Clothes-munching varmits, Cocktails and Pirates, and somewhere to call home

I spent last weekend down in Peterborough with friends and family. The first task when I got there was to clear up all of the boxes and bags that had been dumped in my room. When I left London almost all my belongings (kitchen bits, books, files, winter clothes) were taken up to Peterborough by my Dad and left at my Mum's, where they have been cluttering up the place for over a month. When I arrived last week it was clear that if I didn't do a bit of tidying up there'd be nowhere for me to sleep!

I polished and scrubbed and hoovered (very uncharacteristically) to give everything somewhere clean to be put once it was unpacked. Once the boxes were cracked open it was quite satisfying to put things back into their original places - books into the gaps where they once resided, good albums squeezed next the other ones that weren't deemed worthy enough to come with me to uni (when most of my boxes were originally packed up!). Then I tackled my clothes. It was time for a sort out. I still had clothes that I first wore to school discos in year 8... Anything bobbly, stained, too big, too small, or just unlikable was put aside for charity shops and rag bags. The first bag was empty and I wasn't left with much left to wear!

Next bag I tackled was filled with winter clothes. I pulled out my trusty blue duffel coat and long teal wool vintage coat. Underneath, on a white bag, were lots of little blue crumblike dots. Strange... Next I pulled out my feather-filled slippers. They looked oddly straggly. I took a closer look and realised that there was something moving on them.

LOTS OF WHITE SQUIGGLING
MUNCHING LITTLE BEASTS
(Photo: www.reviewmylife.co.uk/blog/2008/05/14/clothes-moths-attack)

What I found looked a bit like this picture - the larvae of clothes moths. And at first they seemed to be everywhere! In both my coats, my favourite jumpers, my slippers. YUCK! After the drama of the tick I was not impressed to be under attack from creatures again so soon.

Mum and I spent ages brushing, shaking and spraying my clothes. We put them all out in the sun. Unfortunately the duffle coat was so holey it had to be binned and my slippers were too moth-eaten to keep. Everything else was salvaged, but does look a wee bit nibbled.

Lucky lovely things happened in Peterborough too. I went for a drink my Dr Kirsty, who had just passed her driving test (hooray!). I went to a beer festival with my Dad and Stepmum. I also went to my Cousin Henry's 30th birthday party.

Henry and his Balthazar
(© Sunil Patel, Facebook)

There was much champagne, a cocktail party/pirates theme and a cake in the shape of a Millennium Falcon. Awesome. It was brilliant, and as you can see from the picture, Henry had a pretty good time too.

Since I got back to Manchester Chris and I've been undertaking "Operation Find-a-Great-Flat-on-a-Limited-Budget" in earnest. I've spent hours trawling the internet and calling estate agents. Over the past 2 days we've had 7 viewings.

Thursday:
1) The estate agent didn't bother coming, but the tenant kindly showed us round. Too small and stuffy and modern. Also, no dining table to speak of.

2) It was big and light, on the top floor of a tall Victorian house, but it had very odd sloped ceilings that made me feel claustrophobic, and there wasn't much in the area except a park.

Friday:
3) The estate agent cancelled on us 20 minutes before the viewing (we'd already got the bus there and had been wandering around for 15 mins before they called...)

4) Agent was over 30 mins late. Office called us to tell us there had been an electrical fault, the agent, when he arrived told us that he'd been double booked. Ahem. The flat was great, but it was in the basement (this hadn't been mentioned in the ad online...).

5) With the same agent as No. 4. We were told it was also in the basement (again not mentioned online) so we didn't even bother going.

6) THE FLAT WE CHOSE! Will tell more below.

7) We turned up and had a look outside, but were rung 5 minutes before the appointment to be told that the person who was supposed to be showing us round had called in sick.

In summary, estate agents are not the most reliable of people...

We headed straight back to flat no. 6 and put down a deposit, securing a wonderful flat, and we'll be moving in towards the end of August.

I don't have a picture to show you, but the house looks a bit like this one which is from the same street:

It's a Victorian semi with a two-bed flat on each of its three floors. We get the whole of the downstairs of the left house, except the small hall which is communal. We have a big kitchen, a really big sitting room/dining area, a brand new bathroom and most important TWO double bedrooms. Get that? One for us, and one for VISITORS. Everybody welcome!

We also have access to the communal outside area. There's a lots of space in front and behind the house, although it's gravelled and used for parking. A bit dull but plenty of scope for pots, BBQs, deck chairs and maybe even a mini veg patch, as long as it doesn't get run over!

The road's in West Didsbury, which is about 20 min bus ride from the uni, 30 from the city centre. That's a bit further than we'd planned to go for, but the advantage is that we get more space and the area has its own nightlife with good pubs and a good mix of hippy cafes and independent restaurants. I can't wait until we move in!

We now have a good 3 weeks to trawl Manchester's salvage yards and reclamation joints and see if we can snaffle some bargainous furniture. The flat comes with beds and sofas etc, but we need a table and some shelves, maybe a desk too, and I'm sure we'll find something old and interesting and cheap without too much trouble.

When I was 11 I used to watch Home Front and Changing Rooms religiously. I thought I might be an interior designer when I was older. And now for the first time ever I have a whole flat to play with! Chris may also be allowed a little creative input. No painting, obviously, but a lot of temporary decoration none-the-less.

So get yourself on the train and you can come and see for yourself!