Flats

The time of year has come when we have to go hunting for a flat in Coventry to live in whilst Ash carries out his PhD. Obviously we turn first to the internet, that beautiful resource which can supply every imaginable desire (I was going to say excluding food, but actually our last Dominoes was ordered online). We found several flats in Coventry and Kenilworth that seemed to satisfy our criteria, and booked in some viewings that Wednesday.

So, off we toddled to Cov to have look around. First destination: Beauchamp House, which of course in a Coventry accent is pronounced Beecham. This was an 18 month old development of around 150 flats, and we looked around four or five. We were very taken with one of them on the ground floor, and impressed that the agent said we would probably be able to get it for £x00 pcm.

We saw some other properties, one of which was very very grotty, and then cancelled several because we had settled on the one in Beauchamp House.

That Saturday we headed back to Coventry again for a second viewing, and our minds were made up. We spoke to the agent on Monday. Tuesday was her day off. On Wednesday afternoon we rang only to find that the landlord had decided that he would be able to get £[x+1]00 pcm for this flat, and didn't want our money.

So back to the drawing board we went, and planned a second flat shopping trip to Coventry, which took place on Friday last week. We started off in a rather nice Court slightly further out from the town centre, which was nice but the second bedroom was a little small, it had a separate kitchen, and the living/dining room was half carpeted and half laminated.

Then we caught the bus to Kenilworth, where we were half an hour early for our viewing of a small annexe-flat attached to the landlords' bungalow. They were very nice and invited us in to sit on their balcony and have a drink while we waited for the agent to arrive. Sadly this flat was even tinier than the previous one, and despite the water and electricity being included in the £[x-1]00 pcm price tag, it was too small for us.

We walked up the hill to look at another flat in Kenilworth, and then back down to the bus stop, and off to campus for lunch. After an adequate South Central (no tuna mayo... only the version with manky sweetcorn), we bussed back into Coventry where an enthusiatic young agent showed us around a very nice top floor flat with an enclosed balcony. In talking with her she mentioned another buiding that her company had flats in, and she offered to take us around those after our remaining scheduled re-viewing of Beachamp House.

The re-viewing didn't happen however as that agent's car had broken down and she was unable to make it, so we headed off with the enthusiastic agent to see her suggested flats. She showed us three in this block, the first with a massive balcony, the third suffering the effects of student inhabitation, but the second just right (and only £[x-1]95 pcm), and then took us back to Beauchamp House to look around some of the nicer, more expensive ones there.

This time we made our decision quickly, and following a mad dash across Coventry, cash exchanged hands, and our flat was off the market. Now all we need to do is fill in some forms, let them do their reference-checking thing, and get ready to move in.

Oh, and the high heels? They didn't exist.