Port in a Storm

So I've been in my new place for a week now and I'm really settling in. I live with a woman who runs her own business, her 12 year old daughter (who is like an old sensible lady in a kids body) a woman who works as a care worker who is only around in the afternoon so I've never seen her! and a guy who is staying there a while before he moves into his own place in the new year. It's kinda like a sanctuary for waifs and strays I think!

Although it feels a bit weird being a lodger at 38; apart from the daughter, I'm actually the youngest person there! Plus the rent includes bills and food which means I'm in a great position to get my business off the ground and save to eventually get my own place. Most importantly it's a welcome sanctuary from the place I just moved from - It's homely, cosy and friendly.

It's strange really, as there was nothing tangibly 'wrong' with the last house but it was actually just a beautiful, yet cold and sterile place. It had no personality, soul or character and I didn't feel comfortable there. It would never have felt like home however long I stayed.

I'd had a bad feeling about it before I moved - my last flatmate said she remembers me still looking on Gumtree the night before I moved; but I didn't think for a minute that the bad feeling would result in my darling cat being killed there. I know it could've happened anywhere, but the fact it happened in a place I didn't really want to move to is galling. I'd already said I was going to move out 3 days before he died, but after that I didn't want to stay there another minute.

My room now is half the size of the other one, and the house is very chaotic but it's friendly and I have everything I need - plus it's a house with love in it. I'm also reeeeeally enjoying being so close to town; I literally go down the road, turn the corner and I'm right in the bustle of Brighton. I can just pop out to meet people and be there in minutes yet my street is very quiet. It's perfect.

I feel more settled in this new place than I did in 7 weeks at the old one. We all sit down to dinner every night round the table with a glass of wine and debate this or that issue, we laugh a lot and it feels like home already. I'm so tired of moving but hopefully, the move after this one will be a place on my own. But for now, the new house is just right.