| Property! |
[Jul. 26th, 2006|11:42 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Otis Redding - (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay | ] |
In a bit of a thoughtful mood tonight, spent most of it organising all my dead tree trails and documents etc into one large file organiser, rather than several messy box files (that are impossible to rifle through). I threw a lot of stuff out to do with old car insurance, old bills and bank statements, but it was when I got to the folder marked Uni that I felt a little funny. Sitting there shredding away all the welcome letters and stuff from the first year and I realised that it really is all over now. Strange to think when ever upto the last days I was happy to be leaving that now I am getting weird about it. I've been so busy I think that I haven't noticed. Tonight was the first time I sat down in ages and even then I was busy. I did keep a few letters to do with my induction and first hall, just for old times sake. But so far I am doing quite well on the clear out. Gave up in the end as my father's £100 industrial cross cut shredder was smoking, which probably meant I should give it a rest. I duly did so.
This song probably isn't the best to be listening to like I am, but meh. Really fancy a drink, but alas I have nothing in the house but Malt Whiskey, and if start drinking that it wouldn't be good. Sure I have a bottle of JD round here somewhere, but I think it is downstairs...
The rest of today was also productive, I was down in Cheshire sorting out job type things. Handed all my documents in to Personnel to get them photocopied, all I have to do now is send in my H&S form (in hte post tomorrow) and then I can agree a start date with my boss, hoping it will be towards the start of next month as my parents are off to Canada next Wednesday (lost track of July, though it was later than that!). After that I started looking for properties. I had the address of one agent in Widnes so duly went and parked in the town centre (free town centre carpark - w00t!) and went exploring. I didn't want to take the GPS on foot with me so decided to try and find a town guide, though WH Smiths said they had been discontinued, so I just wandered a bit.
Widnes town centre doesn't seem to big, a couple of dated shopping precints and a market, so I found the place I was looking for with relative ease. However the agent said they didn't deal with lettings and I would have to go over to Runcorn, so I took the address and left. Found another 2 agents over the road, 1 did lettings and I booked appointments to see 3 sets of Apartments next Tuesday. All of them are 2 bedrooms but still within my price range, secure parking etc as I fancied going for a new build rather than a house. For what I could afford I could rent a 3 bedroom house but it would be a waste of money maintaining it and paying council tax.
On the whole Widnes doesn't seem that bad, quite compact, easy enough to get to the town centre from work etc. Was weird in a way being in a town that isn't dominated by students, I quite liked it, there wasn't that air of arrogance you seem to get when a large group of students come to a town. On a more perverse note I saw plenty of deprivation, which is good as it will keep me in employment.
Didn't see much of Runcorn, nipped over the bridge (avoiding the WPC balancing half on a kerb, behind a bush with a hairdrier...) and parked up (again free!) and the estate agent was pretty near by. Found out they didn't have much in Widnes, but booked in for 1 in Widnes and 2 in Runcorn. Can't remember the names of many of these places, but I have the addresses of where to first meet and then I should be able to follow the agent! One of the ones I have booked to look round though is this one. About the top end of my budget and I think it'll be more than I need, but worth a look around anyhow, think I was more tempted by the money off and cashback if nothing else!
After that I wimbled over to Warrington to go to an agent that I was directed to from another one that I went to in Widnes (confused? I was!). They were easy to find at least and put me onto a couple of properties, they even said if I was interested they could show me round one in the afternoon, so I said sure. The property in question was Beech Court. But more about that later.
They said call back around 1430 so I nipped over to Skem for lunch with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) peterb in the meantime. Experienced the delights of the M58 and Englands second largest herd of free range roundabouts (after Milton Keynes of course!) including one that seemed so long round for 3 junctions I feared I'd run out of fuel during the experience. For a new town it was cleaner than I expected, though I never quite got what was going through the minds of those who designed such places. You are given a large budget and a blank canvas to build on, and all you can come up with is a concrete metropolis? I guess in the 60s they were cutting edge, but they must look bleak now in the winter. Partook in a McDonalds whilst in Skem, which involved waiting 20 minutes for a burger and then being given a different one than what I ordered and some complimentary fries, hmmm.
Had a call from the agent once I left Skem saying to meet at the property at 1500. Got there just before and wished I hadn't bothered. Whilst the property itself looks good, the picture on that site isn't entirely representative. To one side is a large estate of council maisonettes, to the back council houses, to the front a derelict leisure centre, and to the other side a working mans club and a bookies that look like they are in the middle of the war zone. Like I said though it was a real shame, I loved the kitchen/living room, all brand new with built in appliances, it had a nice bathroom and 1 good sized bedrooms and another that would have made a great study. I just don't think though I'd want to live so far out of town when I wouldn't really be able to do anything at night. I think a lot of people had the same idea as of the 8 flats in the block the landlord told me I could have had my choice of 6 of them, including 2 that were on a split level. Seriously, if it had been anywhere else I would have probably taken it there and then.
Whilst I was with the agent we looked at the listings for a couple of 1 bedroomed places in Warrington, I am going to call up tomorrow and see if I can book viewings for those around my others next week. At a saving of upto £100/m I realised I would be happy to take 1 bedroom and put my study in the living room as long as everything else suited.
That is about all for now, longest post in a while I guess. Off to York tomorrow for the weekend so probably not going to be anything else now until next Monday. |
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