On the 4th April 2019, I got the keys to my new flat on the Southside of Glasgow. This was the first letter I ever received at my new address.

To my dear new home,

We don’t know each other yet, but bloody hell, we will.

I am already so in love with you. You, with your polystyrene ceiling tiles and misshapen doors that don’t shut properly and a hundred layers of wallpaper lining your two tiny rooms. We have so many things to uncover about each other.

The fact has not escaped me that this may be the only home I ever call all mine. I own this space, it will bear my fingerprints and my taste and my soul. In the future, I will be grateful to share a home with a lover or a family, but for now, I am relishing in this lovely, lively loneliness.

The next few months will perhaps be trying, but my heart is more than open to it. I am going to restore your beauty. Trust me, okay? And I will trust you.

So, to this first letter through the mailbox.

To the first well-earned cup of tea.

To the first time I will cry in your arms

Flat 1/2: to you and me

Hazel

xx