Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover… yet we all do, don’t we?!!!

If I leave a rhubarb crumble for Man of the Woods and my son, perhaps the fact I’m going away again will seem slightly easier to swallow 🤣.

Today the daughter needs help moving her belongings from one accommodation to the next. Stepping stones of life.

She moves from an en-suite room in a stunning Victorian house in a leafy Queens Park road in London, to a small studio flat on a busy road in Hampstead.

Why would you do that, I hear you ask.

Don’t judge a book by its cover. We did, but that’s ok. All good experience.

When we first found the property she is today moving from (last summer), the photos showed a light and airy property, painted white throughout. Wooden floors and a white marble kitchen, glass jars in pastel shades held the pastas and rice along the sideboard in the kitchen and coloured glass shades produced a warm glow above the island with it’s extra sink and brass tap offering hot water at the touch of a button. It was something from a House & Garden magazine, truly, and all the aspects my daughter one day aspires to have in her own home.

Renting a room here would surely be lush? ‘Access throughout the house’ said the landlady when she interviewed my daughter for the room last year.

The reality?

I’m not one these days to list negativity about another human being. Doing so leaves a trail of negativity within, so suffice to explain that my daughter is looking forward instead to;

• Privacy.

• Animal hair-free clothing after using the washing machine.

• Animal poo-free bedroom floor when she comes home from a long day a work.

• Comment-free kitchen moments about what type of teabags she is choosing at any particular moment.

• Having more than half of one fridge shelf for her groceries.

• Having more than one cupboard shelf for her cereals and dry goods.

• Being able to control the heating temperature within the space so when she returns from work, it is as she left it.

• Listening to no-one shouting at a dog at 3am.

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

To have learnt at only 19 years old that a smaller space which is your own brings calm and peace is a hugely positive lesson.

Each stepping stone she takes brings a different experience and from those she is making informed choices, rather than reacting to other well-meaning older human beings who like to impart their advice.

Learning for ourselves is the best way!