First Move
We are moving out of our house in 2 months—the house which we bought only three years ago. Not only are we changing our domicile, but we are also leaving the Parisian region. In fact, we’ve lived there since our arrival in France in 2016. I have been in France for eight and a half years. This will be the third time I’ve moved my home. Since I have not written for quite a while, this post will recapitulate my various dwellings since arriving in France, before finally moving to Grenoble.
I moved from Hong Kong to Orsay, a French town of 16,500 inhabitants, over 20 km from Paris. This was in 2016, to join my husband, who had arrived in France a year earlier. We chose Orsay because his university was there.
Our Tiny Mickey Mouse Apartment
We rented a tiny apartment right in the centre of Orsay. A mickey mouse apartment with a living space of 35 m2. The flat was actually on the attic floor of a 2-storey building. An elderly French couple, who lived on the floor just below, owned it. An apartment on the attic floor means that living space is smaller than the surface area. In France, this kind of space goes by the name ‘mansardé’ if its height is less than 1.80 m from the ceiling. That is, it’s under the sloping part of the roof, and that particular surface area is therefore not considered ‘living space’. For instance, part of the dining corner in the apartment was under the eaves. I had to mind my head there if I stood up from my chair, so it wasn’t counted as proper living space.
Second Move
We stayed there for slightly more than two years before we purchased our first apartment in the spring of 2018. The New Apartment was twice the size of the mickey mouse flat. It was also just two minutes on foot away from our old place. We were very content with our choice, as we got to remain in Orsay. We also liked the flat’s design: large sliding glass doors that led to a balcony stretching around our apartment. Nothing was perfect, of course, especially concerning Our Neighbours Upstairs.
Third Move
In mid-2021, we upgraded. The 2020 Covid-19 lockdown had galvanised us to search for a dwelling with more privacy and our own green space. This time, we moved into a house. House Searching started at the end of 2020, and it took three months. We then purchased a house in the early summer of 2021. It was in a nearby minuscule town of 2,500 inhabitants, 6 km from Orsay. It was a house of 120 m2 with two floors, a veranda, and a garden. Best of all, it was next to a small woodland. From our kitchen and veranda, we had an unobstructed view of the woods.
Three Years in the Garden
In the past three years, I have put in so much time, energy and sweat in this garden. For me, gardening is not a chore. Planting vegetables, clearing weeds, trapping slugs and snails, catching worms, mowing the lawn, trimming the bushes…all of this actually helps me clear my head. I have started to see the fruits (and flowers, vegetables, herbs) of my labour.
Two and a half years ago, we planted one cherry tree and one plum tree. They replaced two old, diseased Peach Trees inherited from the previous owner. We also trimmed down an old mossy Apple Tree. The gentleman who helped us with the replanting and trimming shared some advice. He said we would likely only enjoy the fruits after the second year. Indeed, we have seen more flowers blossom in the last two months than in the last two years. We’ve also recently spotted baby green cherries, plums and apples. It’s unlikely that we will get to savour the fruits before we move out.
After three years of backbreaking work…yes, backbreaking—despite the joy that gardening brings me, I can’t deny that it’s hard work—I have to leave my little piece of paradise and move again. So, yes, after spending less than three years in this house, of which 5 months were spent renovating it, we have to move again.
Fourth Move: Moving to Grenoble
This is it: we are moving to Grenoble. Our next destination is this city in the southeast of France, surrounded by mountain ranges.