UK house hunting is like searching for a needle in a haystack

Its Sunday, almost 3 weeks since I embarked on a search for a room. I thought it would be a breezy experience, partly from seeing the countless ads that are posted each day on gumtree and several other internet sites such as loot and easyroommate. The previous three weeks however have been anything but a walk in the park.

I have never travelled so many tube miles, darting from one part of London to the other, as far as Wood Green, Turnpike Lane and Seven Sisters in the north, East Ham and Stratford in the East, Blackheath and Greenwich Charlton in the South and Chiswick in the West. Its a pity London's transport does not have frequent traveller bonus miles schemes like many airlines, otherwise I wouldn't have had to pay a penny for public transport for the next couple of months.

Room hunting, is pretty much like job hunting. Surprise, surprise. For an African like me, its been a huge surprise and an awakening of sorts. First, because in my country, there is no such as thing as renting a room. The norm is to rent a whole house, and there are hundreds, depending on your pocket size ofcourse. Its strangely weird at times that the price I pay for a room here in London - 90 per week- would be enough for me to rent a lovely and modern 2-3 bedroom bungalow, complete with garage and walled garden back home in Africa. I am beginning to realise why many white expatriates, especially NGO workers and diplomats, end up staying on long after the expiry of their contracts.

In Africa, everything is cheap - sadly even life, but that is a story for another day. Today's entry is all about room hunting. I have already lost count of the number of houses I have visited in the last three weeks. They must be more than 20! Seriously. My most memorable one was in the New Cross area, about 10 minutes walk to Goldsmith. It was a lovely Victorian house, shared by four guys from different sides of the planet. The room available itself was gorgeous, and had a huge bay window that overlooked the front garden. It also had laminate flooring, two seater sofa, an open wardrobe, a desk and chair. The icing was the availability of broadband internet. I could see myself sleeping in that room, looking out the window and generally trying not to feel too homesick. But all that went out the window, soon as I ascended the steps to the bathroom and toilet. Both the toilet and washbasin with a modern power shower, were caked in grime to rival the outdoors. One could be forgiven for thinking it was a second layer of paint. The kitchen was in similar mode, and only big enough for one person to cook a time. I did wonder for a moment how five people could use such a tiny kitchen, and then realised that they were all MALE! What use could they possibly have for the kitchen, when there was Mac-D, KFC and Pizza HUt, only 5 minutes walk away. The back garden which could be accessed through the kitchen was overgrown with weeds and shrubs, which had grown so dense that they hid the beautiful flower pots that had been placed at the sides of the garden. My heart went out to the poor landlord who had obviously put so much in to trying to make the house a modern and welcoming place. It was then I realised why so many gumtree ads carry a standard "no DSS, no STUDENTS!!!

More to come later.