Moving house!

Every year in London, we move house. I've lived in 4 different places already, in the 4 years that I've been in London. Come June, the tally will be 5.

When I was a student, in my first year, housing was guaranteed by the college. i.e., we had a dorm (also called a house or hall) to live in. It was relatively cheap, about 85 pounds a week - but we had to share toilet and kitchen. Living in a dorm was definitely a great experience.... but lets not digress.

In my second year I lived with four other flatmates. We rented a flat from an Egyptian landlord. The place was relatively cheap, at 400 per week, but the place was fairly run-down. The carpet and the curtains were very dirty, the heater wasn't working when we moved in, even the beds, tables, chairs were all the cheapest furniture from Argos. Worst of all, the landlord would say "Anything you want, I will give you..." But nothing he promised ever happens. We learnt not to trust dodgy Egyptians from then on. We decided to shift house the next year.

For the third year, L and I very luckily found a superbly cheap place at 325 per week (for 4pple). The landlord was British, owned a few other units along the road, and didn't go through an agent to let out the flat - thus saving us the agency fee. The furniture was old, but good quality, and we pretty much loved the flat. Unfortunately, my third year was to be my last year in London...

And then as you know I went to the States for 1 year... and found a job back in London.

I didn't have much of a choice over the place I'd live for my fourth year in London. Thankfully I had a friend who'd be working in London too, so I asked him if he would accept me as a housemate. The househunting basically involved me looking at photographs of the place over email and agreeing on the conditions... I'm pretty happy with the place I'm living now, though I'm paying about 130 a week.

My newest home would be pretty good too! My rent will go up by 5 pounds a week, but I guess its worth it, for the nicer toilet, kitchen, and humongous lounge. I'll post some pictures when I move in.