It looks like my days at Caldwell Road are at an end, at least for now. My landlord has decided to flatten my little apartment to the ground and builder two larger apartments in the same spot. In the meantime I will move out to a place that is closer to the station yet in a slightly dodgier area, more spacious than my current place yet shared with others. I am trading in privacy for convenience.
My landlord has been very accommodating to me. He's a proper human being, not an evil profit machine like my old landlord. He's offered to let me stay at reduced price at another apartment he's managing, so it all works out quite well for me. You may wonder why I'm not more negative about being 'evicted' from my home. There's a very simple reason for that: the contract we signed stipulates a one-month notice period and can be terminated at any time. So all my landlord had to do was tell me to bugger off and he would be done with me. Instead, he arranged a place for me, reduced the rent, he'll have a van and mover ready to help me move out on Friday, and best of all, he'll give me first choice of the new apartments once they're done. Brilliant guy.
The new apartments are supposed to be done in the beginning of July. I'm not sure if he'll make that deadline, but I can live with it if it takes a little longer. I've been here for about 9 months now. Time flies. I feel like I'm getting older twice as fast every year.
I'm quite happy here. The commute is a bit long, but simple and comfortable, and at least I don't have to be in godawful central London in the weekend. There's plenty of cycling to do around here, and as I slowly get in shape the fact that my house is in a bloody valley is starting to matter less and less. This place really is brilliant during spring and summer days. My previous place in Ealing was a rathole, no matter which way you put it. But I've escaped, and now I'm going somewhere else again.
New things were learned. Old things were put into practice. Yet more things remain to be found out.
Here we go.