Advertising for the Andy Warhol exhibition. I'm sure some resident Edinburghers are unimpressed by the defacing of historic buildings.Our five days of (almost) non-stop house hunting have paid off. Today we got a phone call to tell us that we were approved for the property we viewed yesterday afternoon in Roseburn. Great relief. We sign and pay on Monday and move in the same day. Luckily we don’t have much to move in, only a couple of backpacks worth of stuff. Then it’s off to Woolies to stock up on groceries and other supplies. Then we will probably just stay in the flat for a few days, catching our breath and feeling like human beings again. I do need to get a job soon though, week after next if possible. If the temp agencies aren’t useful I’ll visit all the shops etc where I’ve seen ‘staff wanted’ notices.
Today we didn’t have any plans, just needed to wait for The Phone Call, so we decided to get the train out to the suburb where the first house we viewed was. This was the nice apartment with the fantastic view which we’d decided against because of its distance from the city (10+ minutes by car), although it remained our Plan B all week. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn coming out of the train station and ended up a fair way from where we wanted to be, in a suburban shopping centre a bit like Woden or Kippax. We had lunch in a ‘Mexican’ restaurant where the waitresses had T shirts that said things like ‘Maid in Mexico’ and ‘Famous for Fajita’s’ (sic). Despite the promising slogans, the food was pretty awful and not that cheap. We’d decided that after lunch we’d walk back to the train station and take the right turn this time to the house, to see what was in the area so if we weren’t approved we could apply for it straight away. But while we were eating we got the phone call. So we just trekked back to the train station and back into the city, a train trip that took less than 10 minutes and was very comfortable. That made us wonder if we should have gone for the suburban apartment with the great view after all, but it’s too late now and besides I think we’ve still made a good choice.
Returned to the hostel where there was a note on our door saying ‘please report to reception ASAP’. Uh oh. Turns out we were supposed to check out today but because I can’t count I’d managed to convince myself we were leaving tomorrow. I guess it’s for the best because we needed to get that phone call and if it had been possible we’d have liked to sign the papers today, but it’s an extra 49 pounds we hadn’t really counted on. We were very apologetic, luckily we are able to stay in the same room and don’t have to bunk down with strangers. We’ve booked a hire car for the next few days so tomorrow morning it’s back to Oxford to pick up our things from Margaret’s. We think on Sunday we’ll drive halfway back, and spend the night in a B & B somewhere in Yorkshire or the Lakes District, to give us plenty of time on Monday to get into Edinburgh. It’s a great relief to have a house sorted, now begins the next challenge of finding a job. And seeing some festival shows of course, I have started to make a list of the things I want to see. I think the way to do it is give yourself a budget (say 50 pounds) and then try and see one of everything (one comedy, one film, one play, one concert, etc) unless you don’t like everything. I’ve been trying to get Toby to think about it but he’s been too focussed on the house, if he doesn’t start paying attention soon we’ll end up only going to things I want to see (which would obviously suit me).
Today we didn’t have any plans, just needed to wait for The Phone Call, so we decided to get the train out to the suburb where the first house we viewed was. This was the nice apartment with the fantastic view which we’d decided against because of its distance from the city (10+ minutes by car), although it remained our Plan B all week. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn coming out of the train station and ended up a fair way from where we wanted to be, in a suburban shopping centre a bit like Woden or Kippax. We had lunch in a ‘Mexican’ restaurant where the waitresses had T shirts that said things like ‘Maid in Mexico’ and ‘Famous for Fajita’s’ (sic). Despite the promising slogans, the food was pretty awful and not that cheap. We’d decided that after lunch we’d walk back to the train station and take the right turn this time to the house, to see what was in the area so if we weren’t approved we could apply for it straight away. But while we were eating we got the phone call. So we just trekked back to the train station and back into the city, a train trip that took less than 10 minutes and was very comfortable. That made us wonder if we should have gone for the suburban apartment with the great view after all, but it’s too late now and besides I think we’ve still made a good choice.
Returned to the hostel where there was a note on our door saying ‘please report to reception ASAP’. Uh oh. Turns out we were supposed to check out today but because I can’t count I’d managed to convince myself we were leaving tomorrow. I guess it’s for the best because we needed to get that phone call and if it had been possible we’d have liked to sign the papers today, but it’s an extra 49 pounds we hadn’t really counted on. We were very apologetic, luckily we are able to stay in the same room and don’t have to bunk down with strangers. We’ve booked a hire car for the next few days so tomorrow morning it’s back to Oxford to pick up our things from Margaret’s. We think on Sunday we’ll drive halfway back, and spend the night in a B & B somewhere in Yorkshire or the Lakes District, to give us plenty of time on Monday to get into Edinburgh. It’s a great relief to have a house sorted, now begins the next challenge of finding a job. And seeing some festival shows of course, I have started to make a list of the things I want to see. I think the way to do it is give yourself a budget (say 50 pounds) and then try and see one of everything (one comedy, one film, one play, one concert, etc) unless you don’t like everything. I’ve been trying to get Toby to think about it but he’s been too focussed on the house, if he doesn’t start paying attention soon we’ll end up only going to things I want to see (which would obviously suit me).
View from our hostel window, which we won't miss. A week is long enough to spend in one room. There's only so much Sudoku you can do and Scrubs you can watch.Probably going to be a little quiet over the next few days, with lots of driving planned and setting up house etc etc. Hope everyone is well.
No comments:
Post a Comment