Southampton Water (from the sky)!

Well my adventure down in Southampton has begun. A quick flight from Manchester (only 35 minutes in the air) and you are there for a measly £25 if you book ahead. Only slight hiccup was when I though they lost my suitcase, but thankfully they had just left it on the tarmac on its lonesome. The airport is a bit small compared to what I'm used to so it was a bit unnerving to watch the baggage guys unload their truck one by one until all were collected and mine still wasnt there. Despite their dubious baggage handling skills, it's much nicer not to have to battle through miles of corridors and millions of people to get anywhere.

This is the view from my £15 a night Travelodge window. Very grey today and very wet. I spent Friday afternoon and Saturday morning trudging the streets to find an apartment ASAP. Not knowing anyone down here, or the areas very well this is a fairly daunting task requiring a certain amount of perseverance and a lot of luck.

So initially I checked out all the apartments I could that were in my preferred price range and budget, and soon realised that I needed to reassess the aforementioned budget rather rapidly. As with most things in life you really do get what you pay for. I have no idea why I thought this would be any different in the Southampton property market. I have discovered that the crafty student of Soton come find their accommodation in January that they want to move into in September! Rather more advanced planning and forethought than any student I ever met. Anyway the upshot of that is that estate agents are crammed with scruffy students trying to get a 10 bedroom 1 bathroom house for £20 a week.

To cut a long and boring story short, the only property (out of ten that I saw) that was worth considering living in was the one I put a deposit down on this afternoon. The two big hopefuls I had reserved to see last were snapped up before I even got to see them. The property I liked was close to town, not far from university, and lots of nice little shops, bars and restaurants. It seems too good to be true which makes me nervous, but screwing my courage to its sticking place I marched to the estate agents with my deposit before anyone beat me to it. I will find out on Monday, but all being well I should have the keys next Saturday. The flat is in the picture below and I will be on the top floor on the right hand side. Its 1 bed, furnished with sofas and a bed and wardrobe, washing machine and fridge, so pretty much all I need to start with.




This is the street round the corner with one of my nearest pubs. There are lots of places that look nice to eat, so I will have plenty of options and will not starve or go thirsty.

Apart from the very wet start to my Southampton adventure (my jeans and shoes are currently drying on the radiator) it seems like everything will start out OK and carry on the same. I can now look forward to my first day at work and all the new challenges and exciting opportunities that will present. More updates on that soon... TTFN.