New home

Phew! We've finally moved house and what a strange experience it is. It's a bit like being shot into a parallel universe, leaving a familiar locality and suddenly being in a totally different one.

All my expectations and routines have to be rewritten as everything has changed - the house itself, the local streets, the shops, the neighbours, even the overheard conversations.

But what fun it is exploring a brand-new neighbourhood, having no idea what's down the next street. What will I discover? A fabulous restaurant? A useful dry cleaner? A lovely old church? Or a row of derelict houses and a pawn shop?

I could wander around for hours drinking in all the sights, alternately delighted and horrified, wondering why something amazing isn't more widely known about, or why something monstrous hasn't been burnt down.

As for the house itself, it always takes months or even years to get a place exactly the way you want it, reflecting your own tastes and interests, creating a sense of friendly cosiness. What works in one house is inexplicably wrong in another.

For a while there's always a lingering feeling that it's all a dream, that I'll suddenly wake up in my old house and find the new one was a passing mirage. Slowly it'll dawn on me that it's for real, that my senses aren't deceiving me.

In fact a couple of neighbours have already introduced themselves, as well as their cat Katy who had a good sniff round our kitchen diner before sloping off looking distinctly unimpressed. She was no doubt hoping for a new feline buddy.

And just what makes a house a home? Leah said it all in her brilliant post here.