Housesitting with Bente (2)

Spending time in a different city or country, living in a different home—for free: housesitting sounds like a lot of fun. But what is it really like? And what is it like when you do it completely on your own? Flow’s Bente finds out for herself when she house-sits in England.

It is nine o’clock in the morning, the day after I was warmly welcomed by the owners of the house I’m about to look after while they go away. Shoes were left on the mat outside, and I got a hug, a pair of pink slippers and a cup of tea, which was sitting there waiting for me on the kitchen table. The question of whether I would feel at home didn’t cross my mind from the moment they opened the front door.

But now I am on my own. The English couple are on their way to the airport and the cats are hunting for mice at the farm across the road. Where yesterday the sound of our voices filled the room, today the only thing I hear is the ticking of the clock on the wall. I take a look at it: Five past nine.