by This has all happened out of the blue, but my flatmate will be moving in, perhaps next weekend but more likely the one after. I think – hope – this experience will be a lot less exhausting than the last one.
I’m looking forward to having some company as well as, obviously, the extra income. Having a mortgage hasn’t made life easy financially. In the last four years I’ve spent next to nothing on clothes, next to nothing on eating out, next to nothing on entertainment, next to nothing on my car (but see below), and next to nothing on my apartment itself. That’s five line items that a lot of people take for granted, but which for me are pretty much blank cells in the spreadsheet, not that I feel in any way deprived. There was the small matter of my trip to America a few months ago, but that was my first overseas trip since 2010. (Travelling overseas gave me such a boost that I simply have to do it again. For a good length of time. And soon. I just wish I could have made that boost last a bit longer.)
Those aren’t the only “blank cell items” in my life that many of us take for granted; I can add in a partner, a family, a career, and a real sense of identity, whatever that’s supposed to mean. And it’s because of all these blank cells that I can do what I’m planning to do later in the year. I don’t have much to lose. But I do have a British passport and an apartment I can hopefully rent out for $500 a week, and those are two positive reasons that I can do this. I’ll get a rental assessment soon and find out just how much I can get.
As for my car, I took it in last week and they told me the clutch and master cylinder would need to be completely replaced. I was quoted $1150, more than the car is worth, so that’s that. I can still drive it for a while, but it’ll only get worse. My parents have a spare car – a ’95 Mitsubishi RVR – and I might fly down there and drive it up here. There’s no point in buying anything if I can help it, when I only plan to be in the country for another eight months.
I’ve played tennis twice this weekend. Yesterday I was shocking, today a bit less shocking.
