I wish I could blog more, but as it turns out I feel as though I have nothing to say. I lead a very uneventful life. Well... kind of.
A couple of weeks ago Justin left me. It just wasn't working out. I'm not bitter - I think we both needed to make a little more effort, and a few more compromises. The future before us wasn't exactly what either of us wanted. We're still residing in the same property for the time being. In separate beds, of course. I can't afford to stay here on my own, and as soon as the landlord found out our intentions to move they put the house on the market.
I'm planning to move into a house-share with one of my closest and dorkiest friends, Athanasius. We're a bit of an odd mix and I'm both scared and excited to discover how the new arrangement will work out. We found a nice house, Victorian end-of-terrace property just a few minutes walk from where I live now. Currently undergoing referencing so hopefully we can sign the contract sometime next week. I can't wait for the whole move to be over and done with; it'll be my fourth in three years. I'd really like to settle down a bit.
We are going to write new house rules for when we move in together, in aid of improving both of our lives. These will include:
- Leave the house at least every three days if only for some milk.
- Go out every weekend - shopping, geocaching or just generally exploring.
- Attempt to cook a new recipe once a week.
- Don't eat meals at the computer.
- Wake up early every morning, eat breakfast (I'm notoriously bad at this) and do some light exercise.
- Save money for going on holiday - mum wants to go with me to Italy in June, I want to go back to Japan next year, and me and Ath would like to hit up Europe for some weekend trips.
- Just generally enjoy life more.
Who knows how long we will be able to keep it up but I'm going to give it a shot, honestly! I also want to make more of an effort to blog about my exploits now that I'm intending to actually do more stuff. So here's something...
Yesterday I went shopping with my parents. My dad wanted to get a new phone (Samsung Galaxy S, just like my brother and me - such a copycat!) so whilst he was off sorting that, my mum dragged me around some clothes stores. I chose a new outfit, quite different to anything I've ever worn before, and I'm wondering if I can pull it off. What do you think? The dress was from River Island, and the shoes were from Marks and Spencer. The entire lot cost about £80 but thankfully mum paid *cheeky grin*.
I also picked up a new hat (similarly different to what I'm used to, but apparently 'Katy to a T' - a beret type thing) and some cappuccino chocolates from Hotel Chocolat, mmmm. I'm a sucker for anything coffee flavoured, but they removed the coffee creams from Roses years ago because nobody liked them. Very disappointing. They should definitely put them back just for me. :(
We also stopped at Wagamama for lunch, and convinced my brother to try the Japanese pickles, which he didn't like. I swear he was just refusing to like it on purpose. He's the guy who can happily eat an entire jar of pickled onions and gherkins, but he didn't like pickled cucumber or apricot?! I refuse to believe it!
So I finally got the internet and all the furniture and stuff sorted at the new property. It's great - lovely and cosy, and I have my very own office space so I can work in peace. Almost everything is perfect, but there is just one major problem...
This is a mews property. Basically it's a set of houses that stems off an already existing road. Like a block of flats, each house in the mews development has its own number, separate to that of the numbers on the road. This mews development has the exact same name as the road it stems off of, and also shares a postcode. So between this house and the house directly opposite me the address only has ONE WORD DIFFERENT. I am living on 'X Mews' and they are living on 'X Lane', and in order to get to 'X Mews' you have to go down an alleyway right next to 'X Lane'.
So far they have received 5 letters and 1 courier delivery of mine, and we have received 1 letter of theirs. Naturally, delivery drivers are directed by their satnav to this area and see 'X Lane' and assume that it is therefore the same as the 'X Mews' property, and deliver there without noticing the alleyway leading to the mews development. Partly I am going to blame the council for this because there is absolutely no signage to indicate that to reach the mews development you must go down the alleyway.
Furthermore, because we share a postcode (because technically we are both on 'X Lane') whenever you type my house number and postcode into an address finder it gives the 'X Lane' address and not the 'X Mews' address. This means that even if I correctly give my address as 'X Mews' to a company employee/salesperson (in particular, over the phone where I can't check what they've typed) if they choose to type in the house number and postcode their system tells them that it is instead 'X Lane'. This has even resulted in us temporarily having our names attached to 'X Lane''s gas supply!
Does anyone have any advice to give on how to overcome this confusion? I have thought of adding 'NOT LANE - GO DOWN ALLEYWAY' to my address when I order online, but it is not exactly ideal - particularly for something more official. I also can't attach any signs to the buildings at the entrance to the alleyway without the building owner's permission, though I have contacted the council about this. Hopefully they can come up with something sensible, but since this house was built two years ago and evidently nothing has been done so far... I'm not holding my breath.
I have been living mostly in London for the past four years. I love the city - for its diversity, the fact that there is always something going on, its cultural heritage, and the lifestyle. I always recommend that if someone from abroad visits this country, that they should go to London for London, but go elsewhere to experience England. London isn't comparable to anywhere else in the UK. That's not necessarily a bad thing!
London has always been highly ranked as one of the most expensive places to live in the world. According to Mercer's list of expensive cities in 2010, London ranked 17th - tied with Paris. The list is written from the perspective of American expatriates. Due to the falling value of the pound, London has slipped down considerably. Compare that to 2004, when it ranked second - only beaten by Tokyo.
For this reason, I always knew that London wasn't going to be a long-term thing, so we're relocating to the country. We are renting a two-year-old, two bedroom house with a garden for £116 a month less than our one bedroom apartment in London.
We are moving to Salisbury. It's a medieval city with the tallest cathedral spire in the UK, and the famous 4,500-year-old stone circle, Stonehenge. It's extremely quaint and full of historical and cultural significance, but has all of the shops and amenities you'd expect from a modern city, and we'll be living only ten minutes walk from the centre of it all. Oh, and about an hour bus ride to my parents' in neighbouring Dorset.
We're officially making our move on Tuesday, and we're almost packed. I can't wait to get to know my new home, and hopefully learn to love it at least as much as I love London. It's certainly going to be... different.
Yesterday we signed the contract and picked up the keys to our new home ~100 miles away. New house Flickr set.