We’ve lived in our filing cabinet penthouse for just over four years. Do you remember those places you’ve lived in that were more than just home? You know, they were home-home?

Yeah, this is one of those places.

Our penthouse isn’t perfect, though. My long-time reader would remember our 709 days of lounge room water feature goodness. My house guests would know about the 3 uncracked floor tiles in the bathroom. The way none of the window sashes work and we have to use sticks to keep windows open.

Yeah, it’s one of those places.

But there’s still something about it. My in-laws know it, our new neighbours know it. We know it.

For lack of a better word, it’s got “character”.

Which I suppose is the best descriptor for the ornamental tap that’s tacked about 8ft up our backyard wall. It’s been a stuck up there for YEARS, long before the previous tenants moved in.

Noice, isn’ it? Don’t get me started on theories as to HOW or WHY there is a tap so high up on the wall, unattached to any water source. Perhaps someone was enjoying the wakky tobaccy?

For the last six months or so I’ve been feeling a bit… angsty… about our place… I’m going to sound like a weirdo, but it was like the building was testing us, daring us to move out.

Can you tell that we watched the last season of LOST this month?

We’ve been anticipating big, bad, new neighbours, who we thought were going to interrupt the peaceful life we have here in our little urban oasis. But it turns out that they aren’t so big and bad after all. They aren’t renovating straight away and they’re aren’t even going to try to gazump us on our lease when it runs out at the end of the year. That noise you can hear? It’s the sound of my giant sighs of relief.

I don’t want to say this too loudly because I don’t want to upset the building, but we are kinda house hunting… as in, proper, ohmygodletsgetamortgageandkilloursociallives kind of house hunting.

But in the meantime, I can sit in my concrete backyard, bordered by two-storey-high walls, during the 16 minutes of sunshine that we get (on a good day) and enjoy the sun glistening on that damned ornamental useless tap.

And I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet while I can. :)