Moving house

At the beginning of the month, I moved. I was quite happy with my current roommate and living arrangements at the time, but for reasons beyond my control, I needed a new place to stay. So on my first weekend off in the Easter break, I packed up the kipple of my life here in the UK and moved to a different place in Bury St Edmunds. Happily, the experience has been a positive one—I don’t like change, but this turned out to be change for the better.

My new place is ideally situated. It’s literally in the town centre. The major shopping centre and the high street are less than a few minutes’ walk away, as is the movie theatre and the bus station. The train station is ten minutes, if that, from my house. No more twenty-minute walks into the market on Saturdays! I didn’t mind those so much when it was sunny, but in times of rain or snow it wasn’t that much fun. And now, if I forget something, I can easily walk back to a store instead of wondering if I should just wait until next week.

My new roommate, Julie, is a woman with a nine-year-old daughter, and they are both awesome people. More importantly, their television and book tastes dovetail nicely with my own. They love Doctor Who, Star Trek, etc. Julie has been showing me Red Dwarf, and I have been catching her up on the first two seasons of Game of Thrones so she can jump into season three soon. The kitchen of my new place is well-equipped for my cooking shenanigans. Last weekend, Julie showed me how to make a key lime pie; it turned out delicious, if I do say so myself.

The Easter break was very relaxing. It was a good time to move, because it gave me a chance to get to know my new roommates removed from the hustle and bustle of “hello” and “goodbye” wrapped around our daily comings and goings. We got to know each other’s idiosyncrasies and routines before the added stress of schedules entered the mix. Despite my two-week break as a result of shingles, I still felt like I needed another two weeks off. I was tired. I didn’t do much, no fancy travelling or entertainment. Just relaxed, read—including War and Peace, because I am mad—and recovered.

My first week back went well. This half-term is going to be focused on revision for the Year 11s, who have their exams at the end of it and then leave school. It kind of feels like a make-shift, highly dangerous go-kart that one has started by pushing down the hill, then one has to chase behind it to jump on, only to realize it has no brakes. These next few weeks will be intense, but I suspect they will go by pretty quickly.

I have also booked my flight home for the summer! I’m leaving July 25, the day after the end of school.

Oh, this house has a cat.