#bookswallower

Have fun 🤘

Decadence to the max. The hotel room we'll be leaving in two days time, for better or worse, we don't know.

We started off with swinging by an electrical store to get some adapters, where we met our first proper old English "gubbar", who called us love and had calendars with naked ladies hanging most visibly on the wall of their very public store.  We then made our way north on the jubilee line, got off at Swiss Cottage, and met up with our future landlord Tai. He showed us around a modest three bedroom flat spread out over two floors in a typical North London apartment building. The room of interest was on the top floor next to the hallway and the kitchen, with a small balcony attached and enough room to fit two beds and generous storage possibilities. We were immediately impressed with the size of the room, and the proffesional air of Tai himself, who works as an actor recording film and TV. The other roommate was away on business in Los Angeles, and is a musician by trade. We feel we will fit right in. We declared our extreme interest, and a couple of hours later, Tai wrote to us saying we would be welcome to move in! A holding fee was transferred, and our relief was enormous. We actually have a place to live!! Our only real concern is that the current tenants will move out on the 27th, at the very latest, which would leave us roomless for about two weeks. They might be persuaded to move a little earlier, but still, a week on the street doesn't sound too compelling. We guess that staying in a sleeping hall is an experience you should have at least once in your life. After a couple of unfruitful visits to several different banks, we realised that a national insurance number had to be next on our list. We called and rather smoothly booked a meeting with the usually rather slow moving government agency for the end of the month. We then headed back to home base for a couple hours of rest and a chance to sort out our resumes. With the CVs in hand and our makeup adapted to the approaching evening we headed out into the darkening autumn day. Our friend Natalie from back in Sweden has gotten a job in a creperie in Covent Garden market, and on our way to meet her we went into a few stores with signs in their windows.  The thing about central London is that the things you don't expect would happen because they are too cliché, are the things that actually do happen. In this idyllic, old market hall a quintet of string players performed various classical pieces for pennies and pounds, with great gusto which acquired them a captive audience. In the next row of the market hall, a physical actor imitated Charlie Chaplin as the tramp, embarrassing his audience members by making crude jokes and making them laugh by doing a good job of it. When we walked passed Leicester Square we witnessed a sermon being preached by a most passionate man on a stool. Things like these that seem so foreign to us sensible, modest tourists. We picked up Natalie and walked with her trough crowed streets, peering into restaurant windows and trying to find one with a table for three. Finally settling down in a little mediterranean place, we shared a bottle of white wine, had some delicious food, and discussed tips and tricks for starting your life anew. We gushed over people we've met, and got excited over things we plan on doing. With our heads comfortably buzzing, and our concerns over banking and mobile options distinguished by Natalie's expert personal experience, we made our way back to Sussex Place and our top floor room. Giddy over how easy things would be, we laid ourselves to rest with good conscience over a day well spent. 

Handelsbanken are being little shits. We steal wifi and try to figure out how much jail time breaking and entering their offices would get us.

1. Oystercard top up 2. British bank account 3. Mobile subscription 4. Estate agents office visit Result: 1.Our oyster cards are now topped up with a week of unlimited travel (within zones 1 & 2) but other than that, not much else has been accomplished today. 2. The international office of the Swedish bank (where one of us already has an account) was not an open office as we had thought, and so getting a British account will be a bit harder than imagined. We are waiting for a call back to arrange a meeting, which we hope will happen as soon as possible, because... 3....to buy a mobile subscription you need one of those. The very nice man at the Vodafone Paddington store informed us of which deal to get, so at least we have that knowledge. 4. As for the estate agent, well, let's just say the shadiness was palpable. At a small back alley off Kensington high street, in what seemed to be a regular house where people live, two albeit very lovely ladies, received us (after 40 minutes of waiting) with suggestions of studio apartments that would fit our budget. They all seemed well and fine enough, small and dingy but that was what we had expected, but then she explained how it all worked. If we wished to get in contact with the landlord/lady of any of the properties, we would have to pay a fee of £119 to receive their information. If we didn't find any of the apartments suitable we could request the details of another landlord/lady. This could go on for as long as 3 months, and then we would have to pay again. The way she stated it though, made it clear that you should take the first, best apartment you tripped over and so essentially pay a weeks rent extra. Which only sounded a bit extensive, but then we remembered the fact that we arranged a viewing of a room that sounds perfect, over the Internet, for free, and then we almost completely ruled out this option. We'll see what happens. It'll all turn out alright. (Or so we keep trying to convince ourselves)

Inside the belly of the beast, looking out towards the jewellery box that is the city we now reside in.

Now, a full 2.5 hours before our flight departs, we are already at Landvetter airport. Two hours before our gate opens. Before even the baggage drop off opens. Call it the perks of having over-precautious parents. We have tearfully said goodbye to our friends with one last night on the town, and patiently said goodbye to our parents with solemn promises of never walking alone at night. We have had ugly-crying breakdowns to our favourite Swedish music, minor panic attacks on trains, and wonderful, wonderful moments of absolute giddiness over the enormous adventure that awaits us once our plane lands. For our first week in the British Capitol we have reserved a hotel room close to Paddington station, but other than that, not much else is settled. We have been lucky enough to have been invited to a room viewing this Friday at eleven, in what looks to be a flat share just perfect for us, located in the northwest of London. Another couple of interesting opportunities are currently being investigated by she who has become the contact person for our spareroom.com account, darling @linenea. If you happen to know, or have heard of anything that might be of relevance to us, please do message us here, or visit our spareroom ad: http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatmate/3577014 On the employment front nothing much more can be done until we get to where the "help wanted" signs become visible to us and we are able to physically walk in the door with our resumes in hand. @bookswallower does have a meeting with a potential family in the coming week, with three small children that need her help learning to speak Danish, and one distraught mother in need of some domestic relief. With a promise of dinner from friends already in the big city, and reassurance in the fact that we have visited before and know our way (moderately well) around town, we seat ourselves in the beast that shall carry us unto new ground and new lives.

So.. Yeah.. That’s about it for now. Tonight I’ll go back to my childhood home for a typical swedish get-drunk-and-scoff-crayfish-party with the old neighbours. Wish me luck!