The news arrived, by letter of course, at eight o’clock. This afternoon I visited the lawyer and paid over a cheque for £450, the result of legal haggling, though they call it negotiating. The keys will be handed over when my cheque is cleared – another week. I went down to survey my new environment. When I get the keys, I can give you a description of the interior of No.39.
The flat is on the third floor of a very handsome red sandstone tenement, built around a courtyard in 1884. The courtyard is accessed through a sandstone arch tall enough and wide enough to admit a furniture removal van.
The courtyard used to have a water pump at its centre and it is not a complete quadrangle; more like a capital G. This gap offers a view onto the activity in the primary school playground. The sound of happy young voices completes the semi rural atmosphere which is already gently vibrant with the constant murmur of a waterfall beside the old mill and flavoured with farmyard smells from the tannery. I think that this will be a great place for a flat.