HOUSE HUNTING

HOUSE HUNTING

The rental contract on the house where we were staying was about to expire and, as I was tired of not being able to step out on to the terrace to comb the dog without a host of children appearing as if by magic chorusing “Madame Marie, Madame Marie” and picking my way through the debris each time I climbed the stairs and a variety of other minor but annoying inconveniencies, we decided to try and find something else. Damascus is full of empty houses for rent because many owners rent their houses in the centre and live elsewhere, the most popular move at the moment being up to the Dumar Project where house prices are relatively reasonable. Most houses are only for rent to foreign tenants, because owners would have no guarantee of being able to remove Syrians if they were to move in. Foreign tenants also provide a certain kind of security as they are usually attached to embassies, international organizations or multinational companies like Shell. Another factor which prompted our search for another house was that I thought it might be more convenient to be nearer the centre of town rather than on the outskirts.

The first agent showed us four houses. The last two were quite unsuitable, one being soulless with vast dark carved furniture and the other with a “dead “ kind of atmosphere. The first house we saw, which also had a small, newly planted garden, was ideally situated just off Malki Street and it was brand new. However, it was not furnished and Robert did not want to commit himself to something without seeing what it was going to be like when we moved in, and the owners were not prepared to furnish the place until they had the contract signed. It was also rather small, so, although the owners were very keen to have us rent it, we decided not to go ahead. The second house was also central and Robert liked it straight away because it had a large sitting room with new furnishings, a piano and music system. The owner was a dynamic lady and quite unusual, because she had an artist painting a mural on the wall in the hallway which, for Damascus standards, was quite daring as it depicted mermaids. Although the rest of the house was rather rundown by comparison, we decided to try for that one. However, they wanted too much rent and a commitment for a full year which we could not give them as Robert’s contract expires at the end of May. After much toing and froing with fairly high hopes of reaching an agreement at one stage, negotiations broke down and we gave up that idea.

Enter another agent. This one showed us houses in the Mezzeh district where we were already living. The first was roomy and full of light with a big garden, but they wanted too much rent and were going to remove some of the furniture, so we had no idea of what would be left. The next was a gem of a house, though a bit over-furnished, but the owners who were emigrating to the US decided that they would prefer to sell rather than rent.

Back to the first agent who showed us more houses in Malki and Abou Roumaneh: one was expensively but tastelessly furnished and ended up looking like a casino and the others were just no better than the place where we were already.

A visit to Mr. Mozeh who had given me his copy of the Qran when I arrived did not provide anything better. Most of the houses we saw were dark and over-furnished. Then he showed me an apartment on the top floor above the Danish and Swedish embassies. It was not very big and was poorly furnished but at the rent we were being allowed to pay he was prepared to refurnish it throughout and get lots of plants for the huge terrace. Robert went to see it several times but on each occasion something went wrong: the Danish tenants were in or the key got misplaced or something, so, in the end he decided that this was obviously not meant to be.

At the eleventh hour Bassel came up with another two houses and we set off at 10p.m. one Friday night to view them. We only saw the first, however, because we liked it very much. It was spacious and full of light and furnished with simple furniture. The contract was signed and we moved in a few days later.

Although it is noisier in some ways because it is on the main road, we feel that the time we still have to spend here can be more enjoyable in this house than in the other one, because there is room to move and the entrance is nicer and better kept.

August 29 1998