keep walking

I’ve been looking for a new place to live. My geographical range is from the Inner-West of Sydney to the Parramatta region. I work just east of Parramatta at the moment in a suburb called Silverwater. I contemplated moving out there in a hope to pay reduced rent for better digs. Unfortunately the murder of two women traffiked in from China living (and dying) in an apartment complex I was looking at has somewhat stifled that idea. I don’t really want to live somwhere that has tenants that do not notice two people have had their throats brutally slit in the room next door. Other people had warned me about the violence of the area. Plus there didn’t seem to be too many coffee shops about the place.

So I’ve been looking around the Inner West more. It is kind of fun driving around looking at places. I seem to have conversations with people that extend on to two or three properties as there is normally a substantial cohort of punters (any number from 8 to 20) all looking for places in the same area for the same money. Plus some of the places are fun, too. The funnest by far has been a single bedroom place in Leichhardt in the middle of Norton Street that has the bathroom outside and down some stairs; not just an ‘outhouse’, because the shower is there, too. The place is absolutely tiny, I couldn’t fit all my books and magazines in there. Plus it is at the rear of a building and the side accessway has so little width that I literally have to turn my shoulders sideways at some points. Luckily, I have very little furniture anymore so if I go for that place I’ll be able to stock up on Ikea flat-packed.

I am attracted to the idea of renting a place like this purely for the absurdity and adventure involved. Everytime someone came to visit they would be like “What the fuck?” It is better than renting some tired looking place with no character that has an ambience akin to a broken ghost house funpark ride built on a forgotten buriel ground and would make a psychic commit suicide just by browsing the entry for the property online. Most places are complete shite. Indeed, one place in Newtown would’ve have been wicked for the set of a horror movie involving drug-addict university dropouts as I reckon that is the only sort of tenants the vendor is going to find.

It is always the same situation when looking for a place. There is roughly a two week window and you need to find the best place possible in those two weeks. Out of the 8 properties I looked at today, I have one absurd and one sensible place (in Camperdown) to apply for. I have only next weekend to find a place, as I need to move out the following weekend. I think I may have to go for the absurd place just to affirm something different.