“As you can see, it’s in quite good condition. The previous owner was an old man with time on his hands and good at DIY. He took pride in the appearance of his home. Sadly, he went into a nursing home a few weeks ago and passed away. His family want a quick sale, hence the low asking price.”
I look around, beginning with the living room, the kitchen and finally upstairs where I find three bedrooms. Two are of a decent size and the third is smaller, but still a good size for a child’s or teenager’s room.
“Unlike the more modern properties on Asbury Park, these homes were built in the nineteen thirties,” explains the estate agent. “The rooms are a good size; there is central heating, double glazing and a decent size garden. Although they are semi-detached, you won’t hear any noise from the neighbours because the walls are quite thick, unlike the ones developers build today.”
I look out the back bedroom window and notice that the garden is approximately a hundred feet long.
“What do you think of the house?”
“I like it and subject to a survey, I would like to put in an offer. I’m a cash buyer so perhaps we can get things underway?”
“Absolutely. I’ll speak with my boss when I get back to the office and contact you as soon as we receive a reply on your offer.”
During our conversation I must have mentioned to Daniel I came on the bus as he asks me if I’d like a lift back to Trentbridge. I tell him I’m fine, so we shake hands and he gets into his car and drives off.
It’s now just after three pm and I walk along the street to Asbury Park and look at the houses which the council are planning to sell off. The bus I plan to catch back to Trentbridge leaves Pickstone at 3.48pm to arrive back at three pm, so I don’t have enough time to see all the houses on Asbury Park. However, the ones I do get a chance to see look fine from the outside and the gardens seem a reasonable size.
Growing up as a kid in a first floor council flat, it would have been nice to have had a garden.
Once I’ve had a brief look, I walk back along Foundry Road and then onto Trentbridge Road and walk the ten minutes to the pedestrian-only bridge crossing the river back over to Pickstone High Street and the bus stop.
It’s 3.43pm and I have one more place to visit today.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
JAMES
By the time I arrive at the library on Ascham Road, it’s 4.40pm. I walk in and see Miss Heffer sitting behind the counter. I only notice two people in the library and both are busy choosing books, so I walk over to the desk.
“Hello. Remember me?” I ask, giving her a smile.
There’s a puzzled look on her face and it takes her a few seconds to work out who I am. She smiles and says, “My, you certainly look better than the last time I saw you. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for all your help.”
‘It was my pleasure. So how can I help you today?”
“I want to form a Housing Trust charity to help people. I need some advice and I was hoping you could help me.”
“That sounds a wonderful idea. It’s a little difficult to discuss things here, so perhaps it might be better if you came over to my house. I can cook a meal and we can talk without the interruptions. How does that sound?”
“That sounds really good.”
“Okay. If you’re free, how about tonight?”
“Tonight would be fine.”
“I finish here at six, so seven thirty? I’ll have everything ready. My address is fourteen Gilbert Road. Do you know where that is?”
“Yes, I do. I didn’t realise you would live around there.”
“When you come over I’ll tell you a few things you probably didn’t realise about a poor librarian,” she smiles. “So I’ll see you later. I must get on; there are things needing to be sorted.”
“Yes, sorry to interrupt you from your work. I’ll see you at seven thirty.”
With that, Miss Heffer turns to a lady waiting to take out three books.
As I arrive back in my room at the Premier Inn my mobile rings. It’s the estate agent to say my offer has been accepted on twenty-seven Foundry Road and the party concerned is happy to go ahead as soon as possible. I inform him that I have the money in place and will speak with both my solicitor and surveyor the following morning to begin the process. I already have the details of a solicitor who deals with this sort of thing. He was introduced to me by the people from the Lotto Company. I’ll phone him tomorrow.
At 7.27pm the taxi turns into the driveway of fourteen Gilbert Road. It’s a large detached house on one of the better roads in the Cherrywood area. This is widely regarded as an area where the rich and successful live. I didn’t think a librarian’s salary could stretch to this.
I ring the front doorbell and wait. After a few seconds, Miss Heffer answers and I’m invited in. She shows me through to the beautifully decorated and furnished living room. There’s a stunning cream leather sofa with two matching recliners as the centrepiece of the room, set in a U shape with an Ercol coffee table in front of it.
On the facing wall is a large flat screen TV. The far wall has a long section of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which you might expect in a librarian’s home. The other two walls have a range of modern art paintings by artists I’m unfamiliar with. It is obvious that a lot of thought and design have gone into the layout and furnishings.
The lighting in the room is modern and bright, but not overly glaring. The whole atmosphere is very
