A new home!

On Saturday we finally moved into our own flat! We'd been living with Antranig for 9 months (11 months for Aaron) - it is so nice to be on our own again! We found a nice one bedroom flat, it's a little small, but has enough space for all our things, so that's all that matters. The living room is big enough to put in an air mattress for company, so we're in good shape!

Saturday was an exciting day. We had to bring the deposit and first month's rent in cash or banker's draft (guaranteed funds) to the rental agency. We had meant to go out Thursday or Friday to get the cash, but our days filled up and we didn't have time. So we went to the bank Saturday morning...only to discover that although the bank was physically open (there were people there ready to help you open a bank account, etc.), the tellers were not! We couldn't withdraw more than 500 GBP - the limit on what we could get from the ATM. Not good! Aaron wanted to just give up and go home, move in on Monday. I was determined I was not going to be delayed in moving AGAIN (after the initial delay that arose when the landlord from the previous place we had lined up backed out the day before we were to move in), so I decided to go on to the rental agency and plead our case. Aaron followed. Fortunately, the gentleman at the rental agency was pretty forgiving. We explained the situation and gave him the cash we did have, then wrote a check for the rest. We had to go back and give him cash on Monday for the amount on the check, but that was a small price to pay to go ahead and move in. We were so happy to be dealing with someone who had everything organized and together.

We had a celebratory lunch at Pizza Hut (Aaron says he was going there anyway, but it's kind of expensive, so I felt like it was celebratory), then went back to Antranig's and finished packing. We took a first load over to the flat on our bikes and looked around to determine the pre-move in condition (we'll have to sign something about the state of the flat on move in when they mail it to us here in a few days). While we were here, the man with a van we hired called up - he was waiting outside Antranig's! Fortunately, the new flat was only a few blocks from Antranig's, so we hurried on over. The man with a van was absolutely wonderful (I highly recommend him to any Cambridge folks looking to move a small quantity of stuff). He was well-organized, loaded his van very efficiently, and got all of our stuff over here in just one trip. He was extremely friendly, and enjoyed picking on you a bit - he had me going for a while that he knew someone in Blacksburg Virginia (where my parents live)...until I realized he was looking at a box shipped from my parents while he was talking. The whole move probably didn't take more than an hour.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking, and got mostly done. We still needed hangars and a cabinet for the bathroom, so I couldn't get everything done quite yet. Yesterday (Monday) we got our internet hooked up and went out and got a few more things. Still no bathroom cabinet, but everything else is in pretty good shape. I've been really enjoying having our own place!