Thursday, July 19, 2007

Finding the spacious, bright, leafy and private needle in the big, stinky, overcrowded haystack

House-hunting. I must be some kind of masochist, becacuse I kind of enjoy it, in a guilty sort of way. Not that I'm looking forward to leaving my beautiful, private flat with the magnificent green view and (almost) private woodland paradise just around the corner. Or being on my own again after 4 years of cosy cohabitation. Or sharing with strangers.

But I do find it fascinating getting to peek into other people's lives; to see what sort of taste they have, whether they use their kitchen, how scrupulously clean or comfortably messy their home is, what posters they have up, the proliferation or conspicuous absence of books. And of course, I judge them accordingly.

The anal obsessive whose flat looks like a magazine spread.

The scruffy hippies who are mildly bewildered by my lame establishment job.

The young, irresponsible gits who think cocaine is like, the best thing EVER!

The guy with two overweight labradors in a tiny Hampstead flat.

The ones who watch Big Brother. Daily.

The goth girls who keep rats in a cage in the living room.

The naturist who believes in the "freedom, spirituality and exhiliration" of being nude at home (I didn't go to see that one).

The girls who work in "fashion", and have not a brain cell between them (obviously no books there).

It is entertaining. I am also enjoying seeing other parts of London and discovering new villages, which is kind of fun. I have been living in rather a posh area of North London, so it is good to know that there are nice, reasonably green areas that are a little more...diverse. And a little grungier. But that's ok. The people are (mostly) lovely.

* * *

Also: I think I saw Tori Amos on the tube the other weekend. Could that even be possible? Tori Amos takes the tube when she's in London? I know she lives in deepest Cornwall somewhere, so it is possible that she was on a day trip to the capital. Then again, maybe the lack of sleep is finally causing me to hallucinate.

In case you are wondering, I was too scared/awed to approach her. And I would have felt a total dick if it wasn't her.

3 comments:

susanna said...

you've obviously weighed up the options and decided against coming back to melbourne. that's very brave. hopefully a whole city will open up to you in ways it probably hadn't before.

Anna said...

Ah, the excitement (and stress and frustration) of finding somewhere new to live. I was finally on the OTHER side of it all at the start of this year - I was advertising for a housemate in my place. So weird ones out there - I got called by a nudist too. And he sounded far more normal than some of the others!

Take your time and choose well. And good luck!

Anonymous said...

HI Kel, tried 2 email but it wouldnt accept. Hope all is going as well as it can B 4 U. My sister would B so jealous re Tori Amos! Hope the floods your way R not reeking more havoc on your life, not sure if they troubled London itself 2 much but Adrian told me 2 pass that on 2 U. Re house sharing, speaking from years and years and years of experience I am unaware of a more character-building exercise!!! Keep in touch, andrea

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