Many years ago I had an apartment in Auckland which was referred to as the save point, partially because it was a place to base myself while I got settled into a new job & back into the city, but also because it could only be reached through the use of multiple keys on multiple doors/devices while proceeding down hallways.
I now have a room in a place in Stafford, and it ticks many of the same boxes; The yellow key opens the door to a tunnel through to the backyard, the blue key opens the back door into the kitchen, then you go through the lounge, through what looks like a closet but is actually the staircase access, and finally the black key opens my bedroom door.
I’ve now met all of the other 4 residents at this place, one of whom ordered delivery food this evening but didn’t think about the actual delivery process, so the guy whose room is by the front door was messaging people on the group chat to find the owner. 😁
He even phoned me on WhatsApp, presumably because I’m the new guy? And because nobody replied to the messages.
Pretty sure I know who it was, because it wasn’t me, wasn’t the guy downstairs by the door, and of the two remaining candidates, one seems more sensible than that? He knew how to repressurise the boiler & shared instructions on it when the hot water stopped working.
Anyway, I have a room. Pictures are from the listing on SpareRooms, but the layout is pretty much the same; I moved the desk & drawer unit thingy from the odd positions the previous folks had them in back to the ones in the photo, because I’m not going to have a desk facing away from the window & if I put the drawer unit thingy beside the TV I can easily connect my laptop to it.
It has two closest because it used to be two small rooms, so I’ve got a bunch of storage space. And my own bathroom, which is nice.
I’m on an initial six month contract ( going to monthly after that ), and I wasn’t thrilled about the six month bit, but given the reluctance of Stafford landlords to reply to messages or take ads down when the room is gone, I decided to take the “These people seem organised and I can move in here” option. Subsequent thought did make me realise that the rent here is cheaper than most hostel dorms, for a much nicer living environment, so even if The Job went away, by their choice or mine, it’d make sense to simply stay here while looking for some other job.
It’s nice not to have to be thinking about accommodation for a while.
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