Flat

I thought it’s about time that all of you out there get updated on our new flat. First of all: it is absolutely huge (compared to the old one, that is. I know how some of you live…). Having that extra guest room (planned to be an office, now more or less just full of all the crap we couldn’t fit anywhere else — and believe me, there’s plenty of that!) just makes such a great difference.

Ok, will start with the negative sides (and I know it will seem like a lot, but trust me, it is ok). No shower. (I’ve fallen and bruised my legs so many times getting in and out of the bath before investing in a bath mat.) I’m not a great fan of bath tubs (although Tim is, and is very happy), and sitting down taking a shower… well, it’s just not the same. Mind you, we have good water pressure (not always like that in England, but one of the good things about being in the basement). No isolation on the windows (single glass) will undoubtedly make it very cold in the winter (but hey, we have already lived through that once). The plumbing has a life on its own (including funny/strange sounds, leaking pipe under the kitchen sink if doing laundry at the same time, and leaking washing machine if doing dishes at the same time), but at the end of the day that is not our problem.

The biggest issue for me is all the animals! And no, I’m not talking about the free cat we have (good ol’ Jim, he’s very friendly und cuddly), but all the bugs etc. The occasional spider we had in the old flat is absolutely nothing against what we have now. I stopped counting after finding about 30 of them (fairly evenly divided between bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room and hall, but hardly any in the guest room). Tim, the soppy thing, refuses to kill them (in England, it means bad luck, in Sweden it means bad weather the following day, and this being England, well, there’s bad weather anyway, so why care?!), but rather puts them in a glass and throws them out the kitchen window (and I swear they have absolutely no problem climbing straight back in). After a few days, however, he decided to do something drastic and hovered up a bunch. The problem is, you only have to wait an hour before a new spider (or the same one?) has taken its place. There’s an infinite number… On the good side: they are not wolf spiders. Wolf spiders are aggressive bastards, hunting for food, and thus running a lot. These are ‘normal house spiders’, which make a little web, and just sit there. So, if you find one you can be fairly certain that he’ll still be there the next day (and the day after, and the day after etc.). It makes chasing a lot easier! The first few spiders I found really scared me, the next lot made me laugh, and now, well, I’m just very tired of them, because they just keep coming back. Well, we also have plenty of moths (mainly bathroom and hall), and have additionally found normal bugs (bathroom again, according to Tim they are ‘night crawlers’, but being without internet I haven’t been able to google that), big fat flies (in the living room, but they seem to have been killed off now *knock on wood*) and an earth worm (!!! Where did he come from???) in the hall. We were offered new carpeting in the bathroom, but I just fear tearing up the one that’s there now, who knows what it will reveal…?! I also suspect there’s a big nesting/reproducing ground under the bath tub. Brrr. Big reward for anyone who has a solution to the problem!

Well, on the positive side: the flat has become ‘very us’. We have already pictures up on the walls, and it feels much more like home than the old one ever did. It is also a lot quieter — no tube trains running underneath at night, and no noisy neighbours above (and also a very quite street). We finally have a proper kitchen (although admittedly a small fridge). It is now fun to cook again. And we have a dining table! Hurray! It feels quite civilised to eat dinner at a proper table, and not in front of the TV. We also have a big hall, with room for shoes and coats. (Who thought that would be considered a luxury?)

For those of you who wondered: yes, we still have Boris. Tim couldn’t (didn’t want to?) find him a new home, so he had to move with us. However, he is no longer next to the bed, but in a cupboard (on top of a spare fridge! thank God for extra storage space). Of course, now, for the first time, we actually have the space to hang him on a wall, but I refuse. I don’t want to face his big grin every time I walk into a room.

I really like the area we live in. It’s a funny mix of people (sometimes called Little Portugal because of all the Portuguese, and there are plenty of tapas bars), and of areas. Really nice housing next to council estates. Our part is very nice and green. Yes, it is a bit further out than before, but not a great deal. Five stops on the Victoria line to Oxford Circus (11 mins), and another three to my beloved Library. We’re also on the Northern line (always good to be on two lines if something happens), and close to Vauxhall bus terminal. Walking distance to a big Sainsbury’s, and loads of little shops around. We have not yet have had the time to investigate the pubs in the area (believe it or not), but there are at least four just in our block (one is a definite no, two quite possibly yes)! The move has definitely been an upgrade.