We found a flat!

I am very excited that we found a flat! Matthew and I will be moving to Brixton at the end of June. It was easy to find a flat as I mentioned in my last post. I wanted to live near people we knew. We've got a very good friend, Becky, who lives right in the heart of Shoreditch and at first that's where I thought we were going to live. Until we looked at how much rents were. I would have loved to live there. Here's the thing. It's hard for me to sometimes make comparisons between flats and areas in London. 

At the moment I live in a beautiful spacious flat with a garden. The owner of the flat had done it up and was trying to sell it, found that he couldn't and then rented. Needless to say it was in perfect condition. I didn't realise how amazing it was until we started looking around. It's a two bedroom with large outdoor garden for 1500 pounds per month split between four people. It's pretty nice for what we've been paying. I don't mind the area. Although I will admit that I liked the area much better when Mary was living just up the road.

However. Matthew and I would like to live on our own as a married couple and I am desperate to have my own place the way I want it. Mary and her friend Sara, who I've met and is lovely, had taken a flat in Brixton so I thought we should check it out. 

What can I say about Brixton....for me as an American my perspective is a bit different. A lot of Londoners who have lived North of the river would say that they would never move South of the river. There's a bit of a territorial debate. Here's an excerpt from this article on moove2london.

North or South London

Which is the best part of London  – is it the area north or south of the River Thames? As soon as you move to London, you’ll notice how territorial people are about where they live. The debate on North vs South London is ongoing and never really results in a definitive answer. This doesn’t stop Londoners arguing it out anyway.

Since I've only lived in London for a few years I don't happen to feel strongly about the debate. I want to live in area of London that's fun and has stuff going. For some reason get a community vibe from Brixton and I would like to be live somewhere like that. I feel drawn to it, so we'll see how it pans out. 

Yes, there was a massive riot there in 1981. I know that's not been forgotten and also people tend to view the area as unsafe. The times I've been to Brixton I've never felt unsafe and people also said that Shepherds Bush was unsafe...generally people who don't live in London.

So, what's the flat like? Well it's a two bedroom flat! It's on the second floor (or 1st floor if you're not American) and you come in the door and to the left is a spacious living room and kitchen together. It's big, bright and open. There is also one small bedroom on that floor that has high ceilings and a window. You then go upstairs and the main bedroom and bathroom are there. I've never been a flat that had stairs before! We are going to use the small room as an office/sewing room. I bought a sewing machine from John Lewis a year ago and have never used it. I can't wait to get it out and start sewing. 

We live two minutes away from Mary and Sarah, across the road from an amazing pub called the Effra Town Hall, a few minutes away from the Ritzy cinema and it's just a five minutes walk to the tube. 

The only downside to the situation is that we have to be out of our flat on the 19th of June and we can't move in until the 24th. To be honest I am not looking forward to that at all. The landlord has an empty flat where we can move our stuff into, which is nice that we don't have to pay for storage. We'll have to find somewhere to stay for those few days as well. It will all work out, but there's all those niggly last minute things to take care of. 

I am looking forward to living in my own flat with Matthew! I think it will be an exciting new chapter of our London life together.

Finding a new flat

 my lovely mantle

I promised myself that I wouldn't start out this blog post apologising that I haven't posted anything for a long time......but of course I still want to. I am actually a bit surprised that it's only been just over a month since my last post, I thought it would be longer!

So, what have I been up to? Well lots of new and exciting things. I've started a new job! I am now a social media strategist at a lovely agency called Wax. I started there on the 19th of April. It's been going very well and I am happy with my new role. I've also been wrapped up in location based social media apps and blogging about that over on Foursquaregames. The main thing that's been on my mind is the fact that Matthew and I are moving out of our flat.

Our lease is up on June 19th and we've decided that we are going to live on our own. At the moment we are sharing a two bedroom flat with another couple. They've been easy to live with, but I am just ready have our own place. I am tired of just living in my bedroom and having to do the washing up immediately after I am done eating :)

When I first moved in with Matthew he was living with his mate Wayland, that was in Chiswick. When we moved to the flat we're in now, Shepherds Bush, Wayland came with us. I didn't mind living with Wayland. I was still pretty new to London and it was nice to have him as a friend. He started his own business and needed to move to another part of England for a while, so we were left with the choice of either paying all the rent or getting in flatmates.

Of course at the time I was way too cheap to have ever done that. I still have a hard time getting my head around how expensive London rent is, but I am now ready to bite the bullet.

I tell you looking for a flat isn't a walk in the park. Matthew and I have been looking online. Most flats are rented through estate agencies or on Gumtree. Gumtree is what we use over here instead of Craigslist. The main problem is that the estate agencies like to advertise flats that either don't have to let or have been let already! 

What should happen is that if the flat is under offer to be let they should flag it as under offer and most websites will do that. I was on the phone to one estate agency because I was interested in a flat and they told me that it had been let. I then asked about some others that were on their site and they said that they weren't available. I was like, why do you still have them up? So you don't have any flats to rent, but you have them all still on the site? He answered that they keep them up until the people move in. Nice. They keep them up so it looks like they have all these flats. How lovely.

It's really a pain. You call these people and you're lucky if they ever get back to you. I can't wait until we just find a flat and can move in.

We've finally decided on an area, sorry Becky we aren't moving to the East End. Although I really wanted to, it's just too expensive at the moment. Matthew and I are trying to save as much money as we can, so although we could afford a more expensive flat closer in town we've decided to save a bit of cash and go......gasp! south of the river. 

We've been looking in Brixton. My friend Mary is living there and it's closer to where Matthew's sister lives. I like it over there and hopefully we can find a flat. Matthew and I spent the afternoon there yesterday and we liked it. I love the Ritzy theater and we found some good pubs. I really want to be somewhere new and have a decent sized flat.  So fingers crossed we find something good!

Happy Weekend

 

 Lovely Day/Night Print Set by LovelyMPLS on Etsy 

It's always nice when the weather is nice in London and then I find out through FB that weather is also nice in Minneapolis. I had a really nice weekend that started out on the right foot on Friday. I went for an interview that I felt really good about. I enjoyed the people that I met and the role was what I was looking for. Most importantly I felt a connection with the interviewer. We will see what happens. They were going to see a few more people and I should be hearing back something today. 

After the interview I walked into Clerkenwell to meet Mary and a few of her colleagues for a bit of wine. The weather was nice and we were able to sit outside. It was a fun time and I was sad to leave when I did, but Matthew was locked out of the flat. I met Matthew at the Queen Adelaide for dinner, where he was patiently waiting for me. He had a book a pint to keep him company. That was nice as well. They do a good burger and hand cut chips at the Adelaid.

On Saturday I went to a workshop called facilitating fresh thinking, run by Rebecca Mackenzie. The workshop taught us how to run brainstorming sessions. It was a fantastic workshop. There were five us of there, two people I knew from the presentation workshop last year.

We went through exercises and games and then Rebecca led us through a brainstorming session. It was so much fun. We had to come up with campaign ideas for a brand called Bovril. I must say that we came up with lots of great ideas. Later in the afternoon we broke up into two groups and ran our own sessions while Rebecca coached us through it. I met some lovely people and learned some great techniques. 

Matthew and I didn't do much on Saturday night. I was pretty worn out from the day's workshop, it went from 10:30-5p.m., so I actually feel asleep around 8 o'clock. Matthew was busy working on a piece of course work that had to be handed in on Sunday so he was fine with that. 

Sunday the sun was out as well. Matthew and I drove up to North London to look at a few areas we might want to live. I can't say enough how excited I am to be moving in June and to be living on our own.  These last two months are going to fly and then we'll be somewhere new. Can't wait. 

When we got back to the flat we both had some work to do so we sat together and worked on our laptops while Come Dine With Me was on in the background. What a nerdy couple we are. 

I am looking forward to this week. I should be hearing back from my interviews, I've got to line up some more and just keep the search moving forward.  Here's to a good week!

LovelyMpls-

LovelyMpls-LovelyNight
Originally uploaded by ARTCRANK

Spring in London

I know it's Springtime in Minneapolis when the lilacs start blooming, but here in London it's all about the daffodils. They are everywhere. In window boxes, in the park, growing in the middle of roundabouts, in vases on kitchen tables and in every flower shop on the high street. I have to say that I've grown very fond of them. They are such a cheerful flower. From now on daffodils will always remind me of Spring in England.

It's been a busy past few weeks. Every since I got back from skiing it's been nonstop. Easter weekend was nice. Matthew and I went down to Bognor for the weekend. We went for a fish supper round Larry's house. Larry is Matthew's mum boyfriend. He actually lives in Worthing, about 40 minutes from Bognor. It was a nice time and all. Matthew's mum and brothers, William and Thomas are going to be moving in with Larry. It was nice to see the house and spend time with everyone. 

After Matthew, Charlotte, William, Thomas and I went to go see Kick Ass. I had already seen, but really liked it and thought everyone else would. It was nice being at the movies with my sister and brothers in law. 

We had our main Easter roast dinner on Saturday over at Nanny's. It was excellent. Nanny makes a mean roast beef. Before dinner we spent the day over at the house cleaning out the garage and the loft. We found some old photos of where Matthew lived while he went to uni. My god, what a shit hole. I mean I've never seen anything that nasty in my life. It was a photo of their lounge and just believe me that it was the worst kind of foul you could ever imagine. 

Not only was it a shit hole, but it was funny how the photo looked like it was taken back in the 1970's. There was just a very 70's look to it. I think Matthew's student days at Reading uni were much different than mine.

What else is new? Well I've been spending a lot of time looking for a new job and playing foursquare. I've been on several interviews now and things look promising. I'll write about the job hunt in another post. 

We'll be moving flats in June. I am very excited about that. We've decided that we are no longer going to have flatmates! I think Matthew had already decided that before the new couple moved in. I will admit that I was way too cheap to want to pay the rent ourselves. Last August our flatmate and good friend Wayland had to move out. I just didn't want to spend all that money on rent, so we let out the room. 

The couple who lives with us are nice people and as flatmate go they are easy to live with, but I am ready to have our own place. I am tired of feeling like I am only living in my bedroom. I am not sure where we'll move yet. We are thinking of either East or North London. I am looking forward to it. I will miss our flat and lovely garden, but it will be nice for it to be just me and Matthew.

It looks like it's a fantastic day outside so I am going to go for a walk and look for some daffodils.