Highs and Lows

In order for this blog to be as realistic and truthful as possible, I realised that it's important for me to write about all the good times (as I have been doing) but also about the more challenging ones. The last month has been a bit of a nightmare and I thought I should post about it.

The flat I moved into in October was always meant to be a temporary flat since my boyfriend was moving to London to be with me in January and we were going to get our own place. To keep a long story short, my landlady decided that Dan and I had to be out of the flat by the end of January (when it was supposed to be the end of February). Flat hunting in London is extremely competitive and stressful enough as it is but with this short a timeframe it became even worse than we expected. We also kept getting rejected by landlords because they kept telling us that they would prefer to have a single tenant versus a couple (despite their ads stating that they were fine with having a couple rent a room) which was incredibly frustrating. As the weeks flew by, we became increasingly stressed and worried that we wouldn't find a flat in time. After lowering our standards and widening our search area, we finally found a place to live in Notting Hill. We have been living here for a few week now and we couldn't be happier. 

As a funny story, when I first moved to London in January 2014, I visited a flat in Notting Hill that was right above a fish mongers and smelled awful. There were also 7 other people living in the flat, which hadn't been expressed in the ad. Needless to say I didn't move there. But, believe it or not, when Dan and I were visiting flats a few weeks ago, we went into this building in Notting Hill right above a fish mongers and as I was starting to get flashbacks of January 2014, I realised that we were visiting the exact same flat I saw a year ago! Again, this isn't where we moved but I found it really funny that I have now seen this horrible flat twice!

I think the best advice I can give for anyone looking for a flat in London (which I will remind myself of if I need to search for a flat/room again) is:

1. Rent from an agency or make sure that you have an official contract with your landlord so that they can't just evict you without a reason - it protects both you and the landlord and is definitely the way to go (despite occasional agency fees).
2. Expand your search beyond what you know. I hadn't looked for flats in this area before because I didn't know the area but it's actually a wonderful, lively and quirky neighbourhood and I like it more than any of my previous ones.
3. Websites like Spareroom are great and definitely help with the search. There were a few ads on the site that I thought were a bit too good to be true and sure enough, Spareroom emailed me after I tried to respond to the ads to let me know that they had determined it was a scam. It helps to know that they are taking safety seriously.

Now that the stressor of finding a flat is gone, we can focus on enjoying our new neighbourhood. We have already found a few wonderful pubs and gastropubs in the area and even some that serve Sunday roasts - I'm definitely happy about that!

All that's left on our to-do list at the moment is for Dan to find a job. Almost exactly like flat hunting, job searching in London is extremely competitive. He had to leave his job in Portsmouth when he moved to London and, now that we're not homeless, he's looking for a job in London. It has been difficult for him and I remember being in the same position a year ago when I moved here. I think that the best strategy is to cast a wide net and apply to all kinds of jobs, any that you are qualified for basically and see what comes of it. I have always said that it's easiest to find a job when you already have one. It’s also good to manage your expectations; for example, one job that Dan applied for had 11,000 other applicants! We know what the competition is like so we’re putting as much effort as possible into each application and now we’re keeping our fingers crossed that he finds a job soon and that it will be a job he enjoys!

Now, as if flat hunting and looking for jobs wasn't enough, my grandmother passed away a week ago. I decided I wanted to go home for her funeral and I wanted to be with my family so I travelled back to Ottawa in very cold February (it was -45!). The flight was outrageously priced but it was worth going home and I am happy that I was able to do so. I had heard that there were discounts/refunds on flights when you are travelling for bereavement reasons but I did not get any support from Air Canada when I phoned them. This is something that had been brought up a lot on the Canadians in the UK Facebook page so I had built up an expectation but it looks like there’s no such thing. I suppose that, for this reason, it’s probably wise to keep some savings (even though it’s tempting to spend a lot in a city like London) for unforeseen events like this one. It’s hard enough to deal with the death of a relative but doing so when you’re living abroad can make it more difficult. I feel that if you are able to go home at a time like this, you probably should. In an effort to bring a little happiness to my Ottawa visit, I did go to Winterlude with my dad and had a tasty beavertail, I lost when playing Roll up the Rim at Tim Horton’s, I ate some delicious poutine (a must!) and I spent some time with my family, remembering my amazing grandparents. Here are a few pictures of my Ottawa visit:

My mom always says that bad things come in threes. I think with (1) horrible flat hunting, (2) a very daunting job search and (3) a funeral, we've covered all three! Now bring on the happy and fun times!  So now we will focus on exploring Notting Hill, getting to know our new flatmates (it's a very international house with two Italians, two Spaniards, a Canadian and a Brit!) and enjoying living together in London.

All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

Walt Disney

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

It’s been a while since I last wrote and fall has come and gone in London. While this typically means more rain (and then lots more for winter!), it was still wonderful to see the fall colours around the city. Here are a few pictures of autumn:

What have I been up to these past few months? Well, September was a busy month as my friend Jen visited and we went out exploring quite a bit. First, we went for fancy afternoon tea at Brown’s Hotel. It was very luxurious and everything tasted amazing – definitely worth the expense.

Second, we went on a day trip to Oxford, Stratford (where we visited the house Shakespeare grew up in) and Warwick Castle. It was great to get out of London for a day and see the English countryside. I think living in London has made me forget that there is so much to see and do outside the city.

Third, we travelled to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. That was quite an adventure and great fun. I definitely recommend everyone go at least once in their life. It’s a rich cultural event and not only about the drinking (although the delicious beer and food are a big part of it). We also had an opportunity to visit the former Dachau Concentration Camp while we were there and that was a very solemn and somewhat overwhelming experience. Again, this is something that everyone should do. We all learn about war and other atrocities in school but it’s quite a different thing to see it in person. It definitely made me realize how lucky I am to have been born in Canada and made me appreciate even more the rights and liberties that come along with it (I love you Charter of Rights and Freedoms!). On a happier note, this was my first trip organized through BritBound and I was very impressed. Everything was very well organized and we had a blast. I will definitely be participating in future BritBound travels (including the trip to Bruges in December!).

October was a bit of an emotional month for me as there was a tragedy in Ottawa which made international news; a soldier who was guarding the war memorial was shot and killed and the gunman then terrorized the city for hours while he hid in the Parliament. I was glued to the news for a couple of days as I watched the events unfold and it was difficult to be far away from home when something like that was happening only a couple of blocks away from where I used to live and work. I’m happy and grateful my family and friends are all safe and hope that something like this never happens again. I saw this the day after the shooting and just have to share it because I think it’s simply amazing:

In October I also moved into my new flat and I’m happy to say that it’s going great. Here are a few pictures of my new neighbourhood: Finsbury Park. I definitely find it more “British” than where I used to live. As a side note, it is unbelievable the amount of stuff I have managed to gather (hoard?) in my short time here. I’m also including a picture of Dan looking less than impressed at all the stuff he has to help me move (this is only some of it!).

November has really flown by. A quick yet quick visit from my friend Breanne

and I also had a chance to see the poppies at the Tower of London which was a great experience. This was in honour of the 100^th anniversary of WWI.

The fact that winter is coming (insert corny Game of Thrones joke here) means that Christmas isn’t far off either! I love Christmas and I am especially excited for Christmas this year as it means that my mom, my brother and his girlfriend are visiting and we are going to Scotland. While snow isn’t very common in London, there is a (small) chance that there will be snow in the Scottish Highlands for Christmas. I have to say, I will be a little disappointed if there is no snow on Christmas eve/Christmas morning. Speaking of snow, it snowed for a whole 2 minutes this week. Like all of the other people on the street, I snapped a picture as quick as I could (after I stopped squealing with delight and running around like a person who’s never seen snow before). While we got a few flurries here, people were quick to send me pictures of what it looked like back home – I definitely don’t miss that!

My next post will likely be after Christmas since I will have pictures of the Bruges Christmas Markets and Scotland to share. London has already started to “Christmasize” which is getting me really excited. The smell of hot cider and mulled wine is in the air and there was even a real reindeer in Covent Garden the other day!

So, for those of you reading this: Merry Christmas and thanks for reading along as I wrap up a wonderful first year living in the UK. It has been an amazing year and I look forward to another great year ahead. As always, here is a quote to end the blog post:

Ho Ho Ho

Kris Kringle