MOVING SUBURBS

 After chosing the real estate agent and the stylist, the next choice was of a temporary home. The house auction wasn't until the end of November and we planned to head to Perth at the beginning of 2025. We needed a furnished 3 bedroom place but more importantly, somewhere that would let us take Indigo, our cat. We also decided that we wanted to stay in the Northern suburbs so that we'd still have access to our doctors and dentists, our library, our favourite cinema (Palace Pentridge), our friends in that part of town, and of course the Pink House.

We poured over AirBnb and Stayz and there wasn't much to be had. We almost chose a town house in Coburg but did we really want to have to deal with 4 flights of stairs? In the end we found a Tranquil Townhouse in Brunswick. It was a light filled two story place at the back of an old shared house with five charming young people who mainly worked in the cultural industries. We had neighbours on either side (one set who were MTC subscribers) but the building was solid and we never heard a sound so "tranquil" was accurate.

The owner of the townhouse was off travelling in South America for a year and clearly travel was an important part of her life. There were Indian hangings, African photographs, and plates and statues from all around the world so we felt as if we'd stepped into a warm and welcoming space.

When we signed up, I was told that a "plant butler" would come every fortnight to look after the indoor and terrace plants. I initially dismissed the idea, thinking I can manage a few pot plants, but on arrival, I changed my mind. Endless numbers of succulents. A plant species I neither care about or know anythng about so it was "yes please" for the plant butler. 

Indigo has lived a very sheltered life. She's been an indoor cat all her life and her only excursions have been to the vet. In recent times when we go travelling, our friend Christ has come to look after her and the Pink House. So moving to a totally new environment was going to be a challenge for a 16 year old cat. We put her on calming tablets in the days leading up to the move and had plugged in a cat calming phremone diffuser and that all seemed to help. Most importantly, we took Mum's old pink upholstered foot stool which she uses as a scratching post,  a ladder and a bed, put that in the sunshine and she settled in to 4/125 Glenlyon Rd, Brunswick, as did we.