Mother’s dogs. This sense of extending family to include pets is something my mother has passed on to me so when people ask if we are going to take our dogs with us I have no reason to hesitate. It has always been a foregone conclusion that wherever we go the dogs will follow. However, in regards to house hunting bringing pets over has made the task significantly more difficult.
Here in the states, virtually every house has a private yard of some kind and many of the apartment complexes are pet friendly as well. In the UK things are a bit different. Yesterday while performing my search there were 213 properties that fit our price range and location. Of those 213 only 30 had any sort of garden (UK equivalent of a side yard) and only 20 of those had some semblance of turf in the garden. There were also several that had yards but would not rent to pet owners so that reduced my list down to about 12.
Now twelve properties isn’t necessary a bad number because it really only takes finding the right single location to make it all work. Unfortunately this is where our second major need comes into play.
A common perception about properties in the UK is that they are smaller than homes in the states. From what I have seen it is a perception that is well earned. For not only are the properties physically smaller, their rooms are also significantly more confined as well. So much so that we have decided to leave virtually all of our large American style furniture here in the states to avoid shipping it overseas only to have it stored because there aren’t any rooms large enough to contain it. Therefore a property must also be furnished in order to make the list.
Of the 12 properties I was able to locate yesterday that had some semblance of a garden only 4 of them were furnished. Again four is not an issue if a single one of them is in a livable condition. Unfortunately none of them appeared to pass that final test.
Thankfully we still have five weeks before we arrive in Bristol and another two weeks of corporate housing allowance to find a place. I am certain that in the end we will have enough time to find a place to call home it would just be nice to see a few more options come available as the anticipation continues to mount.
