006.3 - Hearth and Home
Current Home
A rambling, Art Deco style house that clings to the side of a hill on the edge of that part of Blear Bridge known as Old Town. The house fronts onto a leafy suburban avenue; there is little through traffic on Prague Street to disturb the genteel tranquillity. The rear of the house opens out onto a series of terraced gardens which cascade down towards the valley below and offers commanding views of the steel works, railway marshalling yards and the locomotive depot; on a clear day you can almost see the slag crushers and the winding gear of local collieries. . .
Cohabitees
The house was designed to accommodate a large, extended family and, during Andrea’s childhood, it was, indeed, a bustling hive of activity. Technically, Erin’s maternal grandmother still lives there (but she is spending an increasing amount of time with her daughters’ young families) and, officially, it is still the main residence of Edward and Rachel Hardacre though the last occasion either of them spent any significant time at Prague Street Andrea cannot recall. Certainly not since. . .
No doubt she will be prevailed upon to accommodate some winter migrants in the self-contained basement flat but, for the time being at least, Andrea is mostly rattling around the place all on her own.
When and Why
No. 8 Prague Street has been the Valentine family home for several generations. Quite how many generations is hard to say but we do know that Andrea’s grandmother, Tamsyn Valentine, was born here.
Contentment
Although Andrea loves the outdoor life, loves to travel and would have followed Erin to the furthest reaches of the Western Provinces had it ever come to that, she could never — especially after Erin’s death — envisage herself leaving it for good. Until she did.
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