after quite a lot of upheaval and angst in the latter part of 2007 I finally started to feel comfortable in my new home in a shared house. We got a new housemate and all felt pretty at home together, so you can imagine how annoyed and upset I was to find out at Christmas time that our landlady might want us out - the reason being that the letting agency have neglected the place so much, and so she wants the house fixed up good and proper and then have only two tenants from then, on instead of three (which would make the rent unaffordable to the likes of me). The letting agency refused to give me her contact details, saying it was "confidential" even though it's an offense to withold such information from a tenant (what a surprise), but I managed to track her down on the internet by remembering a little bit about her. She had to come all the way from California to come and see the house and speak to us, all because the crappy cowboy agency couldn't be bothered to return her calls or emails in order to let her know if any of the maintenance jobs were actually being done. Anyway, we met her and made our pleas to let us stay for the rest of the year at which point we'd probably all be ready to move out. She said she'd think about it, but after we'd had a visit from a builder and surveyor (who showed up unannounced of course) she decided to give us notice and we've all got to get out. So I don't know where I'm going to be living in just over a month's time. One of my housemates is going back to Argentina and the other one has just found somewhere to go, which leaves me. It's likely I will find somewhere before a month is up but it is a worry especially as there is so much competition for places in Cambridge and the standard is generally pretty low seeing as the demand is so high... It feels so comfortable here with my housemates that it's hard to believe that it'll all be over in a few weeks and I'll be like a fish out of water again. Still, I'm telling myself (or trying at least, not always successfully) that I'll find somewhere even nicer and it's all a big adventure, like being in the big brother house!

I'm kind of hoping that the letting agency will send round some more unannounced workmen or builders and I'll say "sorry, did we have an appointment? - seeya!"

update: I had appointments to see two places, both of which have been taken before the day even arrived >;(