Posted 2:34 AM by Lodger
Can't write much. Very little time. We head out in a matter of minutes. Still haven't found a place. Not thinking about it for a week so that we can enjoy the beauty of the English countryside.

Ciao.

Posted 4:10 PM by Lodger
It's been awhile. Apologies to those of you who have been checking for new posts.

A LOT HAS HAPPENED.

I had a bit of a rough end to the school year, due to various things, mostly my poor stress management skills. I'm feelin' good, optimistic with regard to the coming year. I've got support, because...

I'VE GOT A SPECIAL PERSON IN MY LIFE!

Emma (from previous blog entries you may have read) and I have been seeing each other for a bit now. We got together at the beginning of May, I got cold feet and kinda held things up, she was patient and understanding, we were at JV's birthday party, we kinda hooked up again, decided to take things slowly, and things have gone very well since. We are now (gulp) about to move in together, a big step, but it feels right and, to paraphrase Woody Allen, 'a relationship is like a shark... it's always got to move forward or it will die.' Something like that, anyway.

Emma's a country girl from Australia: Narrabri in Northwest New South Wales to be exact. Narrabri's a small farming community approximately seven hours northwest of Sydney. She teaches science to high school students near Richmond in Greater London, England, UK. She used to teach science to high school students at Edenham. I once ducked to avoid a snowball that had been thrown by a year eleven student and it ended up hitting her in the face. She was greatly impressed by my dexterity and, being Australian and unfamiliar with snow, was grateful for the opportunity to experience it in such an authentic way. Anyway, we got to know each other a bit for the rest of that year, culminating in a trip to Cornwall and Devon with mutual friends, then she moved back to Australia. Then she moved back here in January of this year. This has been a somewhat back assward way of telling this tale, but basically, you're now sort of caught up.

So, we're looking for a place, an oddly casual sort of experience in London. You register with tons of Estate agencies, make appointments with many well-groomed, sloth-like humanoid creatures called estate agents who, if you're lucky, locate a suitable flat for you. There is little correlation between cost and quality of property, due to the fact that many people come to London expecting to pay outrageous rent for a shitbox flat, and thus will pay outrageous rent for a shitbox flat. However, after living in London for awhile, one recognises there are decent flats out there that are good value for money. You just gotta find'm. And pester a lot of estate agents. Constantly. It's the only thing they respond to.

We are looking for a flat that is walking distance from Clapham Junction train station, the only location that makes sense for both of us for transport to work. It's a cool area, up and coming, kind of trendy. Thus it's quite expensive. So if I've given the impression we're looking for a flat for just the two of us, I've given the wrong impression. We are looking for a flat for two couples, preferably with two bathrooms and two large size bedrooms. We thought of looking for a room in a shared flat or house, but met another couple through an ad online and are now looking for a place with them. Again, a bit odd, but for London it's par for the course. If you're looking to share with strangers, but meet a suitable, friendly couple in the process of finding a place, you might as well look together. The suitable, friendly couple previously mentioned are Danny and Rebecca from Perth, Australia, a married couple in their mid-twenties. They seem very sweet and we all get on well. Now we just have to find somewhere. We looked at a place today, but it was too small. We have two viewings tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

On the travelling front, this summer's been quite slow. Obviously, with looking for a place as the main priority, we've not had the chance to get away. But, we are going walking in Derbyshire this week for six days with our friends Mike and Nick. It will be my first full-on walking experience in England (to clarify, British people call hiking walking). I've been out on a couple of overnight excursions around Croydon, but nothing hardcore. It will be Emma's first lengthy walk in the UK as well.

We've been to a few plays: Hamlet at the Old Vic (excellent!), Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe (an all female production, very entertaining), and Romeo and Juliet at the Globe (horrible!). It was quite shocking to see a poor production at the Globe, as everything I'd seen previously had been good. Oh well. They can't all be good I guess.

Emma organised a BBQ for mine and Holly's birthday last week. We had lots of food, beer, wine and spirits. Some of us watched the final episode of this year's Big Brother (what are we supposed do now at ten o'clock every night?) It was a great party with great friends and perfect weather. Life is sweet.