Basket case

House sorted

I went to have a look at another flat today, I should have been going to see two others but the agency rang me about an hour or so before I was due to set off and told me that one place had already been rented (fair enough) and that the tenant at the flat on Palatine Road had only just got back from holiday so didn’t want anyone coming round that day. Obviously this was a bit annoying as I’d booked this appointment several days in advance and was more interested in that property than either of the other two, but I guess you have to allow for these sort of things.

The one place I did go to look at was on Brunswick Street, which is fairly near the centre of Withington. Unfortunately it turned out that this place was unfurnished, even though I don’t recall this being mentioned on the web site where I got the details from. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, seeing as I’d be bringing some of my own stuff and there isn’t much room in a studio flat for furniture anyway, but this was fully unfurnished so there wasn’t even a bed and I’ve no idea how we’d get one up there (second floor flat, stairs aren’t that wide). It’s probably workable, but not really worth the hassle, plus there wasn’t a washing machine here and, unlike the other place that I went to see, there weren’t any launderettes nearby. I was a bit disappoited, because the flat itself was very nice, with laminate flooring all the way through and a new kitchen (I do wonder why they didn’t bother putting a washing machine in, seeing as they could have added it for not much more whilst the kitchen was being installed), but the price was a bit high considering the lack of furniture and utilities. The lady who showed me round also looked rather disinterested and didn’t really sell the property to me, so that put me off as well. The least you can do when showing a prospective tenant a property is to try and engage them in some form of conversation and try and show them all the features.

Anyway, after having being disappointed with the place I saw today and not particularly enthused by the first flat I saw last week, I decided to take the plunge and go for the one on Egerton Road. I managed to get hold of the landlord (he never seems to answer his landline number) and he was fine about putting the promise of installing a washing machine into writing, so I said I’d take the flat. Although I’ve not officially signed up yet, I’ll be going in to do that on Thursday, assuming the landlord doesn’t let someone else in before then (I doubt that he would, since it would be extremely bad form to go back on his word, but I’ve had a landlord pull out of a verbal agreement just before signing the contract before, so naturally I’m a little cautious). If all that goes to plan I’ll be moving in sometime in early August, not sure exactly when yet because the current tenant has asked to stay during July, but hopefully this shouldn’t be a major problem.

As for the flat itself, it’s a fairly large studio in what looks like a three or four bedroom houses that’s been separated out in smaller flats. The great thing is that it’s about five minutes walk from Ladybarn Village, which has a Somerfields (not the best of supermarkets but it’s good if I ever run out of bread or milk), and it’s only about ten or fifteen minutes walk from Sainsburys in Fallowfield. Better still, it’s almost at the crossroads with Mauldeth Road, which means I can easily get to Wilmslow Road and catch any of the buses going down there. Finally, it’s a little bit out of the student area (though not by much), so hopefully it should be reasonably quiet but still busy enough that you don’t feel isolated when walking home.

Needless to say, I’m fairly relieved that I’ve finally got somewhere to live next year, although I probably won’t be able to relax until I’ve signed on the dotted line. Now I just need to find £400 for a deposit and gather all the paperwork from my current place when it arrives so I can get my deposit for there back. Time to check my cash reserves and pester my dad for some money I think. 🙂

Roleplaying

Another roleplaying session was on last night, still in the same town but with a little less combat than previously. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it, as I’d lost my keys and was panicking because the last place I could remember putting them was next to the door and we’d had warnings about people sticking their arms through the letterbox and taking things (it wouldn’t be difficult to do, especially if your arms are long and thin like mine). Fortunately I found the keys under a load of stuff on my bed, but not before I’d run around like a headless chicken worrying about what had happened to them. I can be such a basket case sometimes.

Again, I won’t go through the entire game as most of it was talking and moving around the village. Highlights though included the landlord’s wife who took a liking to Hecla (David’s figher), Kate’s cleric staying in the temple whilst the rest of us set off into the forest (although my character could hear the sarcastic comments ringing in his head regardless of the distance put between him and the cleric) and Dinendal’s (my character) superb crossbow shot that went straight through the eye of the huge dog that was attacking the group, killing it instantly (that gives me at least some hope that I’m not completely defenseless). Hecla also managed to annoy the storekeep by trying to intimidate him to get rations for a cheaper price, whereas Dinendal used some wit, charm and diplomacy to better effect and took great joy in pointing out his discount to the fighter. 🙂

Next week should be interesting as we’ve lost our NPC (Tommy), who was a fairly effective fighter, and our other three fighters are now farmyard animals, having been somehow transformed by Orcs and some chanting. Hmm, that appears to leave a elven mage with only one spell remaining and a half-elf thief, both of whom have very few hit points and only one healing potion between them. I get the feeling that unless we can get back to the village and/or reverse the animal polymorphing we could be in a bit of trouble…

Overall then things are going pretty well at the moment, plus I’ve got a house warming and possibly a barbeque to look forward to this weekend (at least I hope so). Seeing as I have some time in between moving out of where I am now and moving in to my new flat, I’ll probably use the four weeks or so to try and get some driving lessons in as I’d like to get this out of the way before the end of summer, even if I won’t be able to afford a car for at least another year (not that I’ll need one really, and it’s more the insurance that’s unaffordable).

Hope everyone else is having a good week, and for those people who I know are having a bad time I’m sure things will pick up soon.