In my area

My housing situation for next year is now quite different than a few days ago.

Earlier this evening, Barry, Pete and I went to look at a flat available at the end of June that Pete heard about through Tasha and co. The address is 44 Jervis Terrace, above Crown Racing—a betting shop—and adjacent to a row of shops that includes, to our delight, an off-licence, a chippy, a green grocer, a butcher, a newsagent, a chemist and a small supermarket.

The house itself is squat and redbrick and stands apart from the rest of the houses, on the corner of Windmill Avenue and Jervis Terrace, about ¾ of a mile from Wessex Road station. Access is via a door and a dingy staircase beside the betting shop. We had a quick look round—the present occupants, three 2nd year students, didn’t seem to mind. There are three bedrooms, the one at the front of the house being by far the biggest; Pete said he wanted it as there would be more room for when Mo stayed over. The other two bedrooms are fairly small, and there’s a kitchen, a through sitting room between that & the hall, a bathroom and not much else.

We came back out into the bright evening sun and immediately felt really enthusiastic about it, Barry especially. The area verges on the suburban, with lots of quiet roads lined with semi-detached houses although the terraced streets, red-roofed vistas and estate panoramas give the area a vaguely seedy and neglected air. We tried to see our whereabouts in relation to everything else by going up in a lift to the fifteenth floor of a tower-block a few hundred yards away, but the view was poor and the door onto the roof was padlocked. 

We phoned up the owner, a Mr. Harrop, and said we were really interested and asked if we could we go round and see him. We agreed on Monday. At this we felt very excited and enthusiastic and went to a nearby pub for a celebratory drink.

We had a Chinese and then met Mo at the Bellemoor near Maynard Park and had a couple more drinks, before going back to the University bursting to tell everyone of our scoop.