Oh HI blog. Long time no type. No longer having a laptop is a pain. Dirty rotten thieves. However, in only 3 weeks time (!!) I will be back in Canada for Christmas and will purchase a lovely new computer then, as laptops are basically given away for free in terms of price comparison between home and here in the UK. Believe me.
Anyway. I am supposed to be writing a term paper for my online class right now, but as I am the Queen of Procrastination this seemed like a much better idea.
I bet you’re wondering “What’s new pussycat!?” Well, let me tell you.
October can rot in the fiery pits of hell. Seriously. What I didn’t mention in my last post is that the lovely break-in experienced at the beginning of the month led my housemates and I to learn via the Crime Prevention team that our house wasn’t secure, which then led us to discover that our contract and lease were actually illegal. Our dodgy landlord did not comply with many safety regulations and not only that, had made handwritten changes to our contract without our consent. Fun! So we wrote a lovely letter detailing our reasons for hightailing out of the property and gave our notice.
Thus began The Great Flat Hunt of 2009. Which was a whole lot of “not fun” mixed with a bunch of “lame”. I spent two weeks scouring classifieds for places to live, then worked all day and flat hunted all night. As this is London, one of the most expensive cities in the world, of course I can’t afford to live on my own so was looking to move into an existing houseshare. Slim pickings is all I can say. I viewed flats to share with 6+ people, with a pole dancer and a stage manager who asked my views on drug use, flats with painted concrete floors, flats miles away from public transport, flats with postage stamp sized bedrooms, flats with no communal areas yet atrocious rental rates, and flats that were lovely but as soon as I said “out of town boyfriend” were magically no longer available.
Closer to the end of the month I went to Wales with the new man to meet his family. Which was a lot of fun except I? Was stressed to the max over imminent homelessness, lack of computer and thus falling behind in my online class, and having to plan for a week of teaching Year 6. This culminated in a mini-breakdown and a sobbing call home one night while in Wales. Yay.
I returned to London after a few days in Wales and continued on flat hunting. I was feeling pretty dejected about the whole thing. Not only had I not found a place to live yet, but the landlord for my current and illegal home had taken to randomly stopping by and being a big ole bully. I won’t get into the argument I had with him over the letter and our reasons for leaving. Let’s just say I’m very happy my boyfriend was over, because two of my housemates had already moved out and one was away traveling. A bit scary.
Finally I went to look in North West London and fell in love with both the area and a flat. Luckily, the people in the flat also appeared to like me and invited me to move in! Two days later I did.
I live off Abbey Road in the London Borough of Camden, bordering on City of Westminster. My new flatmates are lovely and friendly. I live with a young English and young Australian couple which means they are okay with the boyfriend staying over whenever (yippee!) The rent is very reasonable and I now live in Zone 2 instead of Zone 4 which is much more convenient for a whole host of reasons. Although I am not a die hard Beatles fan or anything, I have to admit it is pretty cool that I walked over a certain famous zebra crossing on my way to view the flat.
And that’s where my life is at. November has been one thousand times better than October and December looks like it’ll be a bright, shiny, happy month as well. At the end of this month I return to Wales for an early Christmas as I’m stealing my man away from his family to spend Christmas in Canada with me. I’m sure I’ll be much better, more stress-free company this time around. Then December is chock full of Christmasy happenings both in London and back home in Saskatoon. Not to mention that the much anticipated arrival of my first neice or nephew should be happening in the next week or so! That’s right, my sister-in-law’s due date is exactly a week from today! To think that when I arrive home December 13th I can hold a sweet bundle of joy that will one day know me as “Auntie Bea”. Bizarre.
So yes, life? Much better, thanks.
