The New 'New Girl'

Its a while since I've wrote a post and I have to say its been quite a hectic few months.  I've completed my last year at Glasgow Uni, graduated, traveled to Norway, moved home (Gretna), got a part-time job in a chocolate shop (mmm!), and am currently being trained to be a radio presenter at the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow.  However, the biggest and most exciting thing to happen to me lately is that I've been accepted on a Magazine Publishing postgraduate course in Edinburgh. 2012 is certainly the year of change!

So, as I'll be moving to Edinburgh in about 3 weeks I obviously needed to find myself somewhere to live.  I considered applying to move into student halls as it would maybe be the easiest option but I'm a postgraduate now, and although I'm still young I've already been there, done that and got the drunken photos to remind me of my cell and fellow inmates.  At the time it was fine and in a sick way I kind of enjoyed the environmental hazard that was our bomb-site of a kitchen and the challenge of not becoming hyperthermic when the showers failed to heat up in the winter; it was what student living was all about! But now, after having lived in nice(ish) private lets, I've become accustomed to things being more homely and less prison cell-like.  I decided I wanted to find a flat-share in Edinburgh instead, so began my search on Gumtree.

After a mildly successful Gumtree hunt, I'd managed to secure at least two flat viewings for the day and was still waiting to hear back from a few more potential flats.  My friend, Joanne, came with me on my flat hunt day in Edinburgh and we were feeling pretty optimistic about the day ahead of us.  There was glorious sunshine and the buzz of people from the Edinburgh Festival filled the air; I couldn't of been happier stepping off the train at Haymarket.  However, the first flat we viewed sucked all the happy energy out of us like a vampire draining the veins of its latest victim.

Walking down the street that the flat was located on was a bizarre experience in itself.  It suddenly felt really dark and cold and I'm not lying when I say this but there was a woman who looked like an actual witch walking in front of us.  I turned to Joanne and said, "I don't really have a very good feeling about this one."  She agreed, and by gosh our instincts were right.

The flat was on the top floor of an old tenement building and in comparison to flats I've lived in during my time in Glasgow, the hallway wasn't too gloomy.  The girl who was showing us around opened the door and let us in.  She seemed OK, if a little odd, and had quite a limp handshake.  Not a major issue but still, it wasn't very welcoming.  First we seen the kitchen which was tidy, modern and a decent size.  Then we went into the lounge which was quite small but bright and clean.  I was beginning to feel more positive about the flat and tried to ignore the 'bad feeling' Joanne and I had outside.  I always say you should go with your gut feeling and trust your instincts and with this flat I really should of practiced what I preach because the next thing to happen inside this flat shocked me and Joanne into silence.

The girl told me that the room she had advertised had in fact already been taken by a guy the day before but depending on how desperate I was for a room, she had a small box room available.  "A small box room" made me think "oh well, a smaller room would be OK. It'll just be a single bed which is fine."  It wasn't fine, it wasn't even a room.  It took her ages to open the door to this 'room' and when she eventually did open the door we were faced with a cupboard.  There are no two ways about it, the small box room was a cupboard.  There was a shelf with a make-shift mattress on top, a ladder up the wall to get onto the 'bed', no windows, no lighting and certainly not enough room to swing a mouse, never mind a cat.  Features included in the 'room' were an ironing board, vacuum cleaner and a set of golf clubs.  Harry Potter's living quarters under the staircase looked like a 5 Star luxury sweet at the Ritz in comparison to this "small box room".

Situations like this don't arise very often and I wasn't sure how to deal with it or what to set my facial expression to.  Apparently I looked surprised as the girl said "You look a bit shocked." I replied with "It's just a bit different."  I didn't want to hurt her feelings and tell her to shove her box room into an even smaller, darker hole so instead I changed the subject and asked what she does for a living.  This part was the icing on the cake.  She was a trained lawyer looking for work.  In my opinion, I think she needs to brush up on her Human Rights before going into such a profession.

We quickly made our excuses and left the flat feeling a bit shell-shocked.  She was offering me a cupboard to live in for the healthy sum of no less than £220 a month.  Even writing this now, I still can't believe how ridiculous the whole thing was.

In a bit of a daze, we sat in a cafe and tried to pull ourselves together.  I made more calls in response to adverts on Gumtree in the hope I could get more viewings that day but they were all to no avail.  It wasn't the best start to the day but things could only get better, right?  Wrong.  The other flat viewing I had organised for that day had fell through and we were left with nowhere else to go.  Our phones were running out of battery and we desperately needed to use the internet to find more flats to view.  This glorious summers day was turning into flat hunting hell.

We were in a frenzy and running around the streets of Edinburgh looking for Free Wi-Fi.  We spotted Cafe Nero with its beautiful Wi-Fi sticker on the door, and in spectacular 'Challenge Anneka' fashion we burst through the doors in search of an electric socket to charge our phones up and use the internet.  Success, at last.  Downing cups of tea and frantically surfing the web we managed to find more flats to view and contacted various people to organise viewings.  However, while checking my emails, I had received a reply from two lads in a flat that I had quite a good feeling about.  I phoned them straight away and said we were on our way over.  We flew out the cafe and jumped into a taxi.

Almost immediately I knew this was the one and, without going into it too much, it was decided that I would move in.  So, after what can only be described as a stressful, rollercoaster of a day, we had finally found somewhere for me to live.  Joanne and I were both delighted on the walk into town... Well Joanne was maybe more excited than me as she shouted "You're going to have friends that are BOYS!" just as a hot guy in a smart suit walked by.  Thanks Joanne, your timing is impeccable.

So yes, I've got a place to live, I'm moving in with two lads and I can't wait! I feel like New Girl!







 

'Horrible Bosses' - My (slightly harsh) Review

As a student, wasting time and avoiding work has become second nature to me.  Levels of procrastination range from playing Angry Birds, to becoming a domestic Goddess, to making countless cups of tea, and to watching mind-numbing movies you have no interest in.  The latter time-wasting activity was my chosen form of procrastination last night when I decided to watch 'Horrible Bosses'.  However the word 'horrible' definitely sums up the entire experience of watching this film.

With a star-studded cast including Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston I was actually expecting this to be a pretty good watch... How wrong could I have been?  The story line was clumsy, the acting was over the top and if I ever hear Charlie Day's squeaky, irritating voice again I will do a Van Gogh and personally chop off both of my ears.  Watching this film was as frustrating as playing an electric buzz wire game whilst being tickled under the arms; it was almost impossible to reach the end.

Bateman, Sudeikis and Day's characters each wanted their bosses gone and so the solution was to have them killed.  Of course this was supposed to be over the top comedy and almost slap-stick humour but the delivery made me want to actually slap the three actors with sticks.  Their continuous rambling and shouting over one another was enough to drive any sane person over the edge and into a fit of hysteria (maybe thats why I'm writing this post?).    

'Horrible Bosses' has been classed as a comedy/crime film but with its severe lack of comedy it can only, in my opinion, be described as a crime.