Room-hunting in London

I am moving again.

I have taken a job in central London at one of the major engineering consultancies in the UK. I will be working in the London Olympics team.

The thought of working and staying in London makes me nervous. It is after all the most, if not one of the world's most expensive cities to live in.

I always had the impression that working as an Engineer here would be like getting used to running a marathon in a pair of Bally - cool, expensive but not purpose-built. Unless you stay out of central London and commute everyday like what most people do.

Room-hunting is a tedious task and I hate it. This is the third time I have to do it!

I have been searching in the internet for good places to stay. I have found a lot of useful resources as well as some really innovative, weird and dodgy ones:

"..don’t mind your house mates occasional walking around in the nude, and like to do so too.."

"Free accommodation in exchange for housekeeping"

"..looking for a FEMALE person (any age, any nationality) who can provide some help in the house, in return you can stay for free"

"..my desire is to 'let' the extra bedroom to a truly Bitchy and Super Selfish Female...You will never have to show any gratitude, never say 'thank you' for anything, never be kind, nice or respectful of Your landlord"

These ads sort of provided some form of entertainment which would otherwise make room hunting so boring and frustrating.

Yesterday I was in London the whole day to look at the rooms. I have arranged to view them on the weekend. There were 5 appointments.

I prayed that God would help make this as easy as possible because I got really fed-up having so much on my plate this week - parents coming, meetings, handing over, writing reports and sports!

The first appointment was disastrous. The landlord didn't turn up. I called and he asked for 5 minutes. 25 minutes later, no sign of him. So I went round to check the surrounding. Five bouquets of flowers on the roadside in front of the house; two written "We will miss you Nick!" and another two, "Stop Knife and Gun Crimes!" I left the place immediately.

The second appointment was not so disastrous but still. It was a house with 9 tenants and two toilets. All of them were Eastern Europeans, which I have no issues with. But I could imagine imminent communication problems. I lasted no more than 5 minutes in it.

The third appointment didn't get any better. It was a cosy place. Nice and quiet. My appointment coincided with another lady who turned up late for hers. So we were given a tour of the place together. Came the bombshell. They needed someone to move in immediately. I was looking end of May.

The fourth and fifth were a turnaround.

The fourth was in Muswell Hill, North London. I fell in love with this place immediately. High ground overlooking the City, lots of trees, very "English", great trail for running and cycling and a little on the upmarket side. I'll feel safe living in this area. I checked the price for the detached house this morning, it's around a million quid! That's crazy!

The landlord was a tiny, soft-spoken Italian lady, Maria. She was elderly but sweet. She showed me the room. The room was three times of what I'm staying now- spacious, lots of storage space and very Victorian. Reminded me lots about the first place in Reading. We got on very comfortably with each other when I told her I am a Civil Engineer and she said she was an architect. She even offered to put an A0-size drawing board in my room!

Her phone rang. She closed the mouth-piece and asked me, "Are you interested to stay here?"

I said, "Yea! If I could. I love this place!"

Then she answered the phone, "Hello? Yea?....Oh no, I'm sorry. This place has just been taken 5 seconds ago!"

I was startled. Does that mean I've committed to renting this place? As much as I would love to, we have yet to talk about the rent and the move-in date. I asked if I was the only one she was seeing. She said there were 6 others before me. She didn't like all of them.

She said, "I like you. There's this nice feeling when we talk. It's really important staying with people you like."

I agreed with her. Somehow the idea of staying with the landlady was not too appealing to me because of what happened in the first place in Reading. Oh well...

But I like her too. I was very cautious of liking the place too quickly because I needed to know what am I committing to and from when.

I had to rush to the fifth appointment and there was another guy who just arrived to view the place. Perfect timing to excuse myself. We hugged and she gave a "muak" on the cheek - typical Italian.

When she showed me to the door she whispered, "I'll rent it to you. I'll get on with this guy quickly. I'll call you afterwards." She winked before she closed the door. I left the place though still empty handed, but I felt extremely happy. I felt God was answering my prayer. It started off with a blank.

I was tempted to call off the fifth appointment because it was in Central London - Waterloo. I get quite intimidated hearing "Zone 1 or "Central" because they bring to mind sky-high rental or a "pigeon hole", stuffed with 6 tenants or so to make it darn cheap! You can hardly find an in-between.

Muswell Hill was a safer bet. When I arrived at Waterloo, I could immediately see River Thames. There was great vibe at the southbank where Waterloo is. I found my place. It was less than 100m from the bank of the river. It was a nice two-storey house. I crossed my finger and hoped the rent was not prohibitive.

Eateries at Southbank

The landlord, Hall was a young lady. She was still showing the place to a prospective tenant. I was fine with it. After all I could soak in the sun and there was a Dutch festival at the area. I kept myself occupied. This place is full of life and colour.

Looking west from southbank

Looking east

Hall called me up when she was done with the previous guy. When we went to the room on offer, I liked it immediately. Lots of light, spacious and facing the river! Deep in my heart, I wanted to move in immediately when I saw the view. Could see the London Eye! I loved this place as much as Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill is tranquil, this is lively!

As if this was rehearsed, the same thing happened with Hall. Her phone rang and she covered her mouth piece. She asked, "So, what do you think? Do you like it?"

I said, "Yea! This is brilliant!"

Hall answered the phone, "Heya, Hall speaking....Yea?...Oh yea, it's you...oh no, unfortunately the room is already taken...ok..bye!"

I was still unsure if she meant the room was offered to me.

I asked for an indirect clarification. "So...when you are ready to make a decision, you will give me a call, yea?"

Hall replied, "Oh I can make a decision now. You're the one."

I reconfirmed, "You sure you don't want to interview a few more before you make a decision?"

"You seem nice to me. That's good enough." I responded with a smile.

Then the financial bits came. It was more than Muswell Hill as expected. The thought of walking or cycling to work was too appealing. I reasoned out that I could save time and money on transportation.

We shook hands and went on with the agreement.

After this was done, I made a call to Maria and told her the "bad news". I felt horrible doing that because she turned down the other prospective tenants after me and promised to rent the place to me. All I did was ring her up and tell her I didn't need her place anymore.

Met up with Owen afterwards who happened to be in southbank at the same time. Guess he's the first person to know where I'll stay.

Now that accommodation is sorted, I am more confident of starting work in the City soon.

Smiley face showing my new address

I would have changed address three times in less than a year. What hasn't changed is that I still get to walk or ride a bike to work. And that hasn't changed since Cambridge.

It's costly to keep status quo. Don't even bother asking how much was the agreed rent! Regardless, I feel blessed with such a brilliant outcome.