AGONY AUNT
Ask Annie
Our straight-talking, no-nonsense agony aunt Anne Robinson tackles the problems troubling you
illustration EMANUEL WIEMANS
Q My wife and I still live in the house we bought 40 years ago to raise our children. Those ‘children’ are now parents themselves, and they are telling us it’s time to downsize in our seventies while we still have the energy. In one sense I can see what they mean – we have more empty bedrooms than we know what to do with, and the whole house probably does need updating and redecorating. But we do love being surrounded by 40 years of our lives lived. I have no desire to live in a rabbit hutch on some new estate. I feel our children think we are being selfish by continuing to occupy a house that is clearly too big for us. Is it selfish? I would welcome your thoughts.