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No pictures from the day, so filling the space
in with flowers photos from various days! |
Left our Stroud flat in the rain this morning. Now, you have two ways of thinking about that: either Stroud was sad to see us go, or maybe we shouldn't be heading to Moreton-in-Marsh to take on the flat we have let for the next few months. Hmmm...this is a year of adventure and positivity, so, I'm going with Stroud wants us to stay.
Sorry Stroud. That's not to be.
Stroud and Moreton-in-Marsh lie at opposite ends of the Cotswolds, with Stroud in the south and Moreton in the north. While only about 30 odd miles apart as the crow flies, getting from one to the other can require a bit of convoluted travel given that there aren't any trains through the heart of the Cotswolds anymore. So, with all train changes required, it took us a couple of hours to get to Moreton. But as we were now taking our larger luggage with us too, we needed the extra time.
We arrived in town just before 1:00 and were in our new flat 20 minutes later.
In the UK, most rentals (or lettings, as they are called here) are handled by an agency rather than the owner, often branches of regular real estate agencies. The agency handles advertising, checking references, paperwork, etc. We picked up our keys, then went through the house check. We've opted to rent a completely furnished flat as it is a whole lot easier than trying to find a place and furnish it. This flat was once a holiday letting, so comes complete with everything from furniture to cutlery to paintings. It will need a few touches to make it feel like home, but it is a good size and has room for visitors (hint, hint).
We're in a convenient, lovely location. The flat is situation in a market laneway directly off the High Street (the name given to most towns' main street). It is in a L-shape and is above several shops and cafes that line the lane. It's close to the train station with direct trains to London (1.5 hours) and Oxford (30 minutes), and buses to Stratford-upon-Avon (think Shakespeare) and all of the beautiful villages of the Cotwolds.
Of course, you always find something unexpected when you move into a new place. In our case, we were advised that at night, the merchants lock a gate at the front of the lane. However, what we didn't know is that a safety gate also is lowered at the back of the lane. So, essentially, we were in lock down as soon as 6:00 pm hit!
We checked our keys and realized that one of them would allow us to open and close the gate. Nice safety feature, and as a result, the flat is very quiet at night...and if there is any riffraff, they'll have a tough time getting in. But I did get a great laugh out of Phil's description that the warden had ordered the prison gates shut.
He also can't resist yelling out "dead man walking" from
The Green Mile when we leave the flat at night.
In a strange way, a quote from another prison movie,
The Shawshank Redemption, seems a bit apropos as we start on this part of our travel adventure. It reminds me of what Red says at the end when he sets off to meet Andy:
I find I'm so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain.
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