Adjusting To Bijoux Apartment Life.

There are a few things that we have had to get used to since downsizing from a castle in Wolverhampton to a bijoux riverside apartment in Evesham, which mainly concern the getting in and out of!The first “barrier” is the main communal portal ……… which leads, to the left to our flat …..

…… which is without a knocker, bell or a letter box!

If we have a visitor(s) they have to select the correct button from a choice of six at the side of the main door.  If they choose the correct one, it should then buzz the intercom in our hall. One of us then picks up the reciever to ask whether they are “friend or foe”, before pressing the open button allowing  them over the first threshold.

However, should we have any concerns that said visitor may be using a false name or disguised voice in order to gain entry, we also have a spy hole in our front door, so we can give them the once over or see who’s visting next door ……

When we are all perfectly happy the chain can be taken off …….…… and the door unlocked, simples!

Having a front door without a letter box we now have to collect our correspondence from a locker in the communal passage way, this too has taken a little to get used to, but we all agree its a very, very romantic to get our letters, even if they are bills.

We have a shared door into the communal gardens, though we think it’s only us and next door that actually use it.

And we also have a communal noticeboard! So far we haven’t put anything on it, but it can only be a matter of time before we notice a bulb has gone in the main hall or meter cupboard to bring to the caretakers attention.

There are two landings above us, but to be honest we don’t really need to go up there, unless, in due course, we find the urge to be neighbourly and pop up to borrow a cup of sugar or the odd drop of milk

The view is quite, quite lovely, you really can see when any of the fishermen catch anything, or, if you had any binoculars, what they have got  in their lunchbox.

And, as I discovered yesterday, if you go right to the very top you can be almost at one with the squirrels.  For the moment I am keeping this bit of information to myself, if Nigel catches wind of it, he’ll just keep making excuses to go upstairs. I also don’t think I had better let it be known that I already have some nuts put away ready for the fast approaching festive season!