Thursday, January 29, 2009

Oh, Goodness!

Demetrios says now's the time to get serious about acquiring a place to stay in England. He lived in Ormskirk for a while, which is in Lancashire, near Liverpool, so he'd like to go back there. He says the Liverpudlians have a great and unique sense of humor, a delightful culture, I'll like it there, the western part of England is especially pretty, and Lancashire is near Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The dollar is going a bit better against the pound and housing prices are currently depressed, so now's the time to use the money from the property we sold here a year or so ago.

So I've spent some hours this week looking, on the Internet, at what's available in the vicinity of Ormskirk in our price range.

I'm having to learn new terms. The "lounge" is what we'd call a living room. An "en suite" is a small bathroom connected to the master bedroom. "First Floor" is the one immediately above the Ground Floor (as is the case throughout Europe). "No upward chain!" apparently means if you sign a contract, it won't be contingent upon the seller finding a new home. "Partial Ownership" means you still pay monthly rent to the other owner(s). DG is double glazed windows and GC is gas central heat. I don't know for sure what an Artexted ceiling is (textured?) or coved. A hob, I think, must be a stove top. (Dear Elizabeth, have I got these more or less right?)

These homes are mostly tiny. Tiny is what we want, of course, and it seems likely we'll find something delightful. Still, I think I'd feel claustrophobic in a kitchen no wider than the kitchen sink, like this one.



And, while I was looking, I came across this photo of a half-length, easy-chair shaped "tub" just like the one we used to have in Thessaloniki! I had supposed it unique, but here's its twin, except this one is bright and shiny and clean looking, whereas ours was hopeless. You sit on the shelf and lower your feet into the well.



I found a picture of a shower just like the one we installed in Greece, too, except our tiles are forest green and our glass is partially frosted. It's so small you have to be careful not to bump your elbows!



Well, it's a lot of fun looking and dreaming. It'll be even more fun if we manage to get there in March and look around in person!

5 comments:

DebD said...

Would you be moving there permanently or just have another house like in Greece? If so, why England instead of Greece?

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

Coving can be seen here;-
http://www.decorative-coving.co.uk/category.php?cat_id=1

Artexed ceilings are textured/patterned plaster type coating on celilings. Sometimes also seen on walls. Avoid the stuff on walls; one of my daughters once slipped downstairs and the walls of that house were artexed. She had some nasty scratches to her face as a result .......
The hob is indeed the stove top.

And yes, the houses are tiny compared to the average size houses DD1 saw in the States !

It would be great fun if you had a base in the UK , though our weather is awful compared to Greece !!

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

Winter in England is not something I think we'd choose, I think; we'd probably just live there in the summer, when both Greece and Virginia are broiling. (We have an air conditioner in Greece, but the problem is most people haven't, so going anywhere in summer, friends' homes, etc., is quite miserable.) Then we'd alternate the rest of the time between the US and Greece.

We can't stay permanently that far from my/our family, ever.

Thanks, Elizabeth, with the help in terminology!

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

So "coving" is what we'd call ceiling molding.

And a dado rail, I've discovered, is what we call a chair rail. (They're popular here, where houses are often faux-colonial.)

Well, I am acquiring a little education.

Dixie said...

I have to admit I love the quarter circle shower cabinet. I have to travel to France a lot because of my work. One of my most favorite things to do is leave Toulouse or Lyon for Paris on Friday night, stay overnight at the CDG Sheraton and take the first flight out Saturday morning for the US...in fact, I just did that yesterday. The Sheraton has these kinds of showers.

I have a funny story about that. One time I stayed at the CDG Sheraton and I got up early to get ready to catch my plane but I was soooo very tired from the week...jet lag, didn't get much sleep, under bundles of stress, etc. So I stepped in the tub and was quite peeved to find only one of those typical Euro hand sprayers and not even a partial partition for overspray. I took my shower the best I could trying not to spray water all over the bathroom and wondering the whole time why an American owned hotel chain couldn't offer a better shower arrangement. As I toweled off I noticed the shower cabinet!!!

I am thinking in the UK you will want to do most of your own cooking so a good kitchen would be a priority. Although I think my mother would have loved a kitchen no wider than a sink...to keep everyone else out while she was cooking!!!