Home Sweet Home.....soon

Well, it sure has been a while since I put some form of entry onto this blog. Hey….I warned you. I’m not in England just yet so I don’t have that much to talk about. I’ve literally been spending the previous weeks working as much as possible; meandering through the hours a slice of dry ice at a time. When not stuck beneath a hard hat and safety glasses I’m trying to spend as much time as I possibly can with my family. It’s going to be a while between me leaving and seeing them again at some point (except for Scott….but that’ll be left for another post). Dinner out on Fridays, drinks on the patio, golfing, and trips to the bridge to collect rocks have been on my schedule a lot and I’m glad I’m having the opportunity to spend these moments with my family.

As the title for this post might suggest, I’m using it to talk about my new humble abode currently awaiting my occupancy in England. I wanted to try to ensure some form of housing before my eminent arrival in the UK so that I had some stability upon arrival. Much like my guaranteed work contract I didn’t want to fly over with absolutely nothing set-up. I decided to talk to a company that Protocol (my teaching agency) recommended in London. The company is called “Arrive Homes” and was started by two foreign teachers who, upon their arrival in the UK for the first time, discovered just how much of a pain it is to secure housing in London as a foreign visitor. So, they decided to do something about it. They began securing properties all over the London and Greater London area that they could rent out to other foreign teachers (exclusively) as a house share. They eliminated a lot of the problems faced by foreigners searching for housing by including all utilities, cable costs, internet, council taxes, etc. into their rent prices…AWESOME! Not only that, but because you pay them this all-inclusive rent you can’t be contracted by utility companies that can lock you in for at least a year. You are free to live in their house share for as little as a month or as long as your stay in the UK. The freedom of this arrangement is what really attracted me as well as alleviating the hassles of setting up housing. Not only that, but the houses are fully furnished in the common spaces and each room comes with a bed, dresser, and wardrobe already.

To make a long story short, I contacted them and after what seemed like a million e-mails back and forth between myself and Aaron and Phil (the company founders) I secured housing! The address is as follows:

76 Marlborough Road

Colliers Wood

London, UK

SW19 2HG

So, I’m all set to move in to the house as soon as I get to Heathrow on September 18^th, unpack and begin exploring. If you Google Map the address you can get a feel for the area. Street View is absolutely amazing, I feel like I’ve already been to the neighbourhood now and I’m sure it will feel very familiar when I get there.  The house will apparently have a balance of males and females (total flatmate count = 4…so 5 including me.) It’s also really close to a tube stop (5 min walk) so easy and quick access up to Central London. I could go on and on about what I’ve already discovered about the area, but I’ll leave that until I have actual experience there and can speak more eloquently about it.

Also, I’m going to be in Kingston in a week and I’m super pumped, excited, crazy happy to see people and have some fun…but also super bummed, upset, sad to know that it’s the last time for a while. I’ll leave the latter emotions until the Sunday and live it up until then!