London Looniness
I'm not dead, nor have I disappeared!
Immediately after turning my dissertation in, my focus has shifted away from school, and onto whether or not London is the place to continue to be. I've been undecided on what to do as far as England is concerned. I like it here. A lot. But I don't know if I necessarily need to, or want to, stay here forever. Finding a full-time job would extend that stay by a few years, most likely. Was I ready for that kind of committment?
Having thrown my CV in the direction of a few jobs I looked qualified for, and a few more I felt entirely over-qualified for, and hearing absolutely no kind of response, I began to fear this might prove more difficult than first anticipated. In addition to that, all the reasons I had been excited about staying were kind of ending. People have been leaving, relationships dissolving, and my list of things to see has been steadily being ticked off.
So I've decided to let the winds of fate knock me around a bit this autumn and see where I end up. First step, find a new place to live. Student housing is only good if I'm a student, and no longer being so, I am out on my bum come the 18th. Now was the time to find a new bed to sleep in while I started looking at London through different, non-student-y eyes.
The first thing I found was that this is an incredibly difficult thing to do for a person in my position. Which seems incredibly odd, because this city seems set up for the kind of people who are EXACTLY in my position. I am between lifestyles. I am no longer a student, though I'm still here on a student visa, but I am not 9 to 5 working professional. I have money, but no steady income. I have no bank account, and cannot get one without a job or a place to live.
Yet, flathunting here seems designed for people like me. Rooms in flats are fairly easy to locate, without fixed-term leases where you can pay weekly, and fully furnished. It seems like there are entire colonies of people who spend a few months in one room, and a few months in another. The amount of places I looked at where people wanted someone to move in the very next day seemed to indicate that these people were also moving at the drop of a hat.
Still, it wasn't easy. Things in my price range were either miles outside the city, or tiny little dung heaps over petrol stations. Anything I looked at that was promising seemed snatched up immediately. People didn't seem to like the situation I was in, between jobs and no longer a student. Students don't need to pay a council tax when they rent a flat, but professionals do. Places would advertise short-term leases, but then get squeamish if I said I might be staying less than three months. I didn't fit in anywhere. I was getting desperate.
Over the weekend it looked like I'd found something. A nice Irish guy out near Turnpike Lane was offering to let this giant, gorgeous room in a big beautiful house for short-term let. It was further out than I'd have liked, and about £10 more per week than I wanted to spend, but it would have been worth it to live in a quiet, nice looking house. Since he owned it, I could pay directly to him. Everything seemed to fit perfectly with his needs. But he dragged his feet too much, and hemmed and hawed, and said a couple had been looking at it who wanted to stay longer than me. And he'd just gotten back from holiday, and was busy, and didn't know when he could have the room ready (a room he was advertising as available, let me remind you). He kept telling me to call back the next day, and I was willing to fight for it if need be at this point.
While I was waiting for him to make up his mind, I finally found a place. I hope I'm not jinxing anything by declaring this now, since I haven't signed anything. But apparently the contract is in the mail on the way to Chad's flat, so we're good. It's in a wonderful location, right at the bottom of Camden High Street in Mornington Crescent (which even has a song written about it by one of my favorite bands), and just a few doors down from the childhood home of Charles Dickens, on which he modelled the Cratchitt home from A Christmas Carol. It's also right behind my favorite nightclub, Koko.
It's such Lauren-perfect location! I'm very excited. I was sad to think of abandoning Camden Town, which I love and have called home this past year. Yes, the room is in the basement, and yes there are 5 other people living there. But they are young, European, and all seem very nice. And there's cable TV! Oh my!
So I will be moving there. However, the current occupants are not leaving until the end of the month, which makes me homeless for two weeks. And then I can only stay until somewhere around the end of November, though perhaps longer, so I shall be homeless again. But I think that's a good projected time to come home.
My friend Chad has kindly lent me his home as a base of operations until I can move again, and I will be heading there tomorrow. In order to keep him and his girlfriend from going crazy with me there, I will be trying to make myself as scarce as possible. Therefore, I'm looking into exciting travel adventures to take myself on.
Next project is finding a job. I've been working at a place called Kumon, which tutors school aged kids in English and Maths. I've been doing less tutoring and more marking their coursework, which is fine by me. It pays cash, which is good for me. It keeps me busy a few days of the week.
And that, right now, is my life. In-between. Looking forward to having all the "nexts" arranged so I can just take a moment, breathe, and spend a few months just enjoying my surroundings before they are my surroundings no more.
Immediately after turning my dissertation in, my focus has shifted away from school, and onto whether or not London is the place to continue to be. I've been undecided on what to do as far as England is concerned. I like it here. A lot. But I don't know if I necessarily need to, or want to, stay here forever. Finding a full-time job would extend that stay by a few years, most likely. Was I ready for that kind of committment?
Having thrown my CV in the direction of a few jobs I looked qualified for, and a few more I felt entirely over-qualified for, and hearing absolutely no kind of response, I began to fear this might prove more difficult than first anticipated. In addition to that, all the reasons I had been excited about staying were kind of ending. People have been leaving, relationships dissolving, and my list of things to see has been steadily being ticked off.
So I've decided to let the winds of fate knock me around a bit this autumn and see where I end up. First step, find a new place to live. Student housing is only good if I'm a student, and no longer being so, I am out on my bum come the 18th. Now was the time to find a new bed to sleep in while I started looking at London through different, non-student-y eyes.
The first thing I found was that this is an incredibly difficult thing to do for a person in my position. Which seems incredibly odd, because this city seems set up for the kind of people who are EXACTLY in my position. I am between lifestyles. I am no longer a student, though I'm still here on a student visa, but I am not 9 to 5 working professional. I have money, but no steady income. I have no bank account, and cannot get one without a job or a place to live.
Yet, flathunting here seems designed for people like me. Rooms in flats are fairly easy to locate, without fixed-term leases where you can pay weekly, and fully furnished. It seems like there are entire colonies of people who spend a few months in one room, and a few months in another. The amount of places I looked at where people wanted someone to move in the very next day seemed to indicate that these people were also moving at the drop of a hat.
Still, it wasn't easy. Things in my price range were either miles outside the city, or tiny little dung heaps over petrol stations. Anything I looked at that was promising seemed snatched up immediately. People didn't seem to like the situation I was in, between jobs and no longer a student. Students don't need to pay a council tax when they rent a flat, but professionals do. Places would advertise short-term leases, but then get squeamish if I said I might be staying less than three months. I didn't fit in anywhere. I was getting desperate.
Over the weekend it looked like I'd found something. A nice Irish guy out near Turnpike Lane was offering to let this giant, gorgeous room in a big beautiful house for short-term let. It was further out than I'd have liked, and about £10 more per week than I wanted to spend, but it would have been worth it to live in a quiet, nice looking house. Since he owned it, I could pay directly to him. Everything seemed to fit perfectly with his needs. But he dragged his feet too much, and hemmed and hawed, and said a couple had been looking at it who wanted to stay longer than me. And he'd just gotten back from holiday, and was busy, and didn't know when he could have the room ready (a room he was advertising as available, let me remind you). He kept telling me to call back the next day, and I was willing to fight for it if need be at this point.
While I was waiting for him to make up his mind, I finally found a place. I hope I'm not jinxing anything by declaring this now, since I haven't signed anything. But apparently the contract is in the mail on the way to Chad's flat, so we're good. It's in a wonderful location, right at the bottom of Camden High Street in Mornington Crescent (which even has a song written about it by one of my favorite bands), and just a few doors down from the childhood home of Charles Dickens, on which he modelled the Cratchitt home from A Christmas Carol. It's also right behind my favorite nightclub, Koko.
It's such Lauren-perfect location! I'm very excited. I was sad to think of abandoning Camden Town, which I love and have called home this past year. Yes, the room is in the basement, and yes there are 5 other people living there. But they are young, European, and all seem very nice. And there's cable TV! Oh my!
So I will be moving there. However, the current occupants are not leaving until the end of the month, which makes me homeless for two weeks. And then I can only stay until somewhere around the end of November, though perhaps longer, so I shall be homeless again. But I think that's a good projected time to come home.
My friend Chad has kindly lent me his home as a base of operations until I can move again, and I will be heading there tomorrow. In order to keep him and his girlfriend from going crazy with me there, I will be trying to make myself as scarce as possible. Therefore, I'm looking into exciting travel adventures to take myself on.
Next project is finding a job. I've been working at a place called Kumon, which tutors school aged kids in English and Maths. I've been doing less tutoring and more marking their coursework, which is fine by me. It pays cash, which is good for me. It keeps me busy a few days of the week.
And that, right now, is my life. In-between. Looking forward to having all the "nexts" arranged so I can just take a moment, breathe, and spend a few months just enjoying my surroundings before they are my surroundings no more.
posted by Lauren Matson | 12:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home