So the blog has been v
quiet for the past few weeks but I do have a very good excuse, I promise – last
Sunday I moved from Sheffield to London, then the day after began my new (and
first proper) job as Online Intern for House & Garden magazine. It’s been
an absolutely insane whirlwind which has had me jumping for joy one minute and
on the edge of a nervous breakdown the next. But not to worry – after the first
week I love love love my job and am happily settled in my little flat.
 |
| Home sweet home |
The most stressful
part of the whole business has been finding somewhere to live – I had two weeks
to find a place within budget, with a decent commute time, that I could make
feel like home. Naïvely I thought this wouldn’t pose much of an issue: London’s
a big place, must be full of places looking for tenants right? Wrong. It is a
jungle. JUNGLE. So after my shitty experience I thought it might be good if I
shared what I’d learnt so that it might help someone else avoid the renting
nightmare:
1. If it looks too good
to be true it probably is. So obviously try and familiarise yourself with
common online scams so not to fall victim. Scams aside, some listings have
other less criminal, but just as pressing issues. I got my hopes waaaay up
about a beautiful, lower-end-of-budget flat in Camden. It hadn’t actually been
built yet.
2. Go and view the places
in person. Another obvious one but again v important – one place I went to see
wasn’t the room advertised, instead of a spacious double it was a teeny tiny shoebox
room.
3. Trust no one. This
sounds a little extreme but it’s unfortunately necessary. Confirm and double
confirm everything, take phone numbers, call agents, send endless emails. I had
some landlords completely neglect to turn up to viewings and others who were
uncontactable until I saw them in person. Some people literally do not give a
shit about what happens to you so expect to feel a bit bashed about.
4. This being said, it
doesn’t mean you should be a shit back to these people. Yes be tough, be sassy
but also be polite, be nice – in a land of whiny Frodos be a Sam (sorry not
sorry).
***
Most people would call
my moving away a ‘fresh start’, an opportunity to remake myself, to start from
scratch in a new place. But I don’t see it like that at all. The last time I
made a true fresh start was three years ago when I started at Cambridge. I
needed this opportunity to start again desperately, I wasn’t the person I knew
I could be and needed a chance to reinvent myself urgently. Long story short, I
did, and managed to graduate happy with who I was. But this time I have no old
self to escape from, I don’t need a
fresh start but nevertheless I’ve been given one, and in all honesty I don’t
really know what to do with it.
Trying to force who I’ve
been as a Cambridge student into the stencil of London working life will be
near impossible without making some changes, and I suppose this is what I’m
scared of – losing who I am when I’ve been so blissfully happy. I’ve managed to
crack the code to looking like a native Londoner – look busy. But I don’t want
to become someone who never has time – I think that’s how you really lose sight
of yourself. I reckon this semi-identity crisis is coming from a combination of
golden-age syndrome and fear of growing up. Stay tuned to find out how long I
can resist the demon adulthood.
