After a long and damp day of wandering the streets of South West London in search of a place to live, D and I were exhausted and mildly depressed. Though the first place was saw was definitely the worst (by far), the others were nothing exceptional and had us rethinking our situation and London life in general. Had we really been too optimistic in thinking we could find a place so soon and within our budget?
We were walking through Wimbledon at seven thirty that night, on our way to view the last flat of the day. The sun had finally come out of hiding and was beaming down on us, which, if I were a more superstitious person, would have taken as a sign from above that we were where we belonged.
Being forty five minute early (slight overestimate of how long it would take to get there), we decided to find the place, then suss out the local amenities.
The flat was in a complex. But not the kind I spoke of previously. In fact, it was quite the opposite. This was the type of housing complex that you see in a different type of movie... The ones where, in the morning scene, the mothers pack everyone's lunch neatly on the kitchen table, then kiss goodbye to the husband in his suit, holding his brief case and pile the kids with their school bags into the car. The kind where people wave and smile to each other, at the old lady trimming her rose bushes and the old man who nips out to the front to pick up his newspaper. It was the kind of place I could imagine myself in...
It was time to inspect the neighbourhood and assess how long it would take to find somewhere to eat and find somewhere to picnic... My two greatest priorities. On the way back out from the complex we stumbled upon a pub (joy). Not just any pub though...
A Comprehensive List of Things I Liked About The Pub
1. Fairy lights. If you want to find a way to impress me, start with fairy lights. There's something so majestic about them. Hang them up somewhere average and hey presto! you're a decorating genius who has made a seemingly average looking place, look approximately thirty times cooler and atmospheric.
2. Leather Chesterfield couches. These are the George Clooney of couches. I'm not really a die hard fan of Mr Clooney, so perhaps it's a bad analogy... But I feel it's the only way of describing the attraction I feel towards these couches, without sounding like someone who judges the sexual appeal of furniture... With such sophistication and elegance, they are both aged, but not tired looking and only deserving the finest of booties to be sat upon... These couches demand a certain standard, one should preferably sip on a glass of fine whisky, perhaps read a heavy looking book and stroke ones beard periodically.
3. Nice Bathrooms. You can judge a lot about the class of a pub by their bathrooms. These were black tiled from floor to ceiling, an efficient hand dryer, background music, hand soap and hand cream. These people understand me. I'd happily spend all night in there if I had to.
4. Good Chips. This is very much make or break for me. But these chips (three quid for a good sized bowl) lived up to my expectations, which were remarkably high after visiting the bathrooms. Perfect crunchy to soft ratio, bit low on salt if I'm honest (though I like to think they're taking their patrons cholesterol levels into account here) and delivered with an array of condiments. Win.
5. Gluten Free Pizza. I'm not allergic (thank goodness), but a lot of gluten makes me horribly sick. So you can't imagine my excitement when I saw this option on the menu. Again, it was a sign from above... I'd eat regular pizza if it was the only choice (and writhe in pain later on), and to be fair, I haven't tried it yet, so it could be awful... BUT, the fact that it is available makes me super duper happy.
6. Proximity. Let's say, hypothetically, that one were to become exceedingly rotten from self inflicted intoxication at mentioned pub, and needed to lay upon a soft surface (other than the so generously provided and delicious smelling, leather Chesterfields). One needn't stumble farther than the back gate. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in a moment of pure ecstasy, D and I realised that the pub's back gate quite literally opens up into the entrance of the complex.
(Oh, and D said the beer was good too... But please. I have my priorities...)
So the Pub passed the test with flying colours. Two gold stars. Well done. Other far more uninteresting benefits of the area include a bus stop, a late closing Sainsbury's, a glorious wide open park, a selection of lovely shops... and that's about as far as we got because we were still too excited about the pub.
The flat itself lived up to my ridiculously high expectation. I had already moved in (in my mind), before we lay foot in the house. It was spacious (for a small flat), with a shared kitchen on the bottom floor, a common room with huge world map (points for inferred intelligence) on the second floor and our bathroom and bedroom on the top floor. D and I loved it, but had to get the thumbs up from flat mates before we got too excited (too late). Given any other two people, the whole process would have been incredibly daunting. But these two were awesome (we were already besties in my mind, skipping down the street, picnic basket in hand, laughing about silly things). They were really down to earth and made the whole 'trying to figure out if we were the kind of people they'd want to live with for two years' process really relaxed and comfortable. We left the house with high hopes, but didn't want to get too excited because we knew there were a lot of couples interested in the place.
On the walk back to the train station, D and I replayed every conversation we had and worried about whether we sounded cool enough. Identical to the kind of conversation two friends would have after one goes on a date with someone. Should we have said this? Why didn't we say that? Did we come across to keen? It was lucky my back pocket vibrated or we would have continued for hours, like psychopathic singles, analysing every word shared... It was a message to say the room was ours and in other words 'we like you enough to live with you for a while'. It was a pretty exciting time for us. We took this photo to document the moment. Super, crazy happy, excited!
We were walking through Wimbledon at seven thirty that night, on our way to view the last flat of the day. The sun had finally come out of hiding and was beaming down on us, which, if I were a more superstitious person, would have taken as a sign from above that we were where we belonged.
Being forty five minute early (slight overestimate of how long it would take to get there), we decided to find the place, then suss out the local amenities.
The flat was in a complex. But not the kind I spoke of previously. In fact, it was quite the opposite. This was the type of housing complex that you see in a different type of movie... The ones where, in the morning scene, the mothers pack everyone's lunch neatly on the kitchen table, then kiss goodbye to the husband in his suit, holding his brief case and pile the kids with their school bags into the car. The kind where people wave and smile to each other, at the old lady trimming her rose bushes and the old man who nips out to the front to pick up his newspaper. It was the kind of place I could imagine myself in...
It was time to inspect the neighbourhood and assess how long it would take to find somewhere to eat and find somewhere to picnic... My two greatest priorities. On the way back out from the complex we stumbled upon a pub (joy). Not just any pub though...
A Comprehensive List of Things I Liked About The Pub
1. Fairy lights. If you want to find a way to impress me, start with fairy lights. There's something so majestic about them. Hang them up somewhere average and hey presto! you're a decorating genius who has made a seemingly average looking place, look approximately thirty times cooler and atmospheric.
2. Leather Chesterfield couches. These are the George Clooney of couches. I'm not really a die hard fan of Mr Clooney, so perhaps it's a bad analogy... But I feel it's the only way of describing the attraction I feel towards these couches, without sounding like someone who judges the sexual appeal of furniture... With such sophistication and elegance, they are both aged, but not tired looking and only deserving the finest of booties to be sat upon... These couches demand a certain standard, one should preferably sip on a glass of fine whisky, perhaps read a heavy looking book and stroke ones beard periodically.
3. Nice Bathrooms. You can judge a lot about the class of a pub by their bathrooms. These were black tiled from floor to ceiling, an efficient hand dryer, background music, hand soap and hand cream. These people understand me. I'd happily spend all night in there if I had to.
4. Good Chips. This is very much make or break for me. But these chips (three quid for a good sized bowl) lived up to my expectations, which were remarkably high after visiting the bathrooms. Perfect crunchy to soft ratio, bit low on salt if I'm honest (though I like to think they're taking their patrons cholesterol levels into account here) and delivered with an array of condiments. Win.
5. Gluten Free Pizza. I'm not allergic (thank goodness), but a lot of gluten makes me horribly sick. So you can't imagine my excitement when I saw this option on the menu. Again, it was a sign from above... I'd eat regular pizza if it was the only choice (and writhe in pain later on), and to be fair, I haven't tried it yet, so it could be awful... BUT, the fact that it is available makes me super duper happy.
6. Proximity. Let's say, hypothetically, that one were to become exceedingly rotten from self inflicted intoxication at mentioned pub, and needed to lay upon a soft surface (other than the so generously provided and delicious smelling, leather Chesterfields). One needn't stumble farther than the back gate. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in a moment of pure ecstasy, D and I realised that the pub's back gate quite literally opens up into the entrance of the complex.
(Oh, and D said the beer was good too... But please. I have my priorities...)
So the Pub passed the test with flying colours. Two gold stars. Well done. Other far more uninteresting benefits of the area include a bus stop, a late closing Sainsbury's, a glorious wide open park, a selection of lovely shops... and that's about as far as we got because we were still too excited about the pub.
The flat itself lived up to my ridiculously high expectation. I had already moved in (in my mind), before we lay foot in the house. It was spacious (for a small flat), with a shared kitchen on the bottom floor, a common room with huge world map (points for inferred intelligence) on the second floor and our bathroom and bedroom on the top floor. D and I loved it, but had to get the thumbs up from flat mates before we got too excited (too late). Given any other two people, the whole process would have been incredibly daunting. But these two were awesome (we were already besties in my mind, skipping down the street, picnic basket in hand, laughing about silly things). They were really down to earth and made the whole 'trying to figure out if we were the kind of people they'd want to live with for two years' process really relaxed and comfortable. We left the house with high hopes, but didn't want to get too excited because we knew there were a lot of couples interested in the place.
On the walk back to the train station, D and I replayed every conversation we had and worried about whether we sounded cool enough. Identical to the kind of conversation two friends would have after one goes on a date with someone. Should we have said this? Why didn't we say that? Did we come across to keen? It was lucky my back pocket vibrated or we would have continued for hours, like psychopathic singles, analysing every word shared... It was a message to say the room was ours and in other words 'we like you enough to live with you for a while'. It was a pretty exciting time for us. We took this photo to document the moment. Super, crazy happy, excited!
So that was our silver lining. After such a cloudy day, the sun quite literally came out and made everything better. The task we assumed would take weeks, took three days. We are the house hunting masters! It's a huge relief to have somewhere to go, somewhere to look forward to and somewhere to call home. For a while at least.
Xxo
Xxo