Where am I?
I'm in Chelmsford, Essex. Stage one of being homeless has begun. I'm in the spare room of my best school friend and her husband. As far as makeshift accomodation goes I could do a lot worse. A hell of a lot worse actually. It's not everywhere you find someone cooking stuff and bringing it to you unprompted within ten miuntes of you showing up.
But staying with friends is a bit dicey. First, you have to brush up on the social skills you sold for a bummed cigarette several years ago. Then, you have to find the optimum amount of time you can stay without over-staying. Once that's done you have to take into consideration extra things like, well, your host being seven months pregnant. Add all this together, rattle the numbers a bit, and I'm out of here tomorrow.
So where to this week? Well, in a stupid short-sighted way, I don't care where I end up next week. At the moment anyhow. Because tomorrow I'm staying in Whitstable, a small Oyster town on Kent's northern coast. It could be Deptford, I wouldn't care, because I'm going with my girlfriend. So that's sunday night taken care of. I'll worry about the week when I get back.
Monday, on the other hand, is where the problems start again. There are three options. 1.) Stay up all night, play poker, and carry on as normal. 2.) stay on the sofa of a colleague. Or 3.) get a hotel.
I think there may be a plan 'C' though. It goes something like - stay up all night, get a hotel the next day and then sleep. Think that's what I'll do.
The hotel plan has a further complication. Poker money will have to pay for it. I can cover the cost but when the time comes to move I anticipate the sweeping tide of poverty to knock me off my feet for a while. And it's better to be braced. So poker money it is, and i'm up to about a room and a half now. Two and a half if I skip room service...
In the meatime staying here is pretty good. There's even a nice dog. I'm not normally good with dogs but the Lhasa Apsos here, Alfie, is currently keeping my feet warm. Like all good dogs he understands by instinct that this is a surefire way to secure friendship between man and beast. He even follows me out for a smoke now and then, although he's having trouble lighting up. So another night here isn't so bad.
Talking of smoking I'm giving up tomorrow.
But staying with friends is a bit dicey. First, you have to brush up on the social skills you sold for a bummed cigarette several years ago. Then, you have to find the optimum amount of time you can stay without over-staying. Once that's done you have to take into consideration extra things like, well, your host being seven months pregnant. Add all this together, rattle the numbers a bit, and I'm out of here tomorrow.
So where to this week? Well, in a stupid short-sighted way, I don't care where I end up next week. At the moment anyhow. Because tomorrow I'm staying in Whitstable, a small Oyster town on Kent's northern coast. It could be Deptford, I wouldn't care, because I'm going with my girlfriend. So that's sunday night taken care of. I'll worry about the week when I get back.
Monday, on the other hand, is where the problems start again. There are three options. 1.) Stay up all night, play poker, and carry on as normal. 2.) stay on the sofa of a colleague. Or 3.) get a hotel.
I think there may be a plan 'C' though. It goes something like - stay up all night, get a hotel the next day and then sleep. Think that's what I'll do.
The hotel plan has a further complication. Poker money will have to pay for it. I can cover the cost but when the time comes to move I anticipate the sweeping tide of poverty to knock me off my feet for a while. And it's better to be braced. So poker money it is, and i'm up to about a room and a half now. Two and a half if I skip room service...
In the meatime staying here is pretty good. There's even a nice dog. I'm not normally good with dogs but the Lhasa Apsos here, Alfie, is currently keeping my feet warm. Like all good dogs he understands by instinct that this is a surefire way to secure friendship between man and beast. He even follows me out for a smoke now and then, although he's having trouble lighting up. So another night here isn't so bad.
Talking of smoking I'm giving up tomorrow.
posted by Stephen | 4:51 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home