As a student..
I started out living in south London and while I enjoyed stints of living in central London and even Knightsbridge whenever I visited my older cousin A at her flat in the north-western "suburbs" I was always enamoured with her beautiful balcony. It looked out in the neighbours' gardens, on a leafy street and above all had a huge tree right opposite it..
Little did I know..
.. that after A left London, I would be staying in her flat and the beautiful balcony would be MY BALCONY!!! It is not big and it may not appear to a third person as something extraordinarily special..but to a person living in gloomy grey London for a while now it is like a small haven!
I love sitting outside..
even though I have to confess that I only finally bought chairs for the balcony a a whole year after I moved into the flat. It is not only that our street is immensely beautiful but that you can watch and feel the changes of the seasons.. in September the huge tree has yellow and brown leaves and is shedding them slowly slowly..in winter when it snows its white, when it is spring my flowers are blooming and the big tree turns yellow with flowers and finally when summer arrives we can finally put out our canvas chairs and sit outside sipping our wine and watching the neighbourhood come to life...
I love feeling part of a neighbourhood.
.I love that I have seen the kids next door built a snowman and that I knew when I saw a tennis ball in our garage that it was theirs..I greatly enjoyed throwing their ball in their back yard and knowing they would be very happy when they found it again..I loved that I knew that the Japanese teenager from down the street would come out in under my balcony every day after the matches finished during the World Cup to kick his football against the neighbour's wall.. I love that I know the route the fox of the neighbourhood follows every night to cross the street..I do love my balcony...
