Move, Move, MOVE!

There's been a lot going on in Chloe-Land this August, just for a change, and one of the biggest and most exciting events is my move. T & I are collecting keys this evening to our new place, having spent the last 9 months living in a total hovel in the East End, sharing with a very transient mix of 4-6 other people. No living space, tiny and dodgy kitchen, a bathroom that is a health hazard (no really, water leaking through the light fitting...) and the time we had no heating for 6 weeks in October/November. Needless to say, this evening is very exciting for us, and next week I'll be spending a lot of time in between work, and both flats like this...

Behold the Crimson Beast, and check out the post about my awesome trainers HERE

We are still going to be East-Enders, which I'm not sorry about. For all it's faults, I love it, although I'm not so fond of Shoreditch if I'm honest. I love the Asian grocery stores, the huge Lidl supermarkets, and being close to work. Stratford High St is home to my current favourite place to eat and drink, and for both T & I, leaving London to visit our families is easily done too.

We are moving into another flat share, but with just one other couple, and the whole atmosphere is much easier as it's not a transient population. Our new place has living space, a modest kitchen and holy London grail, outside space. It's modern, clean, well looked after, and I can't wait to get in there and call it home. T & I have made a conscious decision to choose something that although at the top end of our current budget, is also somewhere we will choose to stay. I've moved at least once per year, every year for 6 years, it's getting a bit wearing, and I think unless either of us needs to be in a different location, we're likely to stick with our latest abode for more than 12 months. It'll be a novelty, if nothing else.


This is not a post to explain why I'll be absent from my blog for a bit, as that should be a problem, and it's not so much a life update either, but I did want to talk about London living. London is a crazy place, the rent is sky high, and we pay as much and more for a flat share in an alright bit of London, as some people do for 2 and 3 bedroomed houses in nice bits of other towns and cities. And some people, they get real judge-y about it. To them, I say this:

I could live in another city or another town, and I would pay less rent. However, I would not be able to do my particular job, be paid as much for it, or have as many options in choosing my next career step, purely because my experience and qualifications lend themselves to sectors which excel particularly in the capital.

Unique to London, the Ministry of Sound advertising campaign (this one is at Baker St Station), just something else to love about London!

I try not to whinge too hard about our rent, it is what it is, and to be perfectly honest, we're used to it. We have to live somewhere, and have also learned the hard way from the last 9 months, that living in strained conditions in turn puts a strain on our relationship. I'm excited to live with somebody I love, and not have to spend every sleeping and waking moment we are both in the building within 2 metres of each other.

London is a fantastic place to live as well as visit, and I know in a year or so, T & I will be able to laugh at our year here in E14, but there is a cost to the money saved here, and I think it'll take some time for us to take for granted, the better quality of living that doubling our rent will give us.

With love, from London.