Flat Hunt Failure!

A rollercoaster of a couple of bad days ends bad!

I needed to find accommodation in London for uni. The original plan was that I was going to live with Gillian, but she was abroad and came back on 23rd (uni starts on 13th). Before I went to Scotland, I spent an afternoon going around a few estate agents. The conclusion was basically that there's no point in looking now if Gillian wasn't here, because anything available now would be gone by the time she came back. So we decided to wait until she came back to look together, and we'd find a place within a week.

Whilst I was in Amsterdam, I got a text from Charlie asking if we'd like a 3rd flatmate, Lana. We were both keen on the idea, and willing to meet halfway with her as she goes to LSE. For example, I really wanted to live in Surrey Quays this year, but she said its too far for her, so I allowed it.

On the Monday after Gill came back, we all looked online for places and booked some viewings for Thursday/Friday. On Wednesday, Gill and Charlie went around loads of estate agents in the rain (!) and there aren't many 2/3 bedroom flats left, but they booked viewings wherever they could. I went to London on Thursday and me and Gillian looked at 5/6 places. There was a definite one that we both really liked! (Only £111 pw) But we said that we had to wait for Lana's confirmation before we put down an offer. Here are some photos of the place:

Look at the view! 5th floor (and a lift) so there's a view overlooking London, where you can see the London eye, Canary Wharf etc.

This is the balcony from the kitchen, where you can see the sunrise!

This is the kitchen - The whole place is being refurbished, so everything will be completely new and untouched!

This is one of the bedrooms, which is a decent size. All the rooms are equal double sized rooms.

On Friday, she said no! What?! A completely newly refurbished place for £111 pw {oO} Argh! The more I think about it, the more frustrated I get, because I was already seeing myself living in that place! She told her and showed her photos of our top 3 choices and she said no to all of them {oO} Either too far, or unequal bedroom sizes, or dodgy area, yada yada..

We had one more scheduled viewing on the Friday, which we looked at and the landlord wasn't willing to convert the living room into a bedroom, so that was an immediate no. We also randomly looked at a couple of 2 bedroom places, but disgusting would be a complete understatement!

Taking a different view, we asked around to see if we could get another 3rd flatmate, because the place is really too perfect to say no to! We called the estate agent and he said that he'll give us until 3.30pm. We spent all morning/afternoon trying to find someone (even resorting to finding a stranger online lol *coughmaxcough*). We had a few potential people, but our hopes were let down. Eventually, just before 3.30pm, we found Kim!! I know her from year 1 SSM and Gill knows her from her tutor group. We were super excited! I was even willing to crash on someone's sofa for a week, because the flat wouldn't be ready until after term starts. But yay! All our work was worth it!! . . . or so we thought . . .

Just before 5.00pm, the estate agent called and said that the landlady had already accepted an offer this morning! What?!! Urgh. I'm not even go there, but I guess you can kind of understand how we felt. So reluctantly called the estate agent of one of the 2 bedroom flats we'd seen earlier on. It looked really ex-council, dimly lit, and smelt funny {T.T} So we were sitting in front of the estate agent woman, feeling like we were about to sign our souls away. We asked if there are any other places worth looking at and there weren't. I said aloud my thoughts: that I'd be really unhappy living in that place, and that I'm already thinking about moving out and we hadn't even moved in yet..

So why move in?! Lets escape. Gillian said that I should just reply to the advert looking for a flatmate on onespace; and she'll commute from home (zone 6). OK, I need a place to live like now; OK, this seems like my only option; but I'm really not keen on flat-sharing with strangers. What if I don't get on with them? And surely they'd want to meet me before I just suddenly invade their flat, which means that moving process may be longer than is preferable (I'm going away on Monday for a week, and term starts 6 days after I come back).

We'd plan to meet Leona in the evening for dinner; so I told her on the phone about our day. I also called my mum and Fai because I just needed to rant and complain about my day~ We went to Namco to play a few games of MaxTune, then went to Ben and Jerry's to have ice-cream, to try and make ourselves feel better. It did a little~

Then Leona called me and said that I could live at hers whilst she's away. Yay! She'd called her landlord and it might be possible. I instantly felt so much happier! I'd been to her place once before and it's nice. The only downside, which is the only one but quite a big one, is that its far! {oO} I think I'd take me over an hour to get to any of the hospitals, but from where I'm standing now, if I organise my time well, it'll be fine! But now I have a plan B, I can contact a few more people to see if I have any other options.

We met up with Leona and went to eat at the Korean place, Assa. She's going to Beijing for a year! So there was loads of catching up to do. Here are a couple of photos:

I got back home in Brum just before 1am. Ranted to a couple more people, then went to sleep to get ready to battle the next day. . .