Home Sweet Flat

We finally have pictures of our flat up! It is a cozy two-bedroom flat above a shop, in a nice, diverse neighborhood called Acocks Green. Ironically, it was the cheapest flat that we looked at, and by far and away the nicest on the inside. They don't seem to have the same rules regarding tenants' decorating as the States, so most of the ones we looked at had hideous carpeting and wallpaper, and at least one room clearly done up as the "kids room." It made us question why we were getting such an incredible deal for our place, and worry that we happened into a really bad area or something. We haven't had any problems in the last couple months though - we feel totally safe, and are getting to know the people who work in the shops on our street. Any remaining doubts we had were put to rest Sunday, when our first visitors came. They didn't say, "We can't believe you live in this godforsaken place." Instead they said, "Wow, your place is really nice! How did you find it?" making us feel like we had pulled one over on the locals :-).

We haven't totally let down our guard though. When I told my dad (Norm) that we were living above a shop, across from a school and next to a flower shop, he said it sounds like the setting of an Agatha Christie - just a word of caution for you soon-to-be visitors!