Dan

‍Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Dan. I live with my nearly two-year-old cat who was born on Christmas Day. Her name is Clyde. She is named after my Dad who grew up on the River Clyde in Scotland.

I was adopted in Hong Kong and spent 10 years there, followed by 15 years in Scotland, and now 15 years in Australia. I realised when I bought my first vacuum cleaner here, that this was it, Melborne is home.

How did you come to live at Nightingale Leftfield?

I lived in a share house with an architect, so Nightingale Village came onto their radar and then also mine. I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy a house because buying a house seemed like it was very much a goal and a dream of our parent's generation. I don't know if it is now, and certainly before Nightingale, looking at other apartments, I wasn't convinced. But I think once Nightingale was introduced to me, I could very much see the soul in it.

Was a sense of community something that appealed to you?

Yes, it was just something that really connected with me and it's come to fruition absolutely in terms of the community that we have in this building, but also with the wider Village. I'm really quite surprisingly protective of the little community that we do have here, and it's really sweet. It's like having family, even though I don't really have any family here.

It’s been a year, we’ve settled in now, and we've set up monthly gardening bees and quarterly building bees. It's all voluntary. If you want to be involved in gardening or helping with the building maintenance you can but there's no expectation or pressure. 

Do you feel connected to the other buildings in the Village?

Yes, probably through one resident in ParkLife, Sandra who is amazing, and I absolutely love her. She's like the mother of the village. I just love her energy. 

What do you think of the design of your home?

Kennedy Nolan was always my favorite and this apartment was my first choice. I chose it because of all the light. I really like the westerly sun.  It's just very in keeping with KN’s style and aesthetic.

Has anything surprised you about this apartment?

I wasn't expecting to make such good friends with neighbours, particularly one couple. And we catch up every week on Mondays. I used to work from home on Mondays and we'd go out for lunch, and so that was really cute. I really liked that.

I like that you can just reach out and ask if someone can dog sit, cat sit, water plants, pick up mail, anything. Everyone's sort of unabashedly open and free to ask whatever. 

Any hot tips for any of your favorite local spots around the area?

Brunswick was a new neighbourhood for me.  I get most of my tips from Sandra! She goes and explores all the new restaurants and cafes and then tells me about them. And so that's how I explore at the moment. I like supporting local. I've had my curtains done by someone local in East Brunswick. The handyman who's come over a couple of times is local as well. There's the flower shop across the road and Ima Pantry for Onigiri downstairs. 

Anything else you wanted to say about Leftfield life?

I can't wait for the garden furniture to come in for the rooftop.  I really love going up there. The beans up there have gone nuts. I love being up there and just popping a cherry tomato. It's great for herbs. Great for growing anything up there actually, which has been really good. There are quite a lot of greenthumbs in the building.