Christine, Wondering

Random Musings of a Human Becoming

Monday, April 30, 2007

Oh, ffs . . .

Just when you thought it was safe to breathe!

My housemate, with whom I've been getting along splendidly, has suddenly and randomly decided that I have to move out. We haven't fought or even had an uncomfortable moment in the short time I've been here, and especially not in the incredibly small amount of time she's actually spent here as opposed to at her boyfriend's house which is where she really lives. And she refuses to give any explanation or even talk to me about it - just that she won't be renewing my lease and I'm "welcome" to move out sooner, because she "doesn't feel it's working out".

AARGH!

I was wracking my brains to think of what could have gone wrong, but there's nothing - the place is clean and tidy and I've been half-killing myself to get my stuff sorted out despite having had three assignments to hand in and having been sick twice, since I moved in. I was getting really upset about what it could be, but both Mum and James (my stepdad) are of the opinion that it's not me at all, and that the housemate has some problem of her own that she can only solve by forcing me to move out. This seems quite likely as she's been stuffing around with the storage and space use arrangements we had worked out - she promised me space for my boxes in the little storage room and space for my treadmill in the sunroom, but now she's totally filled up the storage room with her furniture, and then kept hinting that my boxes shouldn't be in the sunroom because she wanted to put her table in there (which would have taken away the room for my treadmill, not to mention making the sunroom another place where my storage boxes couldn't be). So it seems like she just didn't understand that having a housemate meant that you had to give up more of the house than one bedroom!

This infuriating circumstance has a silver lining though. When I found out about this yesterday, James was on his way to drop off the treadmill and pick up some of my storage boxes and furniture which could be stored in their shed. I phoned Mum to see if he had left yet, because obviously there was no point bringing the treadmill if I was moving again. When I burst into tears and explained what was going on, Mum suddenly said: "do you want to move home for 8 months?" (which is all the time left until I'll be off in the country teaching). I went back to their place to stay overnight, and we've worked out an arrangement that means that I can live in their tiny spare room until I get a placecment. I'll still have to work but I'll be able to pay off my debts with that money rather than just paying my bills, which is great.

It'll be strange going back to living in Mum's house (especially as my 11-yr-old sister now has my old bedroom, and I'll be moving into an even smaller room that is currently the kids' TV room), but it's worth it, and honestly I'm quite glad to be getting one last little taste of ordinary family life before I'm off into the strange wilds of the countryside!

The room really is tiny though. I'm going to have to give up my beloved queen bed (it would take up the whole room, almost!) and sleep on a single again, and I'll only be able to fit my wardrobe and desk and a couple of little chests of drawers in the room. But I'll manage, and 8 months is not a long time. Especially not the way time seems to fly these days - I'm still wondering who stole the middle of April!

So overall I'm actually very pleased with the way this has worked out. I'm going to have to start looking for a job in Midland - I can get to my current Subway job from Mum's place, but it's a very long way to go and currently you only have to be breathing and standing upright in order to get a job in WA, so there's no point working a long way away when I really don't have to.

I'm even wondering whether I might be able to go back to playing in the Perth Hills Concert Band on Tuesday evenings. That would be fantastic, I've missed that band hugely and I'll be able to use Mum's car to get there. I've never got to play my new flute around anyone else - I bought it on a whim in Sydney and I haven't been in a band since before I moved there - and I'd love to get to play it in concert.

As they say, change is the only constant . . . but this time I think it's a change for the better. Onwards and upwards . . .

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