It’s my new favourite word. Settled. I thought of this word today as I bought a sturdy glass butter dish at the local housewares shop. For over five years I’ve avoided accumulating things as much as possible, especially anything heavy or breakable. First it was before our immigration matter was decided (my tiny but stubborn superstitious streak) and after that was resolved we knew we’d be moving out of our flat the second we managed to nab a good house. And I hate packing.

I also managed to keep my love of buying books under tight control too, and have now been richly rewarded – twice. Packing what books I do own took less than half an hour, and I found out recently that an independent bookshop is about to open a short walk down the road.

The house itself is a mix of things we love, and flaws that make it loveable. It’s nothing like what we were hoping for and everything we didn’t know we actually wanted. It will keep us busy for many months (or maybe even years) but is in good enough shape that we are not despairing over the work. It’s only the second house we’ve ever owned, and this time we’re more comfortable – we know our way around home improvement stores. We know what we can do ourselves, and when to bring in the pros.

We’re ready to get on with the rest of our lives now. And that is an amazing feeling.