Four days
The last four days have been a trial. As I'm waking up with a cuppa right now, some history revision and a pile of dishes in the kitchen sink are the only things hanging over my head. Ooooh dishes, how horrible =)
Everything started going topsy turvey on Friday. Andy went to work, which was normal enough but he had a rough time getting there. He had to drag a bunch of stuff with him for the DDD Scotland conference being held in Glasgow. He ran late and got pretty damned grumpy as he still had his 'rather late' honours project hanging in the balance. I on the other had got to face an entire weekend alone with Topper. Friday night was pretty lonely but not too hideous.
Saturday things went sideways. I met our friend Will for coffee, our purpose besides getting a caffeine fix was to discuss him standing in again as my Co-signer on a flat lease. I apparently need a co-signer not only because I'm a foreigner but because I am a university student. Although he asked a lot of questions, he seemed willing enough to continue to stand in for me until he read the form. Belvoir Lettings have recently changed their policies, now a co-signer has to be able to cover three times the cost of the rent for a full year. The amount for the flat that we were looking was just over 11,000£ so I understand why he choked, it just put a halt to our plan.
As 11,000£ is a larger amount than I pay in tuition, I can see his point. It hurt my feelings quite a bit though as I have NEVER let a bill slip since I have been here. I have always been a low maintenance, polite and responsible tenant, paid everything in full and the rental agent has never had to call Will with a complaint about me in any way shape or form. Although I wasn't asking him to stand as a surety for anyone but me, I know the real reason he choked was Andy. They have been friends for years and Will seems to think Andy is very irresponsible with finances.
There are days I agree with him but being the loyal creature that I am, I have an unending faith that Andy would actually step up and be just as responsible especially since he has already cut back on impulse spending since I moved here. While Andy's finances are in a bit of a state right now, that is due to circumstance beyond his control (whether he admits it or not the loss of his uni loan this year really fucked things up) he is already working full time. However, as it is only contract work Will still feels it is far too risky to put his name to 'my agreement' at such an amount.
What made this far worse is that he got really frustrated with Andy for wanting this flat in the first place and as Andy was away in Glasgow, I caught the brunt of it. By nature Will is a very frugal, organized minimalist and he is a creature of habit rather than comfort. He still lives at home with his family, in a tiny room that seems to very admirably function as a Heward's handy haversack. His job at Ninewells, cleaning and sterilizing surgical equipment demands minute attention to detail and an exacting level of competence. Andy on the other hand is a chaos monger and rather detached from the everyday trivialities of organized living. As long as he is comfortable, he can code and it is the code that matters.
I know Will viewed this particular flat as a sop to Andy's vanity rather than an actual necessity. I'm pretty much trapped between polar opposites, that have made great friends up to this point. I just hope that the pair of them will be sensible enough to work this out like adults. I really like and admire WIll as a person and would be vastly troubled to see him fade out over something like this.
So while I was trying to placate Andy as well as hunt up alternative properties on-line Mum poked me on MSN. She mentioned that she didn't feel well and as she was having a deep ache in her chest, nausea and jaw pain, she thought she should go to Riverbend. I asked her to call EMS right then and I began to wait for more information. It turned out she WAS having a full out heart attack. While I love my parent dearly I do wish her timing for these incidents was better! Will-trouble plus revision for exams plus being lonely were more than enough, imo.
Sunday was hard because I was on pins and needles about Mum and had role-play scheduled, with Will among others. It was really difficult to set my hurt feelings aside and sit down across the table from him but I think I managed it very well. Andy came in from Glasgow around three in the afternoon and avoided everybody by taking a long nap. After feeding the lot of us and seeing everyone off I sat down and called Mum to figure out just what was going on. So that pressure was relieved as the Doctors expect she'll mostly recover.
Monday was pretty miserable. Andy ended up rushing around trying to get that damnable report submitted as well as sitting an exam. Of course our printer had to run out of ink, which caused a minor tantrum. He ended up managing both, although his over all attitude was piss poor. He remained cranky all evening. I managed to get some shopping in after a horridly fating but utterly yummy brunch of Pancakes and Bacon. I returned from shopping with Neal in tow to find my flat full of a lovely lass named Jo. We had a good natter and agreed to meet for coffee Friday morning. Mum got out of the hospital and poked me around 1 am BST and I actually managed to get to sleep before 3am.
That's the last few days in a nut shell.
Everything started going topsy turvey on Friday. Andy went to work, which was normal enough but he had a rough time getting there. He had to drag a bunch of stuff with him for the DDD Scotland conference being held in Glasgow. He ran late and got pretty damned grumpy as he still had his 'rather late' honours project hanging in the balance. I on the other had got to face an entire weekend alone with Topper. Friday night was pretty lonely but not too hideous.
Saturday things went sideways. I met our friend Will for coffee, our purpose besides getting a caffeine fix was to discuss him standing in again as my Co-signer on a flat lease. I apparently need a co-signer not only because I'm a foreigner but because I am a university student. Although he asked a lot of questions, he seemed willing enough to continue to stand in for me until he read the form. Belvoir Lettings have recently changed their policies, now a co-signer has to be able to cover three times the cost of the rent for a full year. The amount for the flat that we were looking was just over 11,000£ so I understand why he choked, it just put a halt to our plan.
As 11,000£ is a larger amount than I pay in tuition, I can see his point. It hurt my feelings quite a bit though as I have NEVER let a bill slip since I have been here. I have always been a low maintenance, polite and responsible tenant, paid everything in full and the rental agent has never had to call Will with a complaint about me in any way shape or form. Although I wasn't asking him to stand as a surety for anyone but me, I know the real reason he choked was Andy. They have been friends for years and Will seems to think Andy is very irresponsible with finances.
There are days I agree with him but being the loyal creature that I am, I have an unending faith that Andy would actually step up and be just as responsible especially since he has already cut back on impulse spending since I moved here. While Andy's finances are in a bit of a state right now, that is due to circumstance beyond his control (whether he admits it or not the loss of his uni loan this year really fucked things up) he is already working full time. However, as it is only contract work Will still feels it is far too risky to put his name to 'my agreement' at such an amount.
What made this far worse is that he got really frustrated with Andy for wanting this flat in the first place and as Andy was away in Glasgow, I caught the brunt of it. By nature Will is a very frugal, organized minimalist and he is a creature of habit rather than comfort. He still lives at home with his family, in a tiny room that seems to very admirably function as a Heward's handy haversack. His job at Ninewells, cleaning and sterilizing surgical equipment demands minute attention to detail and an exacting level of competence. Andy on the other hand is a chaos monger and rather detached from the everyday trivialities of organized living. As long as he is comfortable, he can code and it is the code that matters.
I know Will viewed this particular flat as a sop to Andy's vanity rather than an actual necessity. I'm pretty much trapped between polar opposites, that have made great friends up to this point. I just hope that the pair of them will be sensible enough to work this out like adults. I really like and admire WIll as a person and would be vastly troubled to see him fade out over something like this.
So while I was trying to placate Andy as well as hunt up alternative properties on-line Mum poked me on MSN. She mentioned that she didn't feel well and as she was having a deep ache in her chest, nausea and jaw pain, she thought she should go to Riverbend. I asked her to call EMS right then and I began to wait for more information. It turned out she WAS having a full out heart attack. While I love my parent dearly I do wish her timing for these incidents was better! Will-trouble plus revision for exams plus being lonely were more than enough, imo.
Sunday was hard because I was on pins and needles about Mum and had role-play scheduled, with Will among others. It was really difficult to set my hurt feelings aside and sit down across the table from him but I think I managed it very well. Andy came in from Glasgow around three in the afternoon and avoided everybody by taking a long nap. After feeding the lot of us and seeing everyone off I sat down and called Mum to figure out just what was going on. So that pressure was relieved as the Doctors expect she'll mostly recover.
Monday was pretty miserable. Andy ended up rushing around trying to get that damnable report submitted as well as sitting an exam. Of course our printer had to run out of ink, which caused a minor tantrum. He ended up managing both, although his over all attitude was piss poor. He remained cranky all evening. I managed to get some shopping in after a horridly fating but utterly yummy brunch of Pancakes and Bacon. I returned from shopping with Neal in tow to find my flat full of a lovely lass named Jo. We had a good natter and agreed to meet for coffee Friday morning. Mum got out of the hospital and poked me around 1 am BST and I actually managed to get to sleep before 3am.
That's the last few days in a nut shell.