Aaaaaah!

Flat; check.
Job; check.

Well, a temporary job at least. If things go well, maybe long term.

So, Grace and I are in London. I arrived last Tuesday morning, so it's been just about a week for me (Grace just got in yesterday). My plan during that time was to get a jump on a flat and a job before Grace came in.

I got in bright and early, one of the first planes allowed in after the 6 o'clock curfew. On the plane I was watching this movie, "Away from Her" and they cut it off 20 minutes before the end so we could land. Hmmmph.

A super long line to get through passport control, but soon I was on the train back into central London. Normally Grace and I take the tube to get to Heathrow, but it takes over an hour, so I thought I would try the train to Paddington station. It was a mistake since I arrived at the station right around rush hour and it was a major pain to take the tube to my relative's flat. I ended up having to walk. So I got in about two or three hours after I left Heathrow.

I had a job interview that afternoon so I took a little nap to get the red out of my eyes. I don't know if I should talk much about my job on the blog, so I'll just say it's a very bad idea to go to a job interview with jet lag. After the interview I caught up with my relative and took a little walk around the area.

My relatives live in central London in a ginormous flat (by London standards). It's got two floors! It would easily cost $1300 a week to rent on the private market, but since it's subsidized University housing, the price is much, much lower. They have a cute little kid and he loves to run around in the big space. The area is really nice too and perfect for students. Grace's University is right around the corner, just a ten minute walk.

The proximity to class and the subsidized rent rate made these flats the best option for Grace and I, but also everyone else. They were all full, and so was the rest of University housing. I would have to find us a place from somewhere else. Fortunately for me my relatives had been conducting a hunt for a flat for the past year and so they knew all sorts of great areas to check out.

But not that night. I couldn't keep my head up anymore at nine o'clock so I passed out on the couch. That night I slept 13 hours and when I woke up I went on a long long walk with my relatives. I think it cured the jet lag.

The apartment hunt went on for the next week. I used two sources to find potential places. The University has an online search engine for flats on offer from private landlords and I used that, but it wasn't actually too useful. The other source were letting agents, who are companies that lease property in a given neighborhood. Basically I would pick an area I thought we might want to live in (using my relatives' advice) and then go to google maps and type in "letting agents" plus the postal code. This would give me about 20 different companies. I would then either visit them all or call them all. Usually one in ten had a place in Grace and I's price range.

I pounded the pavement and manned the phones. One day I walked around for five or six hours. The week's effort netted me a grand total of five potential places. All were studios, meaning one big room with a little kitchen and bathroom. And all were a lot more expensive than we paid in Cambridge. So, basically we were going to be paying more for a downgrade.

Place 1: This was near King's Cross Railroad station (of Harry Potter fame). It was actually pretty big for a studio, but I didn't like the landlord. When I came to see the place they knocked on the door and we went in, but the tenants were still there. One was a guy and he was in bed with no shirt on. The other was his girlfriend or wife and she was wearing pyjamas and standing around awkwardly. That made inspecting the place fun. Another problem was the area. It was better than our location in DC, but it wasn't amazing or anything. I was kind of hoping for better. So I said no thanks, even though someone else was viewing right after me and they would probably jump on it.

Place 2: This was right around the corner from Grace's school and a park! Plus it was only a few doors down from Charles Dickens house! Whoa! It was in a beautiful old house too on a beautiful street.
But it was teensy tiny. It had a single bed which took up about 1/3 of the place. Think walk-in closet. And the shower had a ceiling which was too low for me to stand up in.

Place 3: This was much farther from Grace's school. The other places were about a 15 minute walk and this was a 45 minute walk. But it was right next to regents' park and the zoo so at least it would be a nice walk. And there would be plenty of space to run. Plus it was super swank - came with a plasma screen TV, stereo, modern bathroom and modern furniture.
But it was also really small. It had a futon and a desk and when the futon folded down there wouldn't be any open floor space. It also only had one set of shelves. I don't think all our suitcases would even fit in there.

Place 4: This was way out in Hampstead Heath, a district outside central London. On one hand the area was super nice. We could walk to a local grocery store, pubs and park. And the place was in a converted mansion. It was decently sized, had modern furniture and the landlords were super nice (plus Irish, a bonus!).
But we would have to take the tube to work and class. And it was on the Northern Line which is rumored to be frequently not running. And there are no buses. Walking would be a 90 minute ordeal.

But it was the best we had seen so far. We told them we would let them know by Tuesday night (which gave us 2 days to find a better place).

Place 5: Also in Hampstead Heath, like place 4. It has an oven and we were supposed to see it tomorrow morning.

So, basically there was no hope of living within walking distance to class. I had already tried everything I could think of and nothing was quite up to scratch. I was thinking Hampstead Heath or Notting Hill, both of which are so far you would have to take the tube in. But at least we would have everything else for our life close by.

But my relative convinced me to try for university housing one last time, so Monday morning we went down to the front desk of my relative's hall. I told them I was looking for a place and bam! they had 6 double studios open! Apparently from people who hadn't shown up.

Hell yeah we could see them now. The landlady took us to the basement of the very hall where we were staying and showed us six places which were great. They weren't as swank as place 3, but they were big enough and, most importantly, they were close to class for Grace and subsidized. The bed folds into the wall during the day, so you have more space!

Only problem was they were in the basement, so they didn't get much natural light. But we could live with that.

But then, as we were leaving she told us we could have an identical place on the 5th floor (top floor) if we were willing to wait till Sunday to move in. By coincidence, that's how long we were planning on staying with my relatives so everything worked out. Ha!

The rub is figuring out how to get our stuff out of storage and down here. The company can't deliver till Wednesday October 3. We're thinking about renting a car and getting it ourselves, but we have to decide if we want to brave central London traffic.

In the end we're still paying more for this place than we did in Cambridge and it's still a step down. But after looking for a week I know this place can't be beat in terms of price, location, amenities and size. Apparently lots of students start by looking at student housing, don't like it and decide to risk losing it while they look for something better. By the time they realize how good it was, it's gone.

Anyway, we're good.

Oh, and I have a job starting on Monday!