After sending a stream of emails to our landlord and then, after he just decided to put his head in the sand, to his brother (who's the "fixer" of the family & only springs into action if things are really bad) I've had a rather pleasant conversation with the latter last Saturday morning. He had to agree that, yes, the shower is indeed f***ked and the plumbings more than a tad dodgy. We agreed to give him a week to think about how to sort it out and I followed up on that a day or so ago. I really didn't expect what I got told yesterday. Good thing is, he's getting the plumber over next week Wednesday to assess the situation and see how it can be rectified. Bad thing is, they've put our flat on the market to sell! Great way to solve any issues if there ever was one.
According to our contract we still got until end of February next year, which is the earliest they can get us out. I'm not entirely sure I want to wait that long. I mean, why stay somewhere they don't want me, in the knowledge that in 4 month I have to leave anyway. I'm not sure if they would let us leave earlier and I don't know if my flatmate (who's still AWOL on holiday, thought she'd be back today but she isn't) would want to. But I see not point in staying here, I'd rather start flat hunting again straight away in the hopes to find somewhere nicer & cheaper (preferably), a flat with a fully functional bathroom, that's quiet(er) and maybe not in a council block (even if our council block is just a very small council block, it's still a council block). I want to stay in this area, I like where I am at the moment.
So, yeah, things aren't going entirely smooth right now.
This whole situation but a bit of a damper on my mood, which wasn't really that bad before I read that email. It would've helped to have Nicki here to discuss stuff, I think she's back tomorrow (if she isn't I'm starting to get worried).
Anyway, I can't change what's happening and part of me keeps thinking that maybe it's for the best - I like our flat, but there's always that thought in the back of my head that there may be even nicer places for less money (with better landlords) around. This might be just a dream and I should know better from experience. But still, I keep hoping.
Babs and I went to an improv theater last night called "Cellblock - 26 hours of voluntary imprisonment" and it was mostly fun. I like improv, well done improv, that is. We had a ticket for 2 hours of the 26, and 1.5 of those were really good. The rest was a bit awkward, sometimes you could feel the scene hanging a little and you just want them to come up with something cool and they don't. But all in all a very good experience and I don't regret spending £10 for the entertainment.
Today I went to Kingston, which is becoming my favourite shopping destination. It reminds me a little of my hometown, what with the older houses and less masses of people. I've been on a mission to find new winter boots for the last few weeks, slightly hampered by the extremely warm and sunny weather we had last week (can't think about boots when I'm wearing flip flops). The weather's back to it's more appropriate grey & cool now, so I should be ready to get them boots. The problem is, I really, really hate buying shoes. My feet are slightly to oddly shaped for shoes and my calves are just a tad too big to comfortably fit into boots. I've actually tried on every single boot in Clark's and even though some of them fit(!), none of them looked good on me. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood, I also tried on loads of dresses/skirts and most of them fit, but I didn't feel like buying stuff. I'll make another attempt on Thursday on Oxford Street, my old boots broke this spring and I also need new office shoes as mine are falling apart, so I really have not option than to get over my shoe shopping phobia (for the record, I've got no problems buying silly, totally not appropriate shoes, I just struggle with the real life shoes).
I'm sure I'll find my shopping mojo again at some point and it's not that I've got nothing to wear. I still haven't got my act together in terms of loosing weight (I'm a size 14 at the moment, I'd like to be a 12) and I've so far avoided going back to the yoga studio in Wimbledon. I don't particularly like the setup there, which doesn't help, and I'm contemplating going to Chiswick straight after work.
My life keeps falling apart each time I think it's finally found its groove, which is bloody annoying.
The thought of maybe, eventually, heading back to Germany keeps popping into my head every now and again, but there's nothing there for me at the moment and seeing that my brother is still living at my parent's coz building his house is taking longer than expected (new completion date is sometime May-ish) I can't even go back there.
I am going to Germany for a long weekend beginning of November, let's see what I think after that...
Posts
