One of the most frustrating and difficult things I have had to do while in London was locate a new flat. We absolutely loved our old flat (minus the bed bugs) but our let was only until December and then we knew we would have to find a new place. Moving into the first flat, our landlord communicated to Bianca and myself that they would probably have another opening in the same building and it would not a problem at all to find a new place. Clearly, he just wanted us to move into the first flat and was lying. With weekly emails to the buildings realtor, we quickly learned that ‘Kelly’ would be zero help and that we were going to have to find a new flat ourselves. Bianca likes to tell me that our first flat was like winning the lottery (great location, size, price, etc.) but that now we would have to think like the lottery ran out. Our flat hunt was gruesome as no flats were really on the market and the ones that came on in the morning were normally gone by the afternoon. The flats we looked at were either in poor locations, too small, too expensive, too “post war”, & seriously laughable because they were so awful! Finally, we thought we had one but needed to find one more flat mate. When that fell through, I had about committed to living under the London Bridge. Luckily, Bianca looked at a flat the day after I left for the U.S. and committed to it so we could have a new home. Our new flat is in zone 2 but has 2 bedrooms and a huge grocery store 1 block away. It is in a real residential area so we are now living with the locals! So far I have been manning the flat by myself, which has been a huge adventure in itself.
1. 1.) HEATING
So the first day I moved in, I guess I never noticed how the heating wasn’t on as I was moving around and running to the store, etc. That night though, I returned and realized that it was freezing in the flat. I checked the radiators and they were definitely not working. So I began to search out the flat. I checked the thermostat, which I had cranked up to 24 degrees (like 80 degrees Fahrenheit) and I knew that something was wrong. When I opened the closet to find a massive water heater, I felt the heat coming. Unfortunately, after turning on everything, nothing was still working. My first night in my new flat was spent, with me wearing full body clothing including scarf and socks beneath the only 2 blankets I had at the time with my 2 winter wool coats on top, shaking cold and mad because my friends were in a warm hotel. The next morning, I stayed wrapped in the fetal position reading the Hunger Games until the 2 heating repairmen came. They must have felt really sorry for me as they discovered what I had not turned on, gave me a tutorial on how to work the odd British heating system, and left without charging me. The flat was great from then after UNTIL….
2 2.) LEAK
My friends returned from Paris to join me in the flat for a few days. It was nice having them back and after returning from St. Paul’s that first night back, Kelsey began screaming in the bathroom. I thought it a little odd, asked her what was wrong and she came running out screaming that water was dripping all over her! –NOT a good sign!—
Open the bathroom door and sure enough there was a steady waterfall coming down from the light fixture in the bathroom. Ironically, we had just purchased pots and pans so their first use was immediate- to hold the water flooding into my bathroom. Long story short: I met my neighbors above me and they are so nice! The repairman didn’t show up until the next morning. The water hit the electrics and tripped our lights so we were in the dark, and I am now waiting for a new light fixture for the bathroom and fan!
