How to Make Your Own Bed #3

Ok Ok ....so there has been a delay since the last post.....well I have been mightily busy.....and over the course of the next few weeks you will discover exactly what that busyness has entailed...but, first of all back to the bed story, for bed is one of the most important places in the world....

I set off in search of a space that matched my sums. Along the way I added a few other criteria which I list below for your reading pleasure

1. 3 minutes walk from the tube
2. 10 minutes walk from Church
3. A short-ish cycle ride to school
4. A bus stop a very short walk away for when it rains
5. A place to store my bicycle that is nice and safe
6. Somewhere that needs minimal renovation work
7. Somewhere happy
8. A short walk from a major supermarket so it is easy to carry the shopping home
9. A short walk from a cafe so there is somewhere to do some reading on a Saturday
10. A place that is easy for others to travel to so some people will come and visit

Now, looking for a place to keep a bed is not a straightforward task, as fellow bed shaped space hunters will know, especially when it has to have all of the above, as well as being affordable and in London.

Lo and behold, I stumbled upon a building that looks like this

I asked the slimy estate agent all about the building and looked at some studio apartments that were way too expensive. Then I found a non-slimy estate agent who showed me a studio apartment that looked like this


I was disappointed to discover that the chair on the bed, the cowboy boots and wet towel were not included in the asking price. I tested this very tidy studio against my criteria only to discover

1. It is literally 3 minutes walk from the tube
2. It is 10 minutes walk from Church
3. It is a 4 mile cycle ride to school
4. There is a bus stop directly at the front of the building
   
5. There is lock up storage for bicycles
   
6. A bit of paint and a new carpet would make it livable
   
7. All of the people I saw in the building and the porters smiled at me
   
8. A 4 minute walk away are Sainsburys, Waitrose and M&S Simply Food, and a marvellous organic food store, library, chemist and Woolworths.
9. There are 3 cafes and 4 restaurants across the road, and another 5 cafes 4 minutes walk away
10. Lots of my friends travel past the building on their way to and from work.
    

Taking all of this into account I made an offer and a day later made another offer and it was accepted!! My heart skipped a beat or three and I felt the mortgage burden settle upon my shoulders and I bid goodbye to the idea of working part time.

You can read more about the building here

How to Make Your Own Bed #2

So....I was on the hunt for a bed shaped space to keep the bed in. I found a few spaces, but unfortunately the people who owned the spaces wouldn't let me keep my bed there. Which brought up a new problem, it seemed that I needed to own some space in order to own a bed! Armed with this knowledge, I pulled out the accounts, calculator, pen and paper and started doing sums. Luckily, the sums I chose to do worked out very nicely with all the correct answers! This accomplished, I set off in search of a space that matched the answers to the sums. Here are some spaces I considered.........






.............unfortunately, none of these spaces matched the sums



But fortunately, the sums were greater than these spaces - but only just!!

How to Make Your Own Bed #1

Well.....first of all it is important to have your own bed - which unfortunately I did not. For the last 11 years I have slept in beds that have been on loan for one reason or another. Many different sorts of beds.....the three quarter bed in Newcastle, the futon in Japan (yes - one of those ones that i would roll up and put away everyday, and hang over the balcony railing and beat with the futon beater!), the lumpy double bed with the saggy bits in the bedsit when I first came to London, and the bed I have had for the last 6 years - a divan bed - bright green circle pattern on the mattress which belongs to the vicar and his wife. I have been very fond of some of these beds - especially the most recent one - because it was rather comfy - but still.......it wasn't my own bed. What is a girl to do??????

There was only one viable option to solve this situation and it was simply to buy my own bed!!! Easy!......buying a bed is easy - I can do that - the tricky part was finding a place to put it, keep it and sleep in it.....this is where the fun starts......part 2 coming soon.....stay tuned.



My most recent bed....notice the teasmade on the bedside table



The balcony in Japan looked like this on airing day......(somebody elses image...but gives you the idea)

What are you reading?

I am currently reading this book

http://www.simongarfield.com/pages/books/private_battles.htm


It is incredible. A collection of diarists who wrote for the Mass Observation in one book. They comment on what life was like in Britain during WWII. There is a lot about rationing and queues! I read the companion volume over the summer - was hard to put down - but I had to occasionally so I could cycle to various French Chateaus.

I wonder how present society would respond to food rationing? 2 pints of milk per adult per week! Having to hand over coupons to buy onions or how people would react if forced to do 'war work'? The people in this book seem to get on with it....I wonder what i would do?

Portugal

Ho hum......back at school now. Holidays are a distant memory.

Highlights of being in Portugal
1. Being in Portugal
2. Not having to go to school
3. Spending whole days reading
4. Swimming everyday
5. Great restaurants
6. Lying on the beach on beach chairs under umbrellas
7. Tea in bed everymorning - and knowing there is time for a second cup!
8. Time with friends
9. Seeing Cape Vincent
10. Watching movies outside in our outdoor cinema created by Drew
11. Having my bed made by the maid each day
12. Not being shot by intruder

Lowlights of being in Portugal
1. Travel delays
2. Delayed luggage
3. Driving to airport twice to look for delayed luggage
4. Having money stolen by intruder
5. Trying to converse with a shoplady in Portuguese and French about where to buy underpants because mine were being held hostage in Lisbon by Groundforce.
6. Watching Wise Blood
6. Leaving

Some carefully selcted pictures

we peddled this great big yellow thing to a private beach!


relaxing in style by pool outside villa


pre-dinner drinks at the golfclub

A Little Break

Well.....unfortunately I have to spend the next 10 days here!

(Am secretly very happy about this, and the idea of being here has brought me through many assignments and exams this year! Eg: Christology exam next week.... aaahhhhhh - I know nothing about Christ, let alone theologians concepts of how the atonement works, and what is the Christus victor model, and surely substitution says it all and Anselms theory of due honor surely holds some value....breathe......... its ok, in August you will be in Portugal.....wooohoooo! just make it thru this exam and then the next one and before you know it.......you will be beside a pool bearing your svelte body to the world, sipping martinis)

You may even be able to view my dear friends and I on this webcam at some point

http://www.cam1.carvoeiro.com/

and this is where we are staying, do stop in for a drink or such if you are near by..

ahhhh Another Test!!!!

Just when I thought I was free of exams, tests and assignments - I am forced to do another one!! This one takes place tomorrow at 3.30pm - and what is it for I hear you ask....It is to check whether or not I am capable of being British!! The fact that I like tea, teach Britain's children, can handle warm beer, understand cockney, cope with tube delays and no summer, speak read and write English and have lived here quite happily for some time now, etc etc, is of no value - I need to prove all of this by cramming information about geography, government, statistics and culture into my short term memory and reproduce it by answering multiple choice questions!

Follow these links and test yourself.....let me know - Are you capable of being British???

The official website - http://www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk/

A practice test - http://www.lifeintheuk.org/