A walk to the station #8
by Steve
There is always some sort of work going on.
One house has scaffolding up and something is being done to the front of the house, maybe the roof too.
Further up a new driveway is being laid. It looks like a fairly intricate job, as they are using small, rounded bricks. There has been no progress on the driveway since the weekend, down to the weather, I guess. So, there is half a driveway, then damp sand, then a tidy pile of bricks on the pavement.
Right before the station there is an extension being built. The front garden is consumed with the earth and rubble they needed to remove when laying the foundations. The extension itself is taking shape quickly, breeze-block by breeze-block.
I think it is a nice area, but it is not a fashionable one. So, the housing isn’t too expensive, compared to the rest of London. It is an ideal place to buy a home that has potential, that word generally being a euphemism for somewhere that is a bit of a dump, and then improve it – sometimes it is just cosmetic work, sometimes structural.
Each house the same, yet each house you can make your own. I suppose some people are making a home for life. Many are doing a house up and hoping for a profit. Some are just doing what needs doing to keep their place livable. The work isn’t just about keeping up with the Jones’, although I’m sure that plays a role sometimes.
There are always FOR SALE signs going up and coming down. A fairly transient community. But there are also homes that look like the same people have lived in them for years and years. Each home a story, each piece of work motivated by different factors. Like anywhere, I guess.
Wait until next year 
That’s a pretty spot on description of my walk to the station in the morning, Which is funny, I guess, because it also used to be your walk to the station.
Half the street has been bought and sold in the last 2 and a bit years, or so it seems; there’s always a couple of skips out, and 2 or 3 loft converters converting lofts. But in many ways, it looks exactly the same.
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I think it is similar to a lot of walks around Greater London! I suppose it is a symptom of the current housing market, where buy-to-let and property speculation rules. If you are not a landlord or buy-’em-up-do-’em-up-sell-’em-on kind of person it is not easy to find the right house in the right place, so you have to adapt whatever you can manage to get, or whatever you already have. It is a funny time to be living in London.
I think a loft converting business is the way to make money around your way, they are always at it!
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