Workaholic

My first flatmate in London was a real workaholic. We didn't share a house for very long but in those few weeks I lived there I hardly ever saw him. He would come home from the office really late and lived on take-out meals and cigarettes. It didn't seem a very healthy way to live. It is the way a lot of people in London live though. This city is known for the long hours people work. Before I came here, I was never even aware of the existence of the European Working Time Directive, which forbids employers from making their employees work more than 48 hours a week. That is of course, unless you sign an 'opt-out', something which many large companies here enforce.

I work at the university and academia is not generally a place where people are being worked to death. It is not that PhD students don't work hard. Often times they work really hard but it mostly is on a semi-voluntary basis, as in: sooner or later that thesis needs to be finished. I have worked the occasional weekend or evening in those days as well, but it certainly was not the rule. Our group now though is a bit of a chimera of academia and business. The work we do is definitely research based but many of our projects are commissioned and that means we have to work to the client's deadlines. This time of year is the worst. Everybody is trying to get things finished 'before the holidays'. I had two projects with major deadlines on it this week. One of them in particular has kept me working weekends and evenings. I haven't slept properly in days. My eyes are bloodshot and my muscles tight like the strings on a violin.

But the work is done! I managed to deliver to my deadlines, in part because London is 5 hours ahead of Washington where our client is based. I am pleased to have managed but am exhausted to my very core. I have now snuggled up on the sofa under the duvet, for the first time in days doing something other than work on my laptop. As soon as I type the last sentence I will go brush my teeth and surrender to Morpheus' sweet embrace.

Zzzzzz.....

Exodus

And so it begins. Like Jews out of Egypt, my flatmates and I are marching out of the house and into our respective promised lands.

In a wholly coincidental, yet magnificent display of unison all five of us have chosen September as the month to move out. It secretly gives me great pleasure to think of the distress this will have caused my landlords. They and I have not always been on the best of terms. In general I think it is fair to say the feelings amongst us flatmates are not unlike those of the Jews towards the Pharaoh. There is a definite taste of revenge in this miniature Exodus.

Unfortunately, unlike in the biblical story, it seems some of the seven plagues are not being visited upon our landlords but on us, poor tenants. First there was the river. Although it did not turn to blood, it definitely turned into sewage forcing its way into the flat. Then came darkness. One by one the lights have started to go bust. But the most recent plague is one we indeed brought onto ourselves: locusts. Swarms of hopeful prospects have descended on the house to view our rooms. Day after day they come and chirp noisily. Soon hopefully they will have eaten everything and the sounds will quiet down again.

The first of us has already crossed the sea and over the course of the next few weeks the rest of us will follow. Off to our lands of milk and honey.

Auld Lang Syne

It's almost five months ago now that I moved into my current place, having been rather suddenly booted out of my first London residence. Finding a decent place to live in London is a real challenge, particularly if you're on a tight budget. You wouldn't believe some of the apartments -if that's what you can even call them- I have looked at! By the time I went to view this place I was beginning to feel pretty desperate so it was a pleasant surprise to find a nice and reasonably spacious room. I did have some doubts about sharing a house with no less than four others though. After all, in Amsterdam I had an entire apartment all to myself and I had become quite comfortable in that luxury. The landlady didn't give me much time to think it over and I had to make a snap judgment. Fortunately I have not been disappointed.

The house is old and definitely has some flaws but what has made all the difference is really the flatmates. They are a good bunch. We are a very mixed group with no two nationalities, occupations or personalities alike but that is probably part of the charm. We all get along wonderfully and occasionally do things together; go out drinking in the pub or stay in and have a movie night. Most of them moved in only a few weeks before I did which means that their 6 month contracts are about to run out. All three of the boys have chosen to move out and are now looking for a new place together. For me it would not make sense to move out. I have no idea where I will be in a few months time, whether it be London, Amsterdam or yet another destination, and it would be too much hassle to move for what could well be only a short period.

The past couple of weeks we have seen a parade of potential new flatmates pass by. The landlords seem eager to make the place look as presentable as possible and have cleaned up the mould in the bathroom, replaced the shower curtain and are telling us to do all sorts of bizarre things. They ask us to switch on all the lights, especially in the bathrooms, whenever there are viewings and want us to turn the TV on at MTV. I would be put off by a place where the TV is continuously blaring loud music and the lights are on for no obvious reason but clearly they have a different view on what constitutes effective marketing. So far, however, only one of the three available rooms has been taken so maybe I'm not the only person who doesn't care for MTV after all...!

It will be interesting to see how all these changes are going to affect the atmosphere around the house. I just know I will miss these guys. In a way they have become the people I am closest to in London as we spend so much time together. I have come to think of them as friends and I definitely do hope we will stay in touch.