Copyright @ Gerry Rose

DOWNSIZING

 Jilly arrived at the estate agents at noon, fully expecting the keys to be handed to her. At 61 she should surely have learned that things rarely went to plan. Her purchasers were using two different solicitors, something to do with the rather complex way they were funding the purchase of her property. Her estate agent Justin was just as she had imagined he would be. She wondered why estate agents seemed to all emerge from the same mould. Did they go to the same shops to buy those cheap suits? Why did they use language that the general public would never consider was authentic? She was told to take herself off to one of the very many coffee shops which seemed to be overly abundant in Church Road Hove. Jilly phoned Terry who told her that they were currently at a service station at Pease Pottage and estimated that it would take them about 20 minutes to get to her house. Terry seemed unphased by the delay, but then Jilly thought he must have encountered these sort of issues all of the time. Jilly’s solicitor was reassuring. Jilly used a good friend to do her conveyancing, Jilly knew her friend would have her back.

 She disliked the large coffee shop chains, so she went to a place called Baked. She ordered an Americano. A woman at the next table seemed to be having some sort of crisis. Jilly was never someone who people would turn to when things were not going to plan and she was not going to attempt to help this woman now. Jilly made sure that she sat with her back to this woman.  As usual she listened in on her conversation.

 ‘Sorry Sam, but if you think I am going to pay for that you can think again!’

 Jilly could not hear what the other person on the phone was saying, but she didn’t think Sam was too happy to hear this.

 ‘Sam, you just need to calm down.’ Sam must have terminated the call because it all went quiet behind her.

 Jilly checked her phone to see if there were any messages from Justin. She checked her watch. Time seemed to be standing still, as it always does when you are waiting for something.

 The waitress obviously knew the woman and went over to check if she was ok.

‘You ok Marnie?’

‘No, it’s my Sam he is having another bloody melt down.’

‘What’s it about this time?’

‘He wants another emotional support dog. He was funded for one, but didn’t think that was enough.’

‘How many does he have?’

‘He’s got 3 now and wants a 4th!’

‘Oh that’s quite a few.’

‘Yes how many bloody emotions does he have?’

‘Well I suppose we all have quite a few don’t we?’

 Jilly had never considered having an emotional support dog. She wondered how many she would have needed when Alan had his spectacular mid-life crisis in 2014. She reckoned she would have needed more than 1 too. Jilly found dogs to be rather dirty animals. She didn’t think much of cats either. How did people allow these animals to lick their faces when they knew that they licked their own bottoms and other parts on a regular basis. Jilly was beginning to feel a little anxious as an hour passed and there was no message from the estate agent. She ordered another coffee. Jilly usually did not drink coffee after 12.30 as she found it wired her up. Marnie left and Jilly tried to stop herself checking her phone. An old woman entered the café. She was wearing a large, knitted hat which resembled a fox, it had googly eyes and its very bushy tail trailed around the woman’s neck. Jilly tried not to stare but found it very hard. She had spent the last 16 years of her life living in a village where the most eccentric and controversial thing that anyone did was to refuse to buy a poppy from the old chap who knocked on everyone’s door from mid-October onwards. The poor old man who died in 2016 had no idea that the word in the village was that he had murdered his wife and had hidden her body somewhere. There were some people who claimed that her body had been fed to the pigs on his brother’s farm. Jilly learned that if you live in a village your life is open to scrutiny and what people don’t know about you, they make up anyway. She knew that she would have to adjust to living in Brighton and Hove, but she would never have moved if she didn’t think she was able to do this.  However, some of her friends had their doubts and only time would tell. Lots of things had happened in Jilly’s life, but she tried to see the positive side of everything. Alan used to call her Pollyanna. Another 30 minutes passed and Jilly pushed down the negative thoughts which were trying to fight their way to the surface. She started thinking about the story of the woman who died during the period when her house was sold subject to contract, but the contract had not been completed.

  A message from Justin suddenly appeared. The Keys were released!

Jilly felt an enormous sense of relief as she collected the keys. She did think the bottle of prosecco was a nice gesture. She knew that her friend Charlotte would have turned her nose up at this gesture, as she only drank vintage Champagne. Jilly found some of her friends difficult at times, but they had been in her life a long time which tended to encourage Jilly to be tolerant. The thought has crossed her mind on many occasions about who she might befriend in Hove. Jilly knew she was not one to suffer fools, she hoped she would find likeminded people. Jilly firmly believed that people needed to find their tribe in order to feel accepted and enjoy life. Looking back on her life she realised that there were very few occasions when she truly felt that she belonged amongst the people who surrounded her. She certainly had not found her tribe in Norfolk. She had found some individuals who had enhanced her life, but she never felt that she belonged.

 Jilly messaged Terry and headed to her new home. She arrived before the vans and was pleased to see that there was plenty of space for them to park and offload. She entered her new home and felt an immediate overwhelming sense of disappointment. The house was not left to her standard of cleanliness. Jilly knew that she needed to come to terms with the fact that very few people would ever live up to her standards. She felt let down because if she had known that the house would have been left in this state, she could probably have done something about it. It was far too late to remedy this issue now.

 Terry was very keen to tell her that their journey had been one of the worst that they had ever experienced. Jilly did her best to sound sympathetic, but she had her own concerns and just wished he would get on with moving her in. Terry looked at the house and could not hide his surprise. She could read his thoughts. Terry did not hold back.

‘What you doing girl, moving here?’

Jilly did not think she should have to justify her decisions.

‘Well do you remember when I ran out of milk in Norfolk, I had to drive 4 miles and back to the local shop? Well I need to go and buy milk now, but there is a corner shop 1 minute away. Do you get it now?’

Jilly knew that Norfolk born and interbred Terry would most certainly not get this.

 Terry took a look around the house.

‘Well you have a few issues here and we are going to struggle to get all of your furniture in here.’

Jilly could see the delight on his face.

‘Terry I am sure a man like you with your skills and experience can overcome most issues.’

‘I can’t rebuild your very narrow hall. Your garden table won’t be able to get through here. You have far too much furniture for a house of this dimension and you have very little storage. You will be living in chaos for a while and I bet you won’t like that.’

 The word chaos hit Jilly in her solar plexus and almost winded her. She knew there was very little storage. The thought of not being able to fit all of the furniture she had

kept, into the available space was a devastating realisation for her. She thought she had taken the dimensions of the rooms and the size of her furniture into account. She wondered if a part of her hadn’t really wanted to come to terms with downsizing. Then a thought came to mind, she had a boarded loft. She would need to have a lot of her boxes put up there. She wondered if some of her smaller items of furniture could go up there too. She explained this to Terry who seemed less than impressed. Jilly suggested that Terry and the men just brought all of the furniture into the house and placed it where best they could. The nice Jan said he was more than happy to dismantle her large garden table and felt that the large base could easily be passed out through the dining room window. Jilly guessed that Jan had a better brain than Terry and he was fundamentally more accommodating.  

  As usual Terry did as little as he could, he had turned this into an art. The other men worked extremely hard. Jilly told them which boxes should go into the loft. A nest of tables and a few chairs were also put up there. Soon her dining room was packed with boxes and stuffed with furniture. The men assembled her wardrobes which immediately seemed too large for the rooms. Her beds were assembled and she was glad that she had decided to put the king size bed in the middle-sized bedroom. Her bedroom was too small to accommodate a large bed and the other furniture she felt was essential. At 6pm they were finished. Jilly gave Terry another large tip to share amongst the men but this time she did it in front of them all. True to his nature Terry could not help but make a few observations before departing.

‘We wish you well in your new home. I must say it is always sad to see people downsize. You have your work cut out for you here, that’s for sure. Norfolk must have done you a big disservice if you have chosen to move to a place like this.’

Jilly was not going to let Terry get away with this.

‘Thanks Terry for your comments. I have learned a lot about you Terry over the last few days. I would like to say a huge thank you to the men who work under you and tolerate you on a daily basis. They have worked so hard over the last 3 days. If I employed them I would award them with medals for working alongside such a lazy and fundamentally indiscreet man like you Terry. I will get on with my life here and take advantage of what it will offer me. It is probably men like you Terry and a few others who inspired me to get out of Norfolk. However, men like Jan and the rest of you are the best of Norfolk and I think fewer Terry’s and more Jans will be the best outcome for Norfolk.’

 Jan winked at Jilly and she smiled back at him. Terry for once was speechless. Jilly wondered how the journey back to Norfolk would go.

 As she closed the door she sighed and felt exhausted and she was hungry too. She suddenly had a great idea. She would spend an hour sorting out her bed and the clothes she needed for the next day. She would make sure her bathroom was clean and functional. Then she would find the basics that she needed in the kitchen such as a few plates and cutlery. She would put the oven on and put a plate into warm. She would go to the chip shop on the corner and buy fish and chips! Living in the middle of nowhere in Norfolk had meant take aways of any type were a waste of time, as no one would deliver and they were usually cold by the time you got them home. She would pop that bottle of prosecco in the fridge and try and find a flute. Jilly never could drink wine from the wrong glass. She tried not to dwell on the state of the house and what it would take to ensure that it would meet her standards.

 Later as she sat at her dining room table surrounded by furniture and boxes she toasted herself and toasted the people she would meet over the coming months. She wondered what her future friends and acquaintances were doing on this cold February night in Hove.