London's Homeless Rate Drops

After looking at what feels like a million spaces - really only a few but taking the 1- to 4-hour-long train from Colchester to London will warp anyone's perspective - I have finally found a home. It's in Clapham, which was my number one neighborhood choice. I will be living with two guys and a girl. One guy, Colin, is an Aussie and is still traveling so I haven't met him yet. The girl, Jody, is from New Zealand, and the other guy, Steve, is from, where else, Colchester, England. They seem pretty nice, and though the room is modest-sized, the house is really roomy, with a utility room, two bathrooms (thank god), a large kitchen, and a nice backyard with a barbecue grill purchased by a previous tenant from San Antonio. Even better, it's dirt-cheap - a mere £320 a month (about $480?). I'll be moving in on Saturday. (Clapham is on the Northern line, about two stops up from where I was living before in Tooting, and has a nice park, and lots of restaurants and shops.)

It's been great staying with Gemma and having girly nights in, but it will be nice to be able to unpack and not have to spend most of my day on the train. 

In other news, this weekend was pretty busy. Friday Gemma and I went to Aqua Springs, a very cool indoor spa/baths place with jacuzzis and saunas. Saturday I looked at flats and met up with my friend Tony's new gal pal, who is American. Sunday I came back into the city, had lunch with Aunt Susan at a very posh restaurant near Charing Cross, then went for drinks in Battersea to celebrate my friend Lucy's birthday. Took me four hours to get back home (thanks, engineering works!), but the silver lining is that it will be a long, long time before I have to make that journey again. 

I'll leave you with a clip from my new favorite obsession: Celebrity Big Brother. Here's Verne Troyer singing "Endless Love" with Ulrika Jonsson. How can you resist the Lionel Richie costume? http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/news/newsstory.jsp?id=606&position=8