And I Was Having Such A Nice Day...
Grr. So, up until an hour and a half ago, I was going to spend my last day of being thirty-one years old attending an appointment, doing some shopping, coming home and leaving reviews on some fanfic I especially loved but was too tired to review properly last night, and then go to my birthday party and eat Thai food and drink a couple of glasses of wine.
But one phone call means it's now going to be a very awkward affair indeed.
Okay. Ian and I split up at Christmas and I continued to live in the spare bedroom of his house (yeah, he owns it) as friends and we split the bills half/half and it's cheaper for us and ultimately better. At the time Tony (a mutual friend) was looking for a housemate and I mentioned to him that if things got awkward I might want to try that.
As it was, however, it wasn't, and Ian promised me that when the people living in the downtairs granny flat moved out, I could move in so that we could both have our space while still splitting living costs. Awesome. When are they going? February. Excellent!
Then it was April.
Then it was May.
Then it was June.
They still hadn't gone, and Ian's irritation whenever I pushed for a "hey, WTF is going on, why are these people still here when I thought his permission to be in Australia had officially run out" made me feel like a right heartless cow, but dammit my mother and sister are coming up to visit in mid August before I went down to the Central Coast for a week, and offered that if I had that space of my own they'd pay me what they'd pay to a motel so that I could afford a second-hand sofa bed to furnish myself and use after they'd gone which seemed a bloody good idea to me. So two days ago (with multiple "do you know what's going on yet or do I need to book a motel?" enquiries from my mother over the past fortnight) I find out they're finally (FINALLY) fucking off on Sunday. Normally I would be much less overjoyed to see such quiet and otherwise pleasant people go - but dammit, between staying so long and constantly using up our hot water and internet limits, they've overstayed their welcome so far as I am concerned, but hey, it isn't my house. Tony knows that I'm desperate to get down there because I bitched and moaned to him that they seemed like they were never ever going just earlier this very week.
So Ian tells me this morning that Tony's going to ring me with "a... *pause* proposition" and I was still too tired to think "eh?". I just said, yeah whatever. After my appointment, in the middle of shopping, I pick up my phone to ring mum and tell her to send the money over for the sofabed, and first I realise I have a missed call. It's Tony.
He's got to go to Turkey this weekend (it's FRIDAY AFTERNOON NOW) for a month, and he wants a housesitter to feed all his animals (because he's a wildlife rescue volunteer). And hey, those critters need care, so I say, Okay it's very sudden but I can help for the first two weeks but I have my mother coming in August for a few days and then am going away for a week and I really can't change that. At this point I'm mentally cursing that Tony won't be around to help me with the sofabed or with moving downstairs, and wondering how I'm supposed to move down there while being a live-in animal carer all the way across town and it's too far for me to walk it everyday and I don't have a car or unlimited money for taxi fares.
Then he drops th bomb. He's looking for a new housemate because he hates the one he's got and wouldn't it be such a good idea that instead of moving downstairs (where I have literally been wanting to be for months to the point of stewing that these people can just never seem to fuck off when they've promised to fuck off and Tony knows that) I can move into the spare room with him and help him with the animals and just stay there etc etc etc and wouldn't it be so great? After desperately trying to tell him that on the phone in the supermarket carting around milk and veggies and the like wasn't the right time to discuss this and I'll talk to you later (ie, my birthday party)
I... wha? I get that he wants a housemate he gets along with and can trust, and that he can't afford to not have one for long, but his house is cheap rent for it's size for a good reason. It is a WRECK. It is old. It is cold. It is a mess. It smells. It's falling apart (the hot water system nearly came through the roof, for crying out loud.) The landlord lets Tony have it for cheap rent because otherwise s/he'd probably have to pay for it to be pulled down because I really doubt anyone would be daft enough to rent it. Somehow, going from "Living in nice house or in own private little area under nice house and splitting half the bills with someone who is experienced at living with me and my problems" to "Living in one (admittedly big) room in Tony's cold old miserable place and splitting half the bills AND RENT with a friend who Just Doesn't Get It and has" does not appeal. I know that he's a pensioner and that he needs someone living with him to help cover costs, but except for the rent issue, EXACTLY THE SAME APPLIES TO IAN. But Tony tends to have a Brilliant Idea and it's all steam ahead and I don't think he's considered that this will leave Ian in quite the financial pickle too. So whichever I choose, I'm dumping a friend in the financial shit.
So now instead of a nice quiet happy birthday party with my friends, I will have a tense one where I will have to explain to a well-meaning if overenthusiastic and blinkered friend why I don't think his brilliant idea is actually brilliant for anyone but him.
But one phone call means it's now going to be a very awkward affair indeed.
Okay. Ian and I split up at Christmas and I continued to live in the spare bedroom of his house (yeah, he owns it) as friends and we split the bills half/half and it's cheaper for us and ultimately better. At the time Tony (a mutual friend) was looking for a housemate and I mentioned to him that if things got awkward I might want to try that.
As it was, however, it wasn't, and Ian promised me that when the people living in the downtairs granny flat moved out, I could move in so that we could both have our space while still splitting living costs. Awesome. When are they going? February. Excellent!
Then it was April.
Then it was May.
Then it was June.
They still hadn't gone, and Ian's irritation whenever I pushed for a "hey, WTF is going on, why are these people still here when I thought his permission to be in Australia had officially run out" made me feel like a right heartless cow, but dammit my mother and sister are coming up to visit in mid August before I went down to the Central Coast for a week, and offered that if I had that space of my own they'd pay me what they'd pay to a motel so that I could afford a second-hand sofa bed to furnish myself and use after they'd gone which seemed a bloody good idea to me. So two days ago (with multiple "do you know what's going on yet or do I need to book a motel?" enquiries from my mother over the past fortnight) I find out they're finally (FINALLY) fucking off on Sunday. Normally I would be much less overjoyed to see such quiet and otherwise pleasant people go - but dammit, between staying so long and constantly using up our hot water and internet limits, they've overstayed their welcome so far as I am concerned, but hey, it isn't my house. Tony knows that I'm desperate to get down there because I bitched and moaned to him that they seemed like they were never ever going just earlier this very week.
So Ian tells me this morning that Tony's going to ring me with "a... *pause* proposition" and I was still too tired to think "eh?". I just said, yeah whatever. After my appointment, in the middle of shopping, I pick up my phone to ring mum and tell her to send the money over for the sofabed, and first I realise I have a missed call. It's Tony.
He's got to go to Turkey this weekend (it's FRIDAY AFTERNOON NOW) for a month, and he wants a housesitter to feed all his animals (because he's a wildlife rescue volunteer). And hey, those critters need care, so I say, Okay it's very sudden but I can help for the first two weeks but I have my mother coming in August for a few days and then am going away for a week and I really can't change that. At this point I'm mentally cursing that Tony won't be around to help me with the sofabed or with moving downstairs, and wondering how I'm supposed to move down there while being a live-in animal carer all the way across town and it's too far for me to walk it everyday and I don't have a car or unlimited money for taxi fares.
Then he drops th bomb. He's looking for a new housemate because he hates the one he's got and wouldn't it be such a good idea that instead of moving downstairs (where I have literally been wanting to be for months to the point of stewing that these people can just never seem to fuck off when they've promised to fuck off and Tony knows that) I can move into the spare room with him and help him with the animals and just stay there etc etc etc and wouldn't it be so great? After desperately trying to tell him that on the phone in the supermarket carting around milk and veggies and the like wasn't the right time to discuss this and I'll talk to you later (ie, my birthday party)
I... wha? I get that he wants a housemate he gets along with and can trust, and that he can't afford to not have one for long, but his house is cheap rent for it's size for a good reason. It is a WRECK. It is old. It is cold. It is a mess. It smells. It's falling apart (the hot water system nearly came through the roof, for crying out loud.) The landlord lets Tony have it for cheap rent because otherwise s/he'd probably have to pay for it to be pulled down because I really doubt anyone would be daft enough to rent it. Somehow, going from "Living in nice house or in own private little area under nice house and splitting half the bills with someone who is experienced at living with me and my problems" to "Living in one (admittedly big) room in Tony's cold old miserable place and splitting half the bills AND RENT with a friend who Just Doesn't Get It and has" does not appeal. I know that he's a pensioner and that he needs someone living with him to help cover costs, but except for the rent issue, EXACTLY THE SAME APPLIES TO IAN. But Tony tends to have a Brilliant Idea and it's all steam ahead and I don't think he's considered that this will leave Ian in quite the financial pickle too. So whichever I choose, I'm dumping a friend in the financial shit.
So now instead of a nice quiet happy birthday party with my friends, I will have a tense one where I will have to explain to a well-meaning if overenthusiastic and blinkered friend why I don't think his brilliant idea is actually brilliant for anyone but him.