luckykaa

So, I have a flat. For now. On a short term let. Good things about the flat include it not being a hotel, gas cooker, and fast inernet. All blls included. Close to the trams and a decent shopping area. There are two nearby parks which means I can get a ittle variety if I want to go running. I also don't need to suffer from the stress and trauma of flying backwards and forwards. Airports can get dull very quickly. So can the drive from the terminal to the Polderbaan.

Not so good aspects are the German style loo and the fact that it's all very feminine. There's also no toaster. And the kettle is rather small - may have to do something about that. Landlady has left her books here. They include books 2, 3 and 4 of Twilight. I find this disturbing.

I also now have a SIM card, a duvet, a saucepan, and a suhi mat. I don't have a network media player. I miss being able to watch TV shows on a TV.  How do people watch TV on a laptop?

Still a bit lonely. I have meetup, and could go to Internations events, but I don't really know how to meet like minded people. This is always a problem moving to a new place.

I need to start thiking about what I want to do in 2 and a bit months when I may or may not have a contract renewed and will or won't need to find somewhere to live.

So, having lost that last lodging, on account of being a bit too male (apparently the previous lodger made a pass at the other one, which may have had something to do with it), I decided I'd try to find a new place sharpish.  Called a nice lady.  Live out landlady.  Very professional.  Very easy going.  Also has several places and suggested the one most convenient for where i work.  The place is cheaper, (even taking into account travel cost), larger and less cluttered.  Plus there will be absolutely no wi-fi signal issue since I have a network socket in the room.  Plus there's a spare loo.

The cooker's not great (electric elements.  Not even ceramic!) and it's a bit too far from a station, but the extra savings can cover an occasional taxi.  Not as perfect as the other place but adequate.  And landlady is fine with short lets as long as she gets 8 day's notice.  So figured I might as well accept it there and then and give her a deposit.

So that's all good.

Downside; car broke.

I noticed a smell of plastic when I left.  I noticed the battery light come on as I was getting there.  Stopped.  Tried the ignition.  Car was dead.  Thought I'd deal with this later.  Saw the place, accepted.  Car started.  Radio didn't.  So I thought I'd pull over, stop, and restart.  That was silly.  Pushed car to the side of the road and called the AA.  Took them over an hour to get there.  Glad I had an audiobook.  And an episode of More Or Less.  Also radio did start working again so I could put them on speaker.  Also wandered around a bit and helped an old soldier home.  Yay!  Good deeds:)

AA man arrived eventually.  recharged the battery and followed me to Halfords Service Centre and we dumped the car outside.  He did try cleaning the contacts but was pretty certain the alternator was dead.  Something of a nuisance though.  I was hoping to be out and on my way home by 1pm.  Doubt they'll even be able to look at the car by then.  And was hoping to relax and watch telly/read last night.  Plus if they don't get started today, that's an extra 5 hours round trip to collect a car, or I need to stay in Welwyn another night.  Couldn't it have broken another time?  Ideally late this evening.  I'd only need to get my car to the garage.

As well as letting out rooms, nuts-but-lovable landlady also offers her summer house out for couch-surfers.  A really lovely American couple are staying, one of whom has the ultimate telecommuting job; one that allows him to travel around the world and work from wherever he happens to be. He's currently doing a 3 day week with 2 days vacation time.  Nice work if you can get it. 

His wife made pizza.  We chose our own toppings.  Free pizza!  Always nice. 

So we ate. And talked about stuff.  I do feel sorry for landlady though.  She obviously can't follow the conversation that well.  Conversation does sometimes get diverted when she guesses what we're talking about.  The other people also clearly find her a little too much to take as well, which is a shame.  She's sweet and easy going and kind, but way too talkative and seems to think that everyone should be interested in what she is.  I'm just not that keen on seeing her photography club's photos.

I think the American couple are quite pleased to be getting away from her for the day. 

Decided to take the train in today.  The Brighton-Bedford train is rather old and rattly early 80's thing with tiny seats.  I did have a seat though, and the train was only fully packed for about half an hour.

Breakfast at the sparkly clean and new St Pancras international terminal, and then into the crowds at Kings Cross.  Where there are few seats, too many people and a lot of noise.  I was so tempted to get on the train to Edinburgh but decided that actually getting paid would make more sense.  Door-door journey time was about 2hrs 45 minutes.  Cost £27.50   Slower than driving.  Apart from the Kings cross crowds, somewhat less stressful.  I think I'll stick to driving.  Lugging a case into work is a pain. 

Currently uncertain about accommodation.  A problem with lodging is that you're living in someone else's house.  It's hard not to feel like a visitor all the time.  Things are looking up.  I now have a cupboard of my own and have colonised a certain amount of fridge space.  Remaining issues are that it's quite pricey (£100 a week for a tiny room,  but I can claim back the tax on that), and internet access isn't that good (too far from router), shower is REALLY LOUD and I find the clutter a little depressing.  Plus landlady may not be a murderess but she does a lot of things that irritate a little. On the other hand, the other lodgers are friendly, landlady does wash the sheets, and I can get to the woods by going out via the back garden.  I was really miserable here last week but that was probably more down to the lurgi than anything else.

My mum pointed out that I'm rather wasting a lot of money maintaining a place in Brighton.  She does have a point.  I am only there 2 days a week and I do want to buy my own place at some stage.  I should put all my stuff in storage and find somewhere cheap to stay full time until I can afford to buy a place.

My problem - it would feel like a step backwards.  It took me years to escape from a shared room in London and to find a place in a city I wanted to live in. I don't want to live in Hertfordshire.  I could move to London (it's a 30 minute commute to here from north London, and everywhere I might get a contract in the future is more convenient from London) but renting a flat there would be almost as expensive as renting in Brighton and lodging in Welwyn.  I really don't want to share my main home, especially with a stranger.

The immediate plan - I'll stay here for a while.  It's tolerable at worst.  Longer term - I'll think about it.