So Bryce and I woke up this morning at about 9am and got organised for our day. We went and had some breakfast, and made our way to Balham to pay for the next two months rent and pick up the keys to our new flat. Once we arrived in Balham (this was the first time I had been to Balham, and is where my sister and Oli lived for a year) we made our way to Foxton's real estate. They didn't have the keys for our place on site, so we had to wait for about an hour and killed time perusing all the shops Balham has to offer. Which appears not be be very many!
Once we had the keys in hand (a *very* exciting moment!) we had to gap it to get to the station and get to Ealing - back to Tony and Maria's who we had stayed with for 5 weeks as that was where all the bedding we had brought from Argos was. We were on the clock, because I had organised a 'Man with a Van' (what a BRILLIANT idea!) to meet us at 3pm in Tooting to help us shift our stuff to the new place. We finally got to Tony and Maria's at 2pm, and thankfully they were not home because we have not seen them since we left two weeks ago, and we literally were in and out in under five minutes and would have felt terrible if they had been home, a real "Hi... Bye" situation!
We started to panic a little at the time, so I text the 'Man with a Van' and asked if we could instead make the time 4pm. We had to go from Ealing to our new flat in Lambeth before going back to Tooting to collect the rest of our stuff. We got off at Brixton station which is a 15 minute walk to our flat, but with all the bedding we were carrying we jumped on a bus, it was a 2 minute or so ride, then a 3-4 minute walk to our new place. I had still not actually seen the flat... only in photos. Bryce had sorted it all on a day he had off! An exciting moment, and also an 'OMG I hope I like it' moment.
After fumbling with the skeleton key lock (it doesn't seem to work all that well!) we were in, up the stairs and dropping the bags on the kitchen floor. I had a very quick look around, then it was time to get out of there and back to Tooting to meet the "Man with a Van". By fluke we found a bus which was going to Tooting Broadway, so hopped on, and half an hour later we were back in Tooting. When we arrived Bryce needed to get cash out, so I walked on to meet the "Man with a Van". On seeing the van, I realised there were three Indian men in the van. I had been under the impression that Bryce and I would be able to ride with them to the new place, but there wouldn't be room. We loaded up the van and Bryce made it back with his cash. Bryce was great and said 'We booked you thinking we could come with you now. We need to both come. Not just one of us...' etc. The Indian man looked angry, but the other two men got out, and we climbed in. Nice work Bryce. Even if the Indian man looked all angry, didn't talk to us the whole way there and turned up the heat so much Bryce and I started panting like dogs. Haha.
When we arrived at the new place, there was an agent standing outside. She explained to us that the landlord and a potential buyer were locked *in* the flat. Someone had locked the dodgy skeleton key lock we had left unlocked. Bryce had a go fiddling with it, with no joy, and then the Indian man (after we had handed over our £40 for 20 minutes of his time, but it was so worth it!) came and helped - and got it open! All a bit of a laugh, really. Fancy being locked *inside* a flat?! Eep!
The flat we have secured is in Lambeth, and is on the market for sale. This is the reason that it is so cheap, and includes power/water/gas. It also means that there will be people coming through to view the house, but we have been promised that an agent will always be present with them, so I guess that is OK. There is an off-licence literally three doors down from ours, so running out of milk is never going to be a problem, and wanting a cheeky wine at whatever time will also not be a problem! We have been told that we will be given 6-8 weeks notice if the flat sells, so we are happy with that. It is in a reasonable area, the fact that Brixton Prison is a stones throw away down the road makes it somehow feel safer.
So, at long, *long* last we are in. We had a few laughs today - the whole thing made us feel like we were on "The Amazing Race" as we were rushing about everywhere. Every now and again we did some running just for the hang of it. It made it all so much more exciting! It is such a relief to finally have my own room (no offense to Bryce) and a space to call 'home', even if just for a little while.
I'm sure there will be more adventures to be had, but until then... some photos...
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| My room... I am loving the mantel piece, with the hole for shoes and the pretty flower lights around it... |
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| Our lounge, with the comfiest couches in the world ever, and lots of shelves to put all the knick-knacks we don't have! |
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| Looking from the lounge into the kitchen. A decent size, for sure, and a washing machine *and* dryer. Spoilt much!? The bathroom is through the door you can see. |
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| And looking from the kitchen up to the lounge and bedrooms. My room is the door on the left. Bryce's is the other. |
Cheery bye :)
Awesome pad guys!!! So much better that some of the dives I remember staying it!!!
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