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| (c) Les Petits Frenchies |
Claudia has shown me pictures of frozen canals and icebreakers. She warns me to be prepared and pile on the layers. Not easy to do when most of my stuff is still in London. The last day of November marks one whole month since my arrival in Alsace. My accommodation situation is still up in the air.
I’ve extended my stay at Javier’s. I just can’t face the upheaval and awkwardness of moving in with Klara and her boyfriend (albeit it’s free). It is extremely kind of her to offer a perfect stranger, I admit. Her colleague Lucille has a French-Canadian friend heading back home for unpaid leave for a year. She also lives close to The Organisation and can offer her place once vacant. The problem is it’s only a short-term solution. Potentially. She has a friend who is applying for a role at THRO, who might be successful and who might need somewhere to stay. That’s too much uncertainty for me but I appreciate the willingness to help. My housing issues have revealed how reliant I have been on the milk of human kindness. By the grace of God, it has flowed in abundance since my arrival.
That brings me back to Javier. What a mother’s pride he is. He agrees to let me stay for the same rate as I have been, rather than exploiting the Christmas market rush. Either way you look at it, temporary accommodation over an extended period ain’t cheap. Cumulatively, over the month I have spent upwards of a grand (in either currency) on AirBnb. Still, it’s a lot more affordable than hotels and with better privacy and amenities than your average budget hostel.
Javier tells me I’m a good guest and trustworthy. He will be away on personal and business trips. He wouldn’t normally have someone stay in his property during his absence but he’s making the exception. It’s sound business too, he says.
That’s a relief of sorts but I’m still anxious to move on. My savings have taken a dent and I’m not feeling this unintentionally nomadic lifestyle.
The search is nonetheless becoming harder. The closer to Chrimbo the scarcer the accommodation. Whatever hasn’t been converted into AirBnb to take advantage of the Christmas Market mayhem, is not available until late December or even the New Year.
As November makes way for the next, there are a few glimmers of hope. HMRC have decided, (not for the first time), that I’ve paid too much income tax and I’m due an unexpected rebate. THRO’s installation allowance is more generous than I anticipate, thank God. I’m glad I didn’t ask for an advance or I’d have possibly blown it on the wrong kind of accommodation in my desperation and worry. I’ve also set up a couple of viewings. Both happen to be walking distance from the office and have direct connections to THRO. Both are advertised on Solidarité’s internal classifieds page. They’ve both been doing the rounds for some time. Should I be suspicious?
My first viewing is with Yotis. I spot his ad on the public listings site Le Bon Coin before I notice it on Solidarité. The pics are all right. Nothing spectacular but it is well-furnished. I pop Yotis an email. I mention The Organisation as a selling point, since it’s in such close proximity to the property.
Oh, I work for THRO too.
Do you now.
We arrange a time and date and I make a mental note to look him up on the work intranet the next day. Just to be certain he's legit. Yotis beats me to it. He is all official, sending me an Outlook meeting invitation to lock the viewing into our diaries. He says he’ll drive me to the property, since he’s local too.
In this post-#MeToo era it might not be worth the bother to assault me en route; not with the awkwardness of being colleagues and everything. Still, I take the precaution of forwarding the details to mum and notifying Claudia.
There’s nothing to worry about. Yotis is an upstanding professional; approachable, even diffident. Originally from Cyprus, he studied law at LSE and has settled in France with his Austrian wife. After the pleasantries and swapping notes about London are out of the way, it’s down to business. The accommodation is next to a large supermarket. That’s a plus. It’s on a fairly busy road. That’s another. Oh yes, c’est vachement for-mi-dable. A little palace for a relative bargain. Formerly occupied by a PhD student, his wife and two young children, they’ve returned to their native South-East Asia, leaving the premises in spotless condition. It is fully equipped down to washed bed linen. I’d want for nothing as I await the delivery of my remaining belongings from London. It’s also ideal for a interior designing novice. I don’t have the vision for that sort of thing.
The flat is available straight away, a stone’s throw from my office, with regular bus routes directly outside my door. A tram stop 10-15 minutes’ away on foot. Yotis only lives a few streets down should there be any internal issues…what’s not to love?
The long, quiet walk through residential streets to the tram stop, that’s what. After the viewing, Yotis kindly accompanies me to the nearest public transport. I attempt the walk the following afternoon during my lunch break. I figure in the light of day I’d be better able to familiarise myself with the neighbourhood. I get lost several times. Irony upon ironies, it is around the corner from the very first viewing I had in Strasbourg; the elaborate tree house. I turned it down because of the distance from the main road. If I take this property, I wonder, would it make the last month of searching futile when I could have just stuck to my first option?
But, still. It’s gorgeous. And the main bus is pretty regular. So yes, I would have to time my exits better. There are elements of the walk over uncomfortable terrain. I could probably only make my way on foot to work when it’s clear and dry weather. Still, are these not mere obstacles I’m unnecessarily putting in my way? The exercise will be welcome, especially during the warmer months. Once I reach civilisation there are lots of local shops and plenty of life. It’s a village within a City, (like Blackheath, Greenwich or Dulwich for the South Londoners. Forget the walk. My main concern should be avoiding becoming a Bourgeois hipster ponce (too old for that now methinks). Or worse still, a champagne socialist.)
Another viewing in a similar part of town strengthens my resolve. Yes, it’s vast, with capacious storage facilities and has some brand new amenities. The monthly rent for the whole space is not much more than what an average London tenant would pay to just live out of one of the large rooms. But it’s not homely. The communal areas are old and the stone design is somewhat off-putting. It would be a pain to keep warm in the winter. By then, I’ve already let Yotis know my decision. This alternative viewing is academic.
I try not to let myself get too excited until Yotis and I have both signed on the dotted line.
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