Local housing developments

Cold with sunshine and showers today. I woke up late and posted my WhatsApp link to Morning Prayer at eight thirty before making breakfast. On my way to the Eucharist at St John's I bought stuff for this week's foodbank donation to take with me to church. The service with seven of us took place in the intimacy of the Lady Chapel, which is more appropriate for a small number. We chatted over coffee afterwards, and when I got home, Clare was already cooking a lentil curry for lunch. 

A few weeks ago furniture arrived at the house next door. Doll's house furniture, one of the neighbours said, all smaller sized items to convey the illusion of the house being larger than it is for the vendor's  photographer benefit. That's all been removed now. I wonder if someone will move in soon?  Renovation and sale ostensibly were completed three months ago. The place has been empty for over a year, awful in this time of housing shortage. Renovated houses in our street are selling now for prices 50% higher than the £250k of ten years ago. And these used to be regarded as affordable first time buyers homes, but are caught up in the continuing gentrification spiral. 

There's a large detached house with annexe at the junction of Romilly and Llandaff Roads which has been empty for several more years since tenants were evicted. No work has been done on it. Whether it'll be renovated or demolished I don't know. I guess there may be a lengthy planning procedure to be undertaken by any developer with an eye on such a prime site. It took long enough for the old laundry building and site on Llandaff Road to be redeveloped. The houses are finished now and being occupied. There are two new retail units fronting the street, one is being taken up with a bakery and cafe by Alex Gooch, artisanal baker with a prestigious reputation. That's a real coup for the site owners, and for the neighbourhood.

Next door to Tesco Metro at Canton Cross, there was an electronics and white goods store, started in the 1940s called 'Radiocraft'. It closed its doors in 2020 due the the pandemic and went over to on-line sales only before relocating to Penarth. October last, the building was demolished, after an announcement last year that a block of flats with ground floor retail space would take its place. A similar announcement was made about the old GPO sorting office site up the far end of Cowbridge Road West. It's good news in response to the chronic shortage of affordable housing, as both these site are to be developed by a housing association.

On my afternoon walk I bought some fruit and flowers and took them home. Clare was in the middle of an on-line Jazz lesson, so I slipped out and walked in the park for three quarters of an hour. It was good to go out and get back home again before the sun hit the horizon. I don't often get to do that at the moment, I find it difficult to adjust the timing of my routine. 

Before and after supper, I wrote the eulogy for next Monday's funeral, then we watched the final of Young Jazz Musician of the Year on BBC Four. Some great young musicians, in their teens and twenties but sounding so mature and accomplished. The future of Jazz is in good hands! Then, I finished the day by reading more of the latest John Le Carré novel, and went to bed too late again.