Farewell to Lilac Cottage

I've lived at this cottage in the heart of Kirkby Lonsdale for over two years now. The location is great but I've never really liked the building: pokey kitchen and bathroom, grotty cellar, uncared for rooms. My early efforts and suggestions to spruce the place up were met with disinterest from the landlord. Truthfully, the only things I've liked about the place were how much Dan liked it (for reasons I never quite nailed down) and the good times I had there with friends and family.

I'm drop of the hat sentimental about all sorts of things but on Sunday morning I decided I wouldn't sleep here again didn't even feel a twinge. At the cottage I was in for the previous year, I was OK on my own when I didn't have the kids or the Minx wasn't staying. I'd light the fire, pour a glass of wine, put on some music and read a book. Here, I often just go up to bed and read or write. 

I'm an "accept the things you can't change" kind of guy and I've simply got on with living here for the last two years or so, not least because at no point did I ever feel I was much less than a few months away from getting back into the house, so there was no point in looking for somewhere different. "We'll be back home by Christmas" I said to my older daughters in the autumn of 2014. And then again a year later.

But now it really is happening. Tonight I'll be staying with the Minx and tomorrow I'll be sleeping in my own home. And I guess that really is the difference; the cottage has been a place I've lived in but it's never really been home.