Moving

[repiV]

So, tomorrow I'm moving. For tonight I have my own flat, of sorts. Basically the landlord has turned the upstairs into two flats, although they don't have doorbells or anything, and we have to use his washing machine and he controls all the utilities and so on. But it is my own space.

It's a grade 2 listed building in a picturesque village in mid Devon. I'm around 10 miles away from Exeter, there's a stream that runs past the house, the noise of which is very good at sending you off to sleep, it's peaceful and I get my own space.

That's the house behind the pub:

The problem is you get what you pay for, and the landlord is a weird old man who turns the hot water on and off at the fuse box for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, so the water runs out half way through doing the washing up and the shower is lukewarm. He's a tightwad with the heating which, in a building like this, makes it a bit nippy inside on a summer's evening and absolutely freezing in the winter. Inside it's really a bit of a state, although it's pretty large.

The other reason it sucks to live here is that there's nothing here. I work in Exeter, I spend most of my time in Exeter, there isn't even a shop in the village and the nearest petrol station, supermarket or indeed anything of consequence is a 20 mile round trip. It's not uncommon for me to come home from work, cook dinner and go straight back almost to where I came from. Total waste of time and money. And then I can't drink.

It's especially a pain in the winter or when it's raining with only the bike for transport as it means I have to turn up to the pub or whatever dressed like Robocop, or go round a friends' house and change before going out anywhere. Plus it takes a lot of time and money to run my bike and it seems like such a waste to run it into the ground with all this endless commuting which isn't even fun most of the time.

I decided to look for some place else a couple of months back on a bit of an impulse because I got fed up with things. Unfortunately the rents are absurd down here and there's no way in hell I can afford to live on my own in Exeter (except studio flats which I hate), the only reason I can here is because it's all a bit of a joke setup. I found this houseshare 15 minutes walk from the city centre, big nice house in a good area and there's even a garage I can use.

Which is where I'm moving tomorrow! I've barely packed anything yet, but it didn't take that long when I moved last time so I should be alright. Can't believe I've lived down here a year already. I've had the odd second thoughts about it, it's going to be weird going from living by myself into a shared house. But then there's a reason I looked elsewhere in the first place.

Prior to this I lived at home so the whole houseshare thing is completely new to me. I hope it's not a nightmare.

 

[Eejit]

Hope you get lucky with your housemates man. If they're people you can get along with it should be a blast

 

[repiV]

Hope you get lucky with your housemates man. If they're people you can get along with it should be a blast

Cheers. They're nice people but I'm not sure about them yet. They're all in their late 20s, there's a couple who are engaged, the bloke's a Canadian guy and he does something or other with computers for a living, I get on well with him. Then there's this other girl who seems alright, apparently she keeps herself to herself and is never there.

I don't think the other two go out much. I was kinda hoping to meet some party animals, but on the other hand that has its downsides too. I'm sure it will be fine though.

It would cost around £600 a month for a half-decent flat in one of the less desirable areas of town (not that anywhere in Exeter is particularly unpleasant), plus bills and council tax. In one of the poorest parts of the UK. It takes the piss!

 

[Eejit]

Holy crap that's mental. My girlfriend's (very nice - even a conceirge in the reception downstairs 24/7) one bedroom flat in glasgow is £650 a month without bills and council tax, right in the city centre.

 

[repiV]

That's good to know, I will choose Glasgow as my next move if I don't go abroad instead and nothing comes up that ties me here in the meantime. I fell in love with Scotland and the Scottish people, and although I didn't spend a great deal of time there, I really liked Glasgow. And I'm sure I could get a lot more money for doing the same job I do now.

I'm not sure why Exeter is so expensive. Usually down here you can blame that on holiday homes, but they don't have them in the city. The wages are low and decent jobs are few and far between, which makes it even more ridiculous. It might be the uni, Exeter has a large student population, 20% or so, and the students are the richest people in town. Exeter uni is full of Oxbridge rejects.

Or it might be just because it's a great place to live. Safest city in the UK, highest quality of life in the UK. It's well known that you really struggle down here as a single person though with the prices and job situation.

 

[Eejit]

Yup, Glasgow's great apart from the weather.
Oh, for another example I paid less than £300 a month sharing a 3-bed flat about 5min walk from the city centre last year again without bills or council tax. Three-beds are usually among the most expensive for what you get too, after single-bedroom places.

I don't understand how the Exeter student population could be responsible for the high rents, Glasgow has over 160k students, 23k at my uni alone.

 

[repiV]

I didn't realise you actually went to uni in Glasgow! If I'd have known I'd have said hi while I was up there. Do you go to the campus in Yorkhill? Had lunch around there.

The weather does put me off, it really is dire. I don't think you could get away with riding a bike 12 months a year up there (nor would you want to). The average min/max temp here in January is 4C/9C so it never really gets that cold. :E

Having said that Glasgow seems to have the same sort of localised warming effect that London does, I remember getting off the train at Queen Street and the air was perfectly still, and it was warm. Whereas in Dumbarton 20 miles away it was a lot colder. Out here I've noticed the temperature difference between night and day is massive whereas in London it never seemed to make much difference.

Maybe we just pay for the weather down here.

 

[Raziaar]

Good luck!

 

[repiV]

Cheers.

 

[Eejit]

I didn't realise you actually went to uni in Glasgow! If I'd have known I'd have said hi while I was up there. Do you go to the campus in Yorkhill? Had lunch around there.

The weather does put me off, it really is dire. I don't think you could get away with riding a bike 12 months a year up there (nor would you want to). The average min/max temp here in January is 4C/9C so it never really gets that cold. :E

Having said that Glasgow seems to have the same sort of localised warming effect that London does, I remember getting off the train at Queen Street and the air was perfectly still, and it was warm. Whereas in Dumbarton 20 miles away it was a lot colder. Out here I've noticed the temperature difference between night and day is massive whereas in London it never seemed to make much difference.

Maybe we just pay for the weather down here.

Gilmorehill, most of my lectures etc were just off University Avenue. Not far from Yorkhill though.

The localised warming effect is common to most big cities, I think mostly due to wind shield from all the buildings but the heat we produce probably plays a part too.

 

[Minister]

Apparently Exeter is the most expensive place for students to live. I will be paying £110 a week next academic year for my accommodation.

Me and my mates were actually looking for a housemate until we managed to find one in mid-July, you could have lived with us, although you'd probably have to be a student

 

[repiV]

Gilmorehill, most of my lectures etc were just off University Avenue. Not far from Yorkhill though.

So do you get uni free there?

The localised warming effect is common to most big cities, I think mostly due to wind shield from all the buildings but the heat we produce probably plays a part too.

Yeah, it probably has something to do with the amount of tarmac and concrete aswell. Apparently the reason the temperature drops at night isn't because of the lack of sun, it's because the sun warms the ground which then radiates the heat - and tarmac holds the heat a lot better than grass and mud does.

It can be truly bizarre in London. I remember being with some friends in central London at Christmas time, it was like 10pm and everyone was sitting outside at the pubs in Hammersmith in t-shirts. And you remember how cold this winter was!

Apparently Exeter is the most expensive place for students to live. I will be paying £110 a week next academic year for my accommodation.

Me and my mates were actually looking for a housemate until we managed to find one in mid-July, you could have lived with us, although you'd probably have to be a student

You have to pay a lot more for the student accomodation aswell. I assume they charge a premium for the damage likely to be caused to the house.

My neighbours and I were considering getting a house together several months ago, we looked at this 3 bed detached house at the top of Stoke Hill, very quiet area, nice cul-de-sac, garage, incredibly nice inside. Only downsides being quite a compact house, and unfurnished. But the rent was £850 a month.

Two of my friends were recently living in a student house on Bonhay Road near the station, it's not great round there and the house wasn't great either, and the rent on that was over £1000 a month.

It's very different here when you lot have all gone home. It's like half the population of the city has just disappeared. I can actually go to the Firehouse and hear myself think.

 

[Felix]

The house I'm sharing with 2 friends next year in my 2nd year of Uni costs £41 per week and we have a spare room. That said, Newport is rough!

 

[repiV]

Damn that's cheap. I'm paying £450 a month for the place I'm moving into, although that does include bills, council tax, full Sky TV package etc.

 

[Felix]

I wish we had bills included, at least our house is like an IKEA showroom. Apart from my room, which will be Habitat. Good luck with the move!

 

[repiV]

Cheers. Just bagging and boxing everything up now...tedious work!

 

[CR0M]

I hate moving. But yeah, the best of luck neighbour - hope it turns out to be a good move.