Moving

Well, I'm on the move again. Barring accidents and all being well, I've sold my grand flat (referred to by the estate agent as 'an apartment') on the southside of Glasgow and will be looking for something a wee bit less roomy in the new year.

In case you're feeling nosey: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43808207.html/svr/1702;jsessionid=508063CF5854DA130F1E9388351561A2

I've been here for 17 years, the longest I've lived anywhere in my 65 years. How do I feel about leaving this place? To be honest, relieved. So glad I'll no longer be standing outside my front door tearing up ten pound notes and casting them to the four winds, which is how owning a house has always felt to me. Glad to be no longer supporting a firm of factors - both the surveyor and estate agent who did the transaction here told me in their next life they plan to come back as factors. Footloose for the first time in, o, 30 years - a nice feeling!

I got on the housing ladder in Islay about 1982. I put a lot of money into my Bowmore semi: installing a new bathroom, adding on a porch, replacing the windows, fitting wardrobes, updating the heating system. It feels as if I've gone on doing that ever since in Shawlands and then Mansewood in Glasgow and in Sandbank in Dunoon.

I'm not sure why I bought a house to begin with. There is no reason for someone in my position to buy a place and spend years pouring money into it: I've no children to leave a house to. Not that I think children have any right to expect their parents to leave them a brass farthing, never mind a house. I suppose it was Thatcherism: the 'property-owning democracy' as the Tories of the time called it. It was contagious.

My family is pretty well set up now so I don't have to worry about leaving them anything. In fact, most of the family live in posher houses than mine. My great-nephew, then aged 5, asked me last Christmas if I only had the one bathroom. He was amazed. In his house, they have 3.

So what now? Will I rent or will I buy? Will I take a winter let in Islay or rent my pal's flat in the Pyrenees, look for a place in Dunoon (which I love - gawd knows why: it's not a lovable place!) or settle for living in a modern flat here in Glasgow and blowing my money on trips abroad?

It's lovely to have the choice.