I have finally begun The Great London Flathunt. My experience is that in this game, timing is everything. I don’t technically become homeless until October 13th, so I’ve been putting off searching for a place until September because I really can’t afford to be paying rent on two places at the same time for more than a couple of weeks. But now, I have only a month and a bit to find a suitable flat that’s within my budget, and the voices (both in my head and in real life) are telling me this isn’t going to be as easy as I think it is.

So today I finally got off my arse and put out some very tentative feelers. I hate dealing with letting agents and would like to spend as little time as possible actually conversing with them, so I’ve started off just sending out email form requests via Find a Property. I’m pretty sure they’ll go ignored, but you never know. I suppose it depends how desperate they are to fill one bed flats in Crystal Palace at the moment. Hopefully pretty desperate.

At least this time I have decided on an area, I suppose. I’ve lived in four places in London and each time the flat hunt has been like looking for a needle in a haystack. I’ve wanted different things each time. The first time I just wanted a flat. I got that, and the nightmare flatmate from hell and an hour and a half commute. The second time, I wanted an easy commute (I got a 35 minute door-to-door one, despite living in zone 4.it all would have been perfect had it not been for the Chancery Lane crash wiping out the entire central line). The third time, I wanted a safe area. I got that, but I also got a teensy bedroom and a shower that didn’t work the entire timeI lived there.

The fourth time, I wanted cheap and comfy with nice people. And Geek Central has done me well. But when I saw the burnt out car at the bottom of the road this morning, I knew I’d made the right decision choosing to move on. There’s only so long you can live like a student when you’re supposed to be a young professional.

So, bring on living like a hermit. I’m going to be spending so much on rent I won’t be able to actually do anything any more…