The new view

That's the new view from the back steps of the Love Den, with a 2nd crane going up late last week. The dueling cranes are working on the 2 office buildings at the end of the street.

More than that, the firing up of their diesel engines at the crack of dawn every morning are part of the new soundscape of Albion. Combined with the rumbling of semi trailers, the odd cursing and the incessant jack-hammering, the sounds of gentrification are omni-present 6 days a week around here now. I am very curious, though, about the seemingly stagnated development at the old Flour Mill. After feverish efforts to clear the site of everything apart from the 2 buildings to be refurbished, nothing has happened for months (apart from the whole site getting slowly over-run with weeds). One does wonder if the financial situation may be curtailing what can only be seen now as a rather extravagant luxury in terms of developments? We shall see.

News regarding the Love Den's own future is just as mysterious. With our lease running out in the middle of March, we're still not any wiser in terms of our tenure. The old curtain shop, which was vacated for a while and then turned into a very short-lived art studio, has now been empty for a few weeks. It's up for lease as a "short term" commercial lease, but there doesn't appear to be any takers. A net search recently showed the house and shop were up for sale again in January, and a recent visit by the real estate agents for a valuation confirmed that. So, I guess any buyer would not have had time to lodge a development application so quickly, which means the odds of us staying a little while longer are pretty good. We can never be too sure, however, and so have begun the depressing rental search tentatively. It's not too bad, with a bit out there, and I'm beginning to toy with the idea of just packing it all in by the end of lease and moving out, even if the owners want us to stay. The continual disruptions to our way of life with nearby construction sites and the seemingly continual interruptions by the real estate agent, are starting to out-weigh the pleasure of the Love Den and sully it's previous good name.

Time shall tell...