Moving house

The building where our flat was located was suddenly "liable to become dangerous" (as announced by the Building Authority). As a consequence, the owners corporation decided to undergo a major repair works. The noise and the air quality of the living environment would be seriously deteriorated in the coming year. For the benefit of DS, we had to move urgently.

I hate moving house. It was our (DW and I) fifth moving, and moving with hundreds (if not thousands) of articles (books etc.) has always made me headache. Now with a kid it would be no kidding at all! "Will he adjust to the new environment well, or will he have to relearn many skills because the context has become different?", I was rather nervous.

Another reason for my anxiety was due to the experience last time. As I wrote in a previous post, when DW was pregnant, we moved to a house near her workplace. Since I had already resigned and was not employed at that time, I felt myself discriminated by the former property agent and the landlord as a "non-working" male member in this patriarchal society (they equated "work" with "formal employment in the labour market", which is obviously wrong).

However, when I wore DS and went to see the present property agent (another one) this time, she had a high regard of my status as an at-home-dad, and DS's affection with me surprised her a lot. She worked promptly for our welfare. And according to the present landlord, one of the reasons he rented this house to us (at a below-market price) was that he thought "a man such as you (me) willing to be a full-time carer will also be a good tenant".

I am glad that at-home-dads have become more socially acceptable now. What a blessing. Hope the new house can provide us with a stable and productive environment for years to come.