good flat hunting

we started the day off bright (literally because we had another beautiful day of sunshine and warmth!) and early. we headed down to south wimbledon tube station (in zone 3) to view a flat share. the tube ride was about 40 minutes, which wasn't bad at all. this flat share is in zone 3, which means it costs more to take the tube into the city centre. the first thing we noticed as we walked out of the tube station was there were escalators, which means we wouldn't have to do shuttle runs with our luggage if we were to move here.

the flat share was about a 2 minute walk from the station. bonus! it was in a townhouse complex, and had its own garage (which, apparently, we could use as storage space). another bonus!

the person we met with seemed very nice. he's not the landlord, but had lived in this place for the last couple of years. he showed us around the flat. the flat had a spacious kitchen and lounge area (living room), which was nice. the room we would be renting is big enough for us to live in. at least there's a double bed (instead of the single bed we've been sleeping on), and there's plenty of storage space. the only thing is, there is no closet in the actual bedroom we'd be renting.

we enquired about the nearest grocery store, and he pointed out that it's only a 5 minute walk to both sainsbury and m&s. so after we finished viewing the flat, we decided to head over to the stores and see just how long it would take us. and whadaya know? it did only take us 5 minutes to walk there, and the sainsbury and m&s were both huge!

our next destination was to visit a house share by canada water tube station (zone 2). we got out of the tube station, and we were immediately greeted with a "welcome to the suburbs!" sign. well, not really an actual sign per se. we were greeted with a fairly big shopping centre (mall), a lot of condo construction sites, and rows and rows and rows of homes.

we walked through a very nice and posh neighbourhood to get to the house we were to view. that neighbourhood had the vibe of forest hill, and everyone either drove an audi, bmw, vw or some other german or french brand vehicle. if we had our 95 vw golf with us, then we'd fit right in, right? yeah, not quite.

after walking for about 20 mintues, we still arrive early at the house. so we hang out by the pond that's right beside the house. what do we see? of course, another cat! this one is all white, and oh so cute! we wanted to cuddle it, but we didn't see a collar, so we decided to take some pictures instead!

just as we were about to get closer to the cat, the door of the house we were to view opens. out comes a chinese lady about the age of our aunts. that was our instant relational reaction.

she gave us a quick tour of the house. we must admit, the bedroom (which had a huge closet!) and washroom were a bit nicer than the flat in south wimbledon. there was a backyard out back where there was a nice garden. the house only had one bathroom, and the lounge area is a bit stuffy, in the sense that it had a really stereotypical chinese décor. we sat in the lounge and chatted for about an hour. through our conversation, we were able to see that she genuinely had a heart for God and His people. it was quite refreshing!

we had to excuse ourselves from this visit (we felt we could have chatted on forever), as we had one more viewing to go to before we could call it a day. it was, unfortunately, on the other side of the city. by this time, we were both so tired from walking so much, we were really dreading this last visit, or at least t was.

we got off at the putney bridge tube station (also zone 2), and we had another 20 minute walk from the station to the flat share ahead of us. yay. granted, we did finally get to see the river thames, as the walk took us across putney bridget to the southwest side of london.

we finally arrive, and we are greeted by a south african lady. she's tall and beautiful, to say the least. she showed us 2 bedrooms, both lovely. we were a bit confused, but she clarified that both bedrooms come with the rent. we were quite surprised at that, and wondered why. we quickly realized that the published rent cost was per person. thus, instantly doubling what we thought was the rent cost. ouch.

as great as the flat was (having 2 bedroom means 2 closets! not that we have that much clothes here with us, but you know, it's nice to have options), and as wonderful as the engaged couple we would live with were (the lady is running a jewelry business based out of south africa, where the local ladies hand make the jewelry, and the profits are shared), we couldn't afford the place. and truth be told, even if we could, we wouldn't necessarily take it because of its inconvenient location, and lack of a grocery store that's within walking distance.

we left feeling rather exhausted knowing that we had a 20 minute walk back to the tube station. in retrospect, maybe the 20 minute walk to this place from the tube station wouldn't have been that bad if we had did it first thing in the morning, rather than at the end of the day. who knows, but this was how the events turned out, so we trust it was meant to happen this way.