Flavio Matani (flavius_m) wrote,
Flavio Matani
flavius_m

New flat three month summary

Well, I've been here three months (not to the day) and it is mostly very good. I am finding out, of course and as expected, that some of the finishings are less than premium quality (there already are signs that the carpets won't last forever, say; I already broke the toilet seat -don't ask- and the main lock has a slightly worrying wobble as you turn the key, for instance). There is also the weird mini-class system set up in this building: the shared-ownership flats get the Highgate Road entrance, with a toy-town lift that only goes to the first floor and must be the slowest ever (the lift on the 'private owners' as they call them, nicer entrance on the Fortess Road is way, way faster but you need a key-code. Yes, I got that). The 'private' flats have burglar alarms on the outside, the others don't (so you know where to break in, I suppose). We don't seem to have access to the, what you call it, terrace and roof garden. But all these are petty small things and I find them more amusing than irritating. Like the neighbours upstairs that have the hugely entertaining frightful rows and the one in this floor who just leaves the rubbish bags in the corridor.

The one serious problem is going to be the parking. I knew there was no parking in the building itself but nobody told me that Camden will not issue resident permits to people living in this 'car-free development' building. That is a serious problem for me as I don't have a job, I have work to do with all those guitar lessons all over North London as far out as Watford. Please don't mention again push-bikes, scooters or car clubs. None of these would be a solution, for different reasons. At the moment I'm sort of coasting along on the existing resident permit for the old flat, which runs out in March, but I do need to find a solution for this as, at present, I cannot afford this flat if I have to give up the car.

Ok, those are the bad bits. The good bits are many. It is good to be in my own space and (40% at any rate) in my own place. No flatmates, for one thing! Although I miss [profile] kaerasta and [profile] violetdisregard on the whole I don't miss the experience. The flat is tiny but just right for me, there's all sorts of little details that I like about it. Everything still works (until flaviofication sets in) and it looks that it will not cost me more to live here than at the old shared flat in KTR (barring humongous winter gas bills or something like that). I find I'm going out less because I simply enjoy being here. That means I'm spending less money in going out..

So the balance is very positive and, car parking solution pending, very worth the while those six months of aggro and stress to get to this point.
Tags: life, london, tally ho
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