Moving On Up

I took yesterday off work to try and get over a particularly stubborn cold. It hasn't really helped me much, except that I managed to watch a few episodes of Sex And The City which I otherwise wouldn't have had time for (I'm starting from Season 1 and going all the way through again... I miss The Girls and their 'fuck men' attitudes, both figuratively and literally). So I'm at work today, but I'm tired and feeling lethargic and rather useless.

Good news on the new place front though - we have found our absolute dream place and are THIS CLOSE to sealing the deal! It's in Collierswood, which is South London, and just a 5 minute drive (or 20 minute walk) from Wimbledon Central. It's very similar to our current place - very spacious with huge open plan lounge and kitchen, a balcony 3 times the size of what we have at the moment and best of all, Shoes and I get the fabulous master bedroom with the en suite. Eyes and Scarf have the master bed in our place now, and they've had two years of space and privacy with their en suited monster of a room. Shoes and I, by comparison, have had to cram our belongings into the much smaller second room, and put up with the masses using our bathroom every time they come and stay over. Also, our bedroom is closest to the lounge, and some of our friends could win gold in the Snoring Olympics. Being a light sleeper, I often have to sleep with ear plugs in when our mates stay over, because I can actually hear them through the wall. The new place is completely the opposite, and Shoes and I have felt for a while now that it is high time our patience with the short end of the stick is rewarded. We are all terribly excited about the move. We plan on moving in on 12 April, so exactly a month away. We gave our landlord notice this morning. Of course, we're not quite home free yet... we still have to pass a credit check. While I can't think of any reason why we should fail, England has rather stringent checks, and apparently you can fail even if you have no record of bad credit. It works on a points system, and includes aspects like how long you've lived at your previous address and been at your current job. I think I might have trouble on the job front, as I've only been in my new job for 2 and a half months, and prior to that I was temping, so I was all over the place. Hmmm, anyway, we'll see. At least our landlord loves us, so he can always put in a good word.

The only downside of this whole move is that we are pretty much going to be solidly broke for the next 2 months, starting today. Moving house is going to cost us £3000... I still feel my stomach wrench when I write that! It's not as bad as it looks... more than half of that is deposit on the new place, and of course first month's rent before we move in. Plus there are standard admin costs as well. It's split between 4 of us, so it's not impossible, but I'm sure you can see that there'll be no spare change lying around for a while, even for the odd night out.

Anyway, we're starting the belt tightening as of this moment, to make sure we have every penny of cash available to funnel into the move. So I foresee plenty of weekends spent at home in front of the tv and drinking cheap wine while we recover. Maybe we can make our own wine... I should look into that. If you know of any good indoor games to play, let me know!

Armageddon It

It's like Armageddon pulled into London today and said: You know what, you bloody poms (and all you unfortunate foreigners who are stupid enough to live in pom country); I am Armageddon and YOU are the chosen few who shall first experience the might of my destruction. Mwahahahaha! Beware, you who sleep in your cosy little beds, as I will call up the wind and rattle your windowpanes until you can sleep no more. Watch your step as you descend the stairs onto the rain-slicked sidewalk, as I will pelt you with monstrous rainboulders that will blind your fragile white eyeballs and render your flailing feet unstable. Unfurl your umbrella at your peril, as I will command gusts that will wrench your brolly inside out and tear the material from it's spokes, all the better to poke out your fragile white eyeballs with (I really like hammering your eyeballs, they're so defenseless). Put on your make-up if you must, but know that within seconds I will have the elements claw it from your eyes and smear it across your cheeks.

It really was the pits outside this morning. The bin in front of our station was filled to overflowing with umbrellas in various states of disrepair, and on the train (delayed, obviously) men and women were attempting to undo the vicious damage inflicted by the weather so as not to look like they'd been pulled through a bush backwards. Of course, as I look out the window right now, the sun is streaming innocently across the tops of nearby buildings and the end-of-the-world sky has given way to a tepid grey blanket.

One thing I certainly will not miss when we move is the 15 minute walk to and from our closest station everyday. We live in a modern complex by the Thames, but as it is a private development, there is no public transport. Come rain, shine, snow or hurricane winds, the four of us make our way on foot to catch our train each day, and suffer the consequences of whatever England's weather chooses to throw at us, which over time is pretty much a bit of every imaginable thing.

Today Shoes, Eyes and I are all going to look at a potential place to live after work. Ironically, it is another private development on the Thames, but this time in South West London instead of South East - this is kind of like moving from Woodstock to Kirstenhof. Hopefully this one will be what we're looking for, as we're really keen to move in somewhere by mid-April if possible.

Shake, Rattle and Roll Out Of Bed

There was an earthquake in London last night. A frikkin earthquake!!! It originated from up north near Manchester, around 205km from London itself, but the shock waves were still felt here. We live south east and didn't feel anything, but people in the south west (including many of our friends) reported being woken up by beds shaking and ceilings creaking, and one woman at Scarf's office even fell out of bed! Me thinks she may have been on the sauce the night before though, or maybe she just has a very small bed, because that's a bit extreme. It measured 4.7 on the Richter scale, and is the biggest earthquake to hit Britain in 5/10 years, depending on what website you read. While there are no casualties, 50 houses close to the epicentre sustained structural damage.

Apparently between 200 and 300 quakes occur in Britain each year, but only about 10% are strong enough to be felt. How about that? And here I thought I was safe from all natural disasters except flooding, which is a fairly common occurrence up north (you'd think so with all the damn rain).

My housemates and I are currently in the middle of a rather bizarre situation. We've been planning to move from the dive in the south east that we call home for a while now, and just before our holiday we pinpointed April/May as the time to do it. So we haven't been actively looking for places yet, but every now and then one of us will have a quick skim through some websites to see what is around. We need something with 2 bedrooms & 2 bathrooms, and they are usually quite difficult to find as only the modern complexes are built like that. Trying to find affordable modern complexes in London is like looking for the sun in England's winter months.... usually a fruitless and frustrating experience. Anyway, Eyes came across a place the other day that looks quite amazing, and is also situation in Westminster, which is Zone 1. For those who don't know, London is divided into 6 Zones, and the further out you live, the more you pay to travel. We currently live in Zone 4. Zone 1 is widely believed to be very expensive to live in.

Eyes enquired after the flat and was told by the lessor - a lady who, from her awkward e-mails, is obviously not English - that the entire flat will cost £800 a month. That is £150 less than we're paying now, and it's in Zone 1. Of course, we all thought it was a typo, or that there was a catch of some sort, but three more e-mails proved to have the same outcome - she genuinely appears to be offering the flat for £800. So we got very excited, and tried to arrange a viewing. We got a rather long, confusing e-mail back explaining how she has been messed around by people expressing interest and then not pitching up, and people coming to view the place and then turning out not to have funds for the deposit. So she requires proof that we are a) serious and b) have the money before she will allow us to come and see it. She says she has spoken to her lawyers, and they have agreed that the only way to prove this is through a moneygram. Basically, we have to go to a post office and arrange a moneygram - a money transfer - from one of our account to the other, and then bring her the receipt. Despite our objections on the grounds that this is not only a mission for us but also just a little over the top as we haven't even seen the place yet, she will not be swayed. We have offered her payslips for all four of us, bank statements and a reference from our current landlord. We've explained how we can transfer money from one account to another through internet banking, and we've told her we will even bring her £800 in cash to see if she'd like. She is refusing everything but the receipt from the moneygram. Either this woman is a little dense, or she is ignorant to the point of being obtuse - and let's not even get started on her lawyers.

We very nearly decided to forget about it, but despite our continued skepticsm - it really does seem too good to be true - we've caved and have decided to go through with it. We can do the moneygram and draw the cash at the same time, so there's not chance of it going missing, which is the one thing we were afraid of.

If all goes well, we will arrange a viewing for tomorrow night.

All I can say is, this place better be worth the hassle!