So I've decided to try and move from Rugby to Coventry (a full 15 miles, for those of you not familiar with the area). Rugby is a small town that doesn't have a great deal going on and has really suffered in the financial down-turn. Coventry is a medium-sized city with lots of arts and music stuff as well as all the usual urban amenities. So why, you may well ask, did I move to Rugby last year in the first place? Children!
My youngest has been at school in Lutterworth, while my eldest is at Princethorpe College (between Rugby, Coventry and Royal Leamington Spa). Rugby was the obvious choice as Meg could get a school bus from Princethorpe to Rugby, and Rachel could get a public bus from Lutterworth to Coventry after school. This meant that, although they couldn't easily live with me, they can and do come and stay overnight at least once a week after school, as well as stay every other weekend. So what's changed? Rachel will be going to Princethorpe along with Meg in September so there is absolutely no need for me to be in Rugby any more. There is a school bus to Coventry from Princethorpe, so I can live there just as easily. I've even found a house, yes a HOUSE! It's the same rent as my flat, has 3 bedrooms, separate sitting room, dining room and kitchen, and a garden. All in all it's about twice as much space as I have now, if not slightly more. It's a mid-terrace Victorian bay-fronted house in a well-maintained residential road within walking distance of Coventry centre.
But it's not all plain sailing. Firstly, the previous tenants apparently left the place in a mess so it's being refurbished, and the landlord won't let anyone look round and has given no date of when it will be finished. Secondly, I don't have a salary and am dependent on my ex-husband to pay my rent, which he does utterly reliably, but letting agents are a bit nervous about people who can't prove they earn enough a month to pay for themselves. Thirdly, the rental market is moving extremely quickly and I'm terrified I'm going to get "pipped at the post".
So I've made a bold move. I have picked up the paperwork to start the lease process WITHOUT HAVING LOOKED AROUND THE HOUSE. I have seen lots of interior photos, and a mid-terrace Victorian house is a standard kind of affair with predictable room sizes etc., so the risk is mitigated. But still. The letting agency don't really like people doing this because you have to pay an administration fee as a way of securing the property and paying for the references to be done, and so forth. And they get people doing all this, going to see the place, deciding they don't like it after all and trying to demand their money back. Which is against all the rules. Obviously I am 99.9% confident that I won't want to back out of the lease. I've driven past the house, had a look around the area, at the outside, at the bus routes ... and all seems just right. The house and street are both well-maintained. There's no peeling paintwork, or dodgy window frames. It has modern double-glazing, a little gravelled front garden and railings, on-street parking, sound-looking roof.
Next I have to get Jon to fill in the guarantor form, and take it back to the agent to see if I'll pass the references. She's given me forms for "unemployed" which I often feel as though I am, but strictly speaking I'm not. Whether that makes any difference, I just don't know.
Oh, and I've got an interview for the PGCE (teacher training) course at Birmingham City University. So hopefully I'll be in training for a proper job soon ...
Showing posts with label Rugby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rugby. Show all posts
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Thursday, 31 May 2012
Here we go again
I'm not really sure where the past week has seeped away to. The weekend was spent in Bury St Edmunds with my family, to celebrate my substantial achievement of staying alive for this long. There were lovely presents, very tasty food and 2 cakes!
Monday I tried Nick's walk idea. My back was stiff after all the driving and eating, so rather than try to do aerobic exercise I decided to walk to ease everything. I packed a daysack with some water, a salad, a packet of hulahoops and my mobile phone and set out. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I headed down to the disused railway track and went the opposite direction from the way I knew. It's a glorious path. A river of natural beauty threading through Rugby. Soon I was out beyond the suburban spread and into the countryside. I got to the end of the usable railway and met a road, consulted Google maps and decided to turn right and right again to avoid retracing my steps. Unfortunately after another half mile my sandals, which had been perfectly comfortable tramping around Cadiz and Gibraltar, decided today they would give me blisters! There was no way I was walking 3 miles back with blistering sandals (I sound like something out of TinTin :-) ), so I chose to cut down onto the conveniently placed canal towpath and walk barefoot on the grass. The only downside was this at least doubled the overall distance of the walk. 9 miles and a couple of hours later I was hobbling back through the streets of Rugby with extremely dirty feet. I had to bear the sandals for the last half mile as the tarmac was burning hot. All in all it was a great walk. Walking barefoot is strangely comforting (with the exception of the occasional stray thorn or stone) and something I will do again, but possibly not over such a distance. With boots and supplies, the route would be excellent. There are even a couple of pubs on the way that, had I not forgotten my wallet, would have been perfect for a mid-walk half. Lesson learnt! Next time be more prepared.
Wednesday was the second instalment of my jewellery workshop and this time I had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. We were doing macrame knotting to make bracelets and keyrings. The concentrated incredibly hard and there was a good deal of friendly banter. I had decided to head in to Leicester city centre afterwards to do some busking, seeing as I had already driven to the outskirts. I have tried busking in Leicester once before and gave it up as a bad job, something I'd put down to the cold, grey weather. This time it was a glorious sunny day but still the shoppers were completely indifferent to my playing, on the whole. For some reason Coventry is a far better place to busk. I think it's possibly because the centre is more enclosed so the sound doesn't disperse so quickly. But people also seem friendlier somehow.
Today was supposed to be spent with my best friend, Lyn, drinking coffee and eating up birthday cake but plans had to be abandoned because eldest daughter is unwell again. She has some mystery illness which began back in late February with a stomach bug. Ever since she has been unable to eat anything dairy and possibly wheat as well. She was put back on to wheat by the doctor so she could be tested for coeliac disease. The test came back negative but she's started being sick and lethargic again, and I could swear her asthma is worse too. It seems to point to a wheat intolerance but there's no obvious test that will tell us definitively one way or another. She is nearly 14 and I am loath to restrict her diet unnecessarily, but she is missing school and doesn't want to fall behind. She'll be doing GCSEs in 2 years! But equally if I take her off wheat again and she gets better it could simply be a coincidence. She's miserable and I hate seeing her like that, but is it better to leave her on the wheat and see if she gets better regardless? The reaction is so delayed it's hard to make any link. She gets better from the sickness because she doesn't eat anything so before she was yo-yo-ing from well to sick every few days. We can't get to see a doctor for nearly 2 weeks, and then it will be a check-up and possible referral for more tests which will be another couple of weeks and then the wait for the results. Poor girl!
I am still drawing. I'll post pictures tomorrow as this was rather long!
Monday I tried Nick's walk idea. My back was stiff after all the driving and eating, so rather than try to do aerobic exercise I decided to walk to ease everything. I packed a daysack with some water, a salad, a packet of hulahoops and my mobile phone and set out. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I headed down to the disused railway track and went the opposite direction from the way I knew. It's a glorious path. A river of natural beauty threading through Rugby. Soon I was out beyond the suburban spread and into the countryside. I got to the end of the usable railway and met a road, consulted Google maps and decided to turn right and right again to avoid retracing my steps. Unfortunately after another half mile my sandals, which had been perfectly comfortable tramping around Cadiz and Gibraltar, decided today they would give me blisters! There was no way I was walking 3 miles back with blistering sandals (I sound like something out of TinTin :-) ), so I chose to cut down onto the conveniently placed canal towpath and walk barefoot on the grass. The only downside was this at least doubled the overall distance of the walk. 9 miles and a couple of hours later I was hobbling back through the streets of Rugby with extremely dirty feet. I had to bear the sandals for the last half mile as the tarmac was burning hot. All in all it was a great walk. Walking barefoot is strangely comforting (with the exception of the occasional stray thorn or stone) and something I will do again, but possibly not over such a distance. With boots and supplies, the route would be excellent. There are even a couple of pubs on the way that, had I not forgotten my wallet, would have been perfect for a mid-walk half. Lesson learnt! Next time be more prepared.
Wednesday was the second instalment of my jewellery workshop and this time I had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. We were doing macrame knotting to make bracelets and keyrings. The concentrated incredibly hard and there was a good deal of friendly banter. I had decided to head in to Leicester city centre afterwards to do some busking, seeing as I had already driven to the outskirts. I have tried busking in Leicester once before and gave it up as a bad job, something I'd put down to the cold, grey weather. This time it was a glorious sunny day but still the shoppers were completely indifferent to my playing, on the whole. For some reason Coventry is a far better place to busk. I think it's possibly because the centre is more enclosed so the sound doesn't disperse so quickly. But people also seem friendlier somehow.
Today was supposed to be spent with my best friend, Lyn, drinking coffee and eating up birthday cake but plans had to be abandoned because eldest daughter is unwell again. She has some mystery illness which began back in late February with a stomach bug. Ever since she has been unable to eat anything dairy and possibly wheat as well. She was put back on to wheat by the doctor so she could be tested for coeliac disease. The test came back negative but she's started being sick and lethargic again, and I could swear her asthma is worse too. It seems to point to a wheat intolerance but there's no obvious test that will tell us definitively one way or another. She is nearly 14 and I am loath to restrict her diet unnecessarily, but she is missing school and doesn't want to fall behind. She'll be doing GCSEs in 2 years! But equally if I take her off wheat again and she gets better it could simply be a coincidence. She's miserable and I hate seeing her like that, but is it better to leave her on the wheat and see if she gets better regardless? The reaction is so delayed it's hard to make any link. She gets better from the sickness because she doesn't eat anything so before she was yo-yo-ing from well to sick every few days. We can't get to see a doctor for nearly 2 weeks, and then it will be a check-up and possible referral for more tests which will be another couple of weeks and then the wait for the results. Poor girl!
I am still drawing. I'll post pictures tomorrow as this was rather long!
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