See, told you everything would be fine!
Today's been one hell of a day. I get up at a reasonable time of the morning, so as to be properly prepared for meeting one of my co-signers for the new house, going over the forms then handing them in. So I get to the estate agents on time and there's no-one there. 15 minutes later there's still no-one there, and I begin to panic. Last time we met up (to actually look for a house) I was half an hour early, which didn't matter in the end since the other two found the house without me. Since this is rather more important, I begin to panic at the thought of having fucked everything up (despite telling myself that "forms can be done on Saturday or Monday as easily as Friday"). What with my stomach feeling like it went to a Hatebreed moshpit without me I head home, planning to go round to my friend's house and apologize. Over a glass of water I checked the plans again, and lo and behold I was right on time, and they were the ones who didn't show. Still not 100% convinced (i'd arranged this meetup and another one at the same time, and both were 12:00, so I might have gotten my wires crossed), I headed over there trying to think of the right opening line that could either lead to angry exasperation or apologetically feigning illness (yeah, I know, I'm a scumbag), only to find that they hadn't left the house at all, and not wishing to tip the boat by mentioning anything about missed connections I simply went over the forms there before slogging back into town to the estate agents. Funnily enough it turned out I was at the wrong estate agents both times, but by this point I was too giddy to care.
The woman's out to lunch, so for 45 mins me and the other guy sit in this dismal greasy-spoon cafe, which was a lot nicer the one time three years ago that I went to it, but now just made me feel shamed for having suggested it while we waited half an hour for our coffee. I get along moderately with this guy, Dan, despite the fact that he's the previous president of Anime Soc who undermined me at meetings. But eventually we have our grim-tasting cuppas and have the sit down with the estate agent. She finds our paperwork to be in order (which immediately makes me doubt her competence) then after some scribbling and cursing at her computer for not working properly (lawl) she hands us our quote. We smiled, left after giving her Dan's number for her to contact us, then once we were safely out of the door began cursing. Why? Well it turns out that our 'quote' was for £850-odd for the 1st month's rent in advance, a further nine hundred-odd pounds deposit, plus consultancy fees. So that comes to nearly £2000 up front before we even start considering insurance or, y'know, food. To make that kind of money, since the other two could front £150 apiece maximum, I'd have to empty my savings altogether, and Dan would have to go the full £300 into his overdraft. And our response was naturally NO. FUCKING. WAY. And while plans falling through are of course sad, I felt strangely relieved that it was literally impossible, rather than something we'd have to perpetually struggle to make work.
I get back to my place, wondering what the hell I'm gonna do to avoid a future career scrubbing my mother's brewery, and grab another quick glass of water before catching the bus to campus to pick up my graduation ceremony tickets. I wasn't confident --it being two weeks after they first became available, and a previous cock-up of getting the date wrong by one day means now my Dad can't come-- but since I got them automatically as a graduate and remainders aren't sold off until the day of the ceremony itself, they weren't going anywhere, and certainly not without me being told. At least, that's what I kept telling myself on the way. But after ten minutes sitting outside the office waiting for the administrator I noticed the sign on the porters lodge about the tickets, and simply asked one of them. I forgot how nice my college's porters are, and in a jiffy he got me them (from, I might add, a whole box full of yet-to-be-claimed tickets). On more of a buzz, I headed home and fixed some lunch. Then I remembered that I'd made backup inquiries RE: housing with Jack and Beth (magister_cain and rose_cain) about their spare room. I rung Jack, expecting no answer like yesterday when I rang him to say no, I've found a place now but thanks anyway, but lo and behold he's there and before I know it I've agreed to make another walk into town to meet up with them. I wolf my toast and abandon my coffee, and 20 minutes later I'm in the pub with them. I wasn't in the best of shape, since I'd spent the day bouncing back and forth between places, but thankfully I was composed enough to avoid falling off my chair at their offer. £200 a month (a whole £6 cheaper than the rent I was going to be paying) including bills, with no deposit. As hikari_datenshi put it when I told her later, "Fuckin' ell that's cheap!" Not to mention that, while there's no washing machine Jack will be happy to add my dirties to the rest of the hand wash load (which he'd only have to do once, while I crawl into a corner and die of embarrassment), while there's no internet ATM my unexpected rent contribution will probably go towards it, and while there's no fridge Beth cooks for the whole household, tenants included.
So whaddya know? Good things do happen to bad people :D
The woman's out to lunch, so for 45 mins me and the other guy sit in this dismal greasy-spoon cafe, which was a lot nicer the one time three years ago that I went to it, but now just made me feel shamed for having suggested it while we waited half an hour for our coffee. I get along moderately with this guy, Dan, despite the fact that he's the previous president of Anime Soc who undermined me at meetings. But eventually we have our grim-tasting cuppas and have the sit down with the estate agent. She finds our paperwork to be in order (which immediately makes me doubt her competence) then after some scribbling and cursing at her computer for not working properly (lawl) she hands us our quote. We smiled, left after giving her Dan's number for her to contact us, then once we were safely out of the door began cursing. Why? Well it turns out that our 'quote' was for £850-odd for the 1st month's rent in advance, a further nine hundred-odd pounds deposit, plus consultancy fees. So that comes to nearly £2000 up front before we even start considering insurance or, y'know, food. To make that kind of money, since the other two could front £150 apiece maximum, I'd have to empty my savings altogether, and Dan would have to go the full £300 into his overdraft. And our response was naturally NO. FUCKING. WAY. And while plans falling through are of course sad, I felt strangely relieved that it was literally impossible, rather than something we'd have to perpetually struggle to make work.
I get back to my place, wondering what the hell I'm gonna do to avoid a future career scrubbing my mother's brewery, and grab another quick glass of water before catching the bus to campus to pick up my graduation ceremony tickets. I wasn't confident --it being two weeks after they first became available, and a previous cock-up of getting the date wrong by one day means now my Dad can't come-- but since I got them automatically as a graduate and remainders aren't sold off until the day of the ceremony itself, they weren't going anywhere, and certainly not without me being told. At least, that's what I kept telling myself on the way. But after ten minutes sitting outside the office waiting for the administrator I noticed the sign on the porters lodge about the tickets, and simply asked one of them. I forgot how nice my college's porters are, and in a jiffy he got me them (from, I might add, a whole box full of yet-to-be-claimed tickets). On more of a buzz, I headed home and fixed some lunch. Then I remembered that I'd made backup inquiries RE: housing with Jack and Beth (magister_cain and rose_cain) about their spare room. I rung Jack, expecting no answer like yesterday when I rang him to say no, I've found a place now but thanks anyway, but lo and behold he's there and before I know it I've agreed to make another walk into town to meet up with them. I wolf my toast and abandon my coffee, and 20 minutes later I'm in the pub with them. I wasn't in the best of shape, since I'd spent the day bouncing back and forth between places, but thankfully I was composed enough to avoid falling off my chair at their offer. £200 a month (a whole £6 cheaper than the rent I was going to be paying) including bills, with no deposit. As hikari_datenshi put it when I told her later, "Fuckin' ell that's cheap!" Not to mention that, while there's no washing machine Jack will be happy to add my dirties to the rest of the hand wash load (which he'd only have to do once, while I crawl into a corner and die of embarrassment), while there's no internet ATM my unexpected rent contribution will probably go towards it, and while there's no fridge Beth cooks for the whole household, tenants included.
So whaddya know? Good things do happen to bad people :D