Flatland
We found a flat on Saturday in quite a nice residential street about 5 mins from a metro stop and many shops and bars. It's also just 15 mins walk from Jezzidue's place, which is handy.
Several messages, a hand waving conversation in Spanish, a call in Spanish and another in English followed by a few emails seem to have got us the place. We got an emailed contract yesterday and go to pay deposit and pick up the keys tomorrow. Life seems a bit of a punctuated equilibrium at present - when things happen they happen quickly...
It (the flat, not life) is on the ground floor and we're hoping it'll be kept a bit cooler by its semi-subterranean situation (the windows are at a normal height from inside, but most of the area beneath them is actually underground). Time will tell. It's got quite a dinky bathroom and kitchen, but they're both laid out well including a half size dishwasher and a half size washing machine. The living room's lovely and spacious and most importantly we have a spare room. Guests welcome, so give us a shout if you fancy a trip to (usually) sunny madrid.
The area is, as usual in Madrid, full of flats with small shared gardens but also scattered playgrounds to stop people going mad. It's the most built up area I'll have lived in and I hope it works OK. The buildings are at least quite well spaced and I hope our view from ground floor means we see more of the trees and not just a thousand other windows. It'll be our first place together and I'm rather looking forward to it. Living with friends is great but I think there'll be something to be said for just being the two of us.
Went shopping for more clothes at the weekend, now we know our respective work dress codes. So, I got combats and a T-shirt while Leathellin picked up smart pinstripe trousers. We also watched much Fry and Laurie which still makes me roar with laughter. Just occurred to me that I'm also getting hold of both QI and House - funny things, careers.
Speaking of mine - the work's looking do-able, and while there look like being subcontractor issues I'm hoping we won't end up completely micro-managing them. My part of the puzzle looks entirely tractable and I'm hoping will use some interesting techniques. The commute's not killing me yet, and I hope to be able to use much train time to write stuff as well as staring at beautiful sunsets. At present I'm writing nothing more complicated than the odd To Do list and LJ such as this but I ought to get back into the swing of things eventually.
The lunchtime explorations continue - was taken to a very nice Asturian place on Thursday - but Friday caught me out. It's a six hour day rather than nine, and it turns out people don't bother with lunch, or anything more than a quick snack anyway. I went off by myself to the very cheap supermarket and got some own-brand healthfood bars. They were OK, and I managed to keep my calories up by going out for steak in the evening.
So we're now entirely visitable and even have a calendar designed for the purpose of arrangements - it's our shared Visitors' calendar(TM).
Several messages, a hand waving conversation in Spanish, a call in Spanish and another in English followed by a few emails seem to have got us the place. We got an emailed contract yesterday and go to pay deposit and pick up the keys tomorrow. Life seems a bit of a punctuated equilibrium at present - when things happen they happen quickly...
It (the flat, not life) is on the ground floor and we're hoping it'll be kept a bit cooler by its semi-subterranean situation (the windows are at a normal height from inside, but most of the area beneath them is actually underground). Time will tell. It's got quite a dinky bathroom and kitchen, but they're both laid out well including a half size dishwasher and a half size washing machine. The living room's lovely and spacious and most importantly we have a spare room. Guests welcome, so give us a shout if you fancy a trip to (usually) sunny madrid.
The area is, as usual in Madrid, full of flats with small shared gardens but also scattered playgrounds to stop people going mad. It's the most built up area I'll have lived in and I hope it works OK. The buildings are at least quite well spaced and I hope our view from ground floor means we see more of the trees and not just a thousand other windows. It'll be our first place together and I'm rather looking forward to it. Living with friends is great but I think there'll be something to be said for just being the two of us.
Went shopping for more clothes at the weekend, now we know our respective work dress codes. So, I got combats and a T-shirt while Leathellin picked up smart pinstripe trousers. We also watched much Fry and Laurie which still makes me roar with laughter. Just occurred to me that I'm also getting hold of both QI and House - funny things, careers.
Speaking of mine - the work's looking do-able, and while there look like being subcontractor issues I'm hoping we won't end up completely micro-managing them. My part of the puzzle looks entirely tractable and I'm hoping will use some interesting techniques. The commute's not killing me yet, and I hope to be able to use much train time to write stuff as well as staring at beautiful sunsets. At present I'm writing nothing more complicated than the odd To Do list and LJ such as this but I ought to get back into the swing of things eventually.
The lunchtime explorations continue - was taken to a very nice Asturian place on Thursday - but Friday caught me out. It's a six hour day rather than nine, and it turns out people don't bother with lunch, or anything more than a quick snack anyway. I went off by myself to the very cheap supermarket and got some own-brand healthfood bars. They were OK, and I managed to keep my calories up by going out for steak in the evening.
So we're now entirely visitable and even have a calendar designed for the purpose of arrangements - it's our shared Visitors' calendar(TM).