Malone reflects on the joys of two bedroom living
I can’t write in the lounge with the noise of the fridge whirring so loudly. Yes, it’s great having my own bedroom though and fantastic that the sprog has her own room now, (I call it a room but it is more of a large cupboard with a window. It is extremely small.)
We don’t mention that in front of the child. Fearing that she will concur, demanding her old room back (the BED-room, the room you can actually fit a bed into). I keep forgetting I have my own room and that I could be googling ‘mid rise jeans’ from the comfort of my bed! Couldn’t do that before, for fear of waking the child I slept next to.
It’s been a week and now I can’t imagine sharing a bed with my four year old. How did I do it for so long? One day I hope we will be in a big house in the country/Balearics/Tongdean, saying; “When you were little, we had to share a bed! Mummy had to wash plates by hand and use a phone that didn’t have a touchscreen. Times were hard”.
Ahem. I am joking, of course. It’s just been a bit hard to have a relationship (well, impossible). And really hard to read in bed. I haven’t missed reading… Hang on, I have got to turn off the fridge. It’s so noisy I can’t think. My sofa is next to the fridge. Totally normal… “Funny to think when you were little, we kept the frozen mince in the lounge. And now we have a fridge the size of a lounge, and you’re vegan.”
“It was great when we finally got our own rooms. I really caught up with my reading”
More things I hope I end up saying one day to my child. “It was great when we finally got our own rooms. I really caught up with my reading…” I wonder how long I can have the fridge off for without defrosting the mince/sorbet/penguin-shaped ice-cubes? I am contemplating moving the fridge to the hallway then I remember there are no sockets there.
Then I realise, if I want to, I can go to my room! I have another room to go into! My room doesn’t feel any bigger now the child’s toys are in her ‘cupboard’. A huge pile of ‘I can’t leave them in the shop!’ shoes greet me on the way in and in fact need kayaking around to get to the bed. If they were designer, I’d consider selling some to pay for a silent fridge.
Recently I’ve put so much stuff on gumtree I have been described as a ‘tinker’. Once you start you can’t stop! I can’t get enough of the rush of cash for stuff I don’t use anymore. I’m keeping the slow cooker. You never know I may one day get up at 6am to stick on a stew. A lentil one. God knows I need to save money after the renovations; better stop googling clothes and start reading more!
Illustration: Lili Bé http://130cartons.com
