Flat-hunting in Penzance

Posted on May 17, 2007
Filed Under - leaving the rat race |

I am in a hotel in Penzance, looking out over the pretty harbour on a calm, sunny evening. But it’s been a stressful 24 hours. Flying Ryanair is enough to raise anyone’s blood pressure at the best of times, but our plane was not able to land in Newquay last night because of bad weather so we were diverted to Bristol. It was a dark and stormy night….the airline ordered coaches to take passengers on to Newquay, but this would have meant arriving somewhere around 4 or 5 o’clock in the morning. I therefore opted to stay overnight in Bristol and get the train to Penzance the next morning.

The train journey, especially from Exeter onwards, really is spectacular and I would recommend it to anyone visiting this part of the world. The lush rolling hills are almost too much for the eye and the tasteful arrangement of cows, sheep and horses is picture-postcard perfect.

Finally, I arrived in Penzance around lunchtime, excited and eager to get started. Maybe too excited. My first few calls didn’t go quite as I had imagined. Estate agents were either not available, didn’t have anything on, or were snooty about my job situation. For a short while I felt a bit like a child whose ice-cream has fallen on the ground! Thinking bloody Penzance, I rang the two Newquay agents and managed to get a viewing or two set up in the next few days. That made me feel a bit better. Later I got a call about a place in Hayle, which is near St Ives and I am going to view it tomorrow. I told the estate agent what my situation was — i.e. that I don’t have a job yet and that I am planning to move down from London and start my own business — and to my utter surprise she said, quite genuinely, “that sounds exciting!” I was momentarily struck dumb by her non-snootiness. Clearly she has a lot to learn about being a Penzance estate agent.

Later I went for a stroll around the bay. I went down to the beach and sat there on the warm shingle, listening to the gentle breaking of the waves a few feet away and thinking, “What the hell am I doing? Is this all a big mistake?” I’m sure it won’t be the last time I ask myself that question.

Stumble it!

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