room with a view...

[Peter Korsten]

Op 20-2-2011 0:29, Joost Schuttelaar schreef:

> On Feb 19, 2011, at 22:33 , Peter Korsten wrote:
>
>> So... does it come 'pre-configured', or do you have some say in how the
>> walls are oriented? Like, is it modular? (Tony would like that. :) )
>
> This is the standard layout: http://jstsch.com/tmp/apt3.jpg

Ah, right. It looked customised.

> Basically what you can change is: combine bedroom 1&2, remove wall between between living room and bedroom, etc etc...

So, one big living/working/cooking space, and no immediate plans for 
offspring. :)

>> Trying to figure out what the area behind the bathroom is...
>
> Entrance/hallway. Place to put your coats 'n shoes. It's 90 square meters, so nothing compared to your Maltese mansion ;)

Oh, mistook the toilet for the entrance. Don't ask.

And as for the size of our house: yes, it's quite roomy, but not 
particularly large for a Maltese house of the late seventies/early 
eighties. Houses/flats these days don't have enough space to swing a cat 
in. All over our village, you can see terraced houses being pulled down 
and puny little flats put in their place. See, everybody wants to live 
in this 'highly desirable area', right? Except that not too many people 
want to live in a glorified chicken coop, and rather get something nicer 
in a not-so-well-regarded area, so most of them lie empty.

Case in point, where I went on Friday:

http://goo.gl/maps/qCCQ

More or less in the middle of the map there are flats, that sort of 
blend in with the old surroundings with massive bastions, like the 
pyramid does with the Louvre. In other words, either you like it or you 
hate it.

http://www.franksalt.com.mt/Developments/StAngeloMansions-CottoneraWaterfront.aspx

Birgu, the local council where it is located, is an area with a lot of 
poverty. These flats, though, are not for the poor. They're not even for 
the quite-well-off.

Having said all that, I think our house would set you back about €350k 
(which is considerably more than what we bought it for). If you would 
compare your new flat to our house on a euro-per-square-metre scale, 
though, I think we'd score a lot lower. So you cannot really compare the 
two.

But all in all, we're happy where we live, and if you (or anybody else) 
would like to visit, we have a spare bedroom, with an AN1x and EX5 (OK, 
OK, you got those too), but unfortunately without an air conditioning 
unit. Which excludes a good four, five months a year.

- Peter