Tuesday, 22 January 2008

The 'Wow' Factor

Viewed another flat this morning, effectively scrubbing 2 hours of my work day to spend 10 minutes looking at two flats situated less than 10 minutes from my current domicile. They're being made (yes, work is still in progress) from one of the maisonettes above the Post Office.

I have to admit that, far more than the flat I saw at the weekend, these places came with an immediate 'wow' factor. In their unfinished state, they don't just look liveable, they look great. The upper floor, naturally, looks the better of the two, because it doesn't lose a good chunk of square footage to a staircase. It has a massive bathroom, as opposed to the dinky shower closet of the downstairs flat. Both have a single bedroom and a combined kitchen/lounge.

The downsides are that they are very close to my parents' house and - worse still - are overlooked by the retirement flats one of the Grandmothers lives in. Also, as was pointed out to me at work, problems in the kitchen means problems in the lounge.

On balance, 'wow' factor aside, Rayners Lane is still looking better... I just need answers on the service charge/ground rent issues.

I also need to see more properties.

We heard from my senior designer today (via one of his editors) that his mother is really terribly ill. Not just the chest infection, but no less than two tumors and uncertainty on a third. Apparently she hasn't been to a doctor in ten years, so there's not a lot of hope for her.

This could mean I'll be without a senior designer for a while. While this is a good thing in many ways, I'd be the first to say the circumstances are not what I'd have preferred. Even if he were to return to work, his current situation and the ridiculous level of 'sympathy' he'd end up enduring from certain parties in the office would mean that he wouldn't get a bloody thing done.

Comparatively, he's done far more work in one day at home than he'd generally manage to do in about two or three days at the office.

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