I have been a member of Bridport Cohousing for over six years now, having sold my last house in 2016 and moving to Bridport to help with the development phase of the project.
Cohousing has been a dream of mine for such a long time and I was thrilled to be one of the first members to be moving into Hazelmead, looking forward with great excitement to the magic date of November 14th when my removals from my rented flat were booked and I could at last feel secure in my lovely new home.
Sometimes things don’t always go to plan!
I was getting ready to go upstairs to bed for the last time in my flat and fell over a packing case, ending up hitting my face on the edge of the dining table and on the floor with a broken nose and split lip, pouring with blood and thinking to myself, ‘NO, this can’t be happening to me. Not tonight. What am I going to do tomorrow?!’
Luckily my downstairs neighbour was in and got an ambulance for me and I was most of the night waiting in Dorchester hospital for them to tell me that I needed to go to Poole Hospital for stitches. What to do? In about 4 hours the removal men were due to arrive, I had the flat to clean up after they had emptied it, and not having a car (or being in a fit state to drive one) I had no means of getting to Poole and back.
Had I not been in a cohousing group I would have been in a very difficult situation, probably having to postpone the move, entailing all sorts of problems and extra expenses as I live on my own and had just one good neighbour to call on. I had the wit to send out an urgent email to the group asking for help and within the hour I had organised my lift, a group of friends to oversee the removal men and another couple of friends to help with cleaning the flat ready to give up my tenancy (it had never looked so clean!).
So my removal day was spent in Poole Hospital with a good cohousing friend, and by the time we got to my new house at Hazelmead all the furniture was in place and boxes ready for unpacking when I felt like it. All I had to do was thank them all, run a hot bath and get into bed.
I had such a long and good sleep and woke the next day looking out through the terraces onto Allington Hill and the beautiful trees growing there. The skies are dark here and it’s so quiet in the evening when the builders have gone home. The house is really beautiful – spacious, light and warm. It’s now getting to feel like home as I’ve unpacked most of my bits and got things looking how I want them. I know all my neighbours, we are already sharing stuff, having little impromptu parties and doing outdoors work together on the field at the top of the site. The top row of terraces is now almost fully occupied and it is going to be a Christmas holiday to remember!
I will never be able to thank enough those who stepped forward to help me in my hour of need, and all the messages full of love and wishing me a good recovery that were sent. This is the magic of a cohousing community – it turned a disaster into a miracle.
lin x