the corner office

We signed the rental agreement this week, and the 1000 year old town of Wallingford, Oxfordshire is going to be our new home. This is where my sister and brother-in-law stay, and we long ago decided we'd like a change from big city living. We're close enough to cities like Oxford and Reading to not feel too isolated, but in a small enough town to feel like we're away from it all.

The town itself oozes history. It's more like a village, but as some pamphlets take pride in pointing out, the town received its charter before London did. It still has the remains of a castle built by William the Conqueror, many of the buildings and churches are centuries old, and every day we walk past mounds which are the remains of the town's original Anglo-Saxon fortifications from around the 9th century. It's still hard to wrap my mind around the idea of living in a place that's been around and steadily populated for so long.

Needless to say, we've been out shopping for home stuff. It's pretty difficult buying things when you have no idea whether what you're buying is reasonably priced or not. I mean, I barely knew what constituted an expensive duvet cover in South Africa, but at least I had some context in which to decide how affordable something was. You feel a bit silly continually asking daft questions like "is this a good price for a pillowcase? Is this an expensive kettle?".

On the subject, the coming week will see the next big adventure: Ikea. We're quite excited. When we can roll our eyes knowingly when people talk about the place, we'll feel like we've settled in.