One year ago --- Keys to this house. Time sure flies fast.

‎23rd December we got the keys to this house and the excitement was beyond words. I still remember that Alex and I stood outside the house and prayed over this house. We went into the house and prayed again, for our Lord's blessings. 4 months later we moved in. I still wonder sometimes, if this was a mistake, moving to another house. The expenses broke us up. Till today we are broke beyond words and imagination. I don't know when we will get back on our feet again. Time will only tell. The reason we wanted to move out of there was our upstairs drunk neighbours. Day and night the fellow was shouting and cursing and swearing. 10 years of that was enough we thought. So, the good news is we don't hear those shoutings anymore. We both sleep like a baby in the night. I guess it was all worth it. Peace and quiet. I don't have that stress, my heart doesn't beat crazily when the shoutings start, I am not exposed to vulgur language. I guess it's all good. Now that I have thought about the reasons why we left there, yeah, it was no doubt a good thing. When we first moved to that flat in 2001, it was a majority of dutch people with 4 families being non dutch. But with the renovations in our city taking place, small lower income flats being demolished or renovated to become bigger flats and more costly, these lower income non dutch families started to flood our flats (about 10 flats in our area). That's when, the store room doors (on the first floor) got damaged, broken into. The dustbin area set on fire. Grafitti on the walls, urine in the lifts. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the foreign families, I am one of them. My neighbour upstairs are dutch. But there was an air of unfriendliness, no greetings and coldness. Many of my neighbours there are threatening to leave when they got the chance because they do complain exactly what I said earlier. Anyway, we are out of there and we are glad. I enjoy my walks with Junior because all the dogs here are on a leash. There not. There was huge dogs, bouvier, german sheperd, pit bull terrier???, a mastino ..... all running free and unleashed. I told you once how a American bulldog got the neck of a beagle. The german sherperd bites the backside of people when they are going up the stairs. Police reports were made but the owners of the sherperd still don't leash the dog. 2 months ago, the lady with a child who moved in 6 months before we left there, and is a neighbour to the german sherperd dog, said that she is leaving, that she feels unsafe for her todler. A friend of Alex with a mini border collie, told Alex 2 days ago that when a big dog came running towards him, he picked his border collie up but the dog sprang on him and that the next thing what he knew, he was in the hospital, that he doesn't remember what happened. See. So, in a way I am glad. Drug abuse on the basement ..... when one walks to the storeroom or cellar, it smells of marijuana. Condoms are found there too. Enough said. Despite some problems, yeah, I am glad we moved away from there. We have great neighbours here, the children are different too. So, if I am asked if I truly am happy, I would say, yeah, 90 percent. For the 10 percent I guess if I went to work, that problem would be solved. Thing is I don't feel like working. I worked enough and no, don't wish to work. Peace, quiet, harmony, friendliness, that we have got and it's good enough. *smile* ........