In the morning I made it out to Body Pump class, something I haven't done in far too long. It felt to be good to be back at the gym and exercising, and I realise I need to do that more. I got back home in time that my boss caught me online at noon (very early for him!) and we chatted for a bit before he was off to the airport for a conference for a few days.
Given that I spoke to my boss early, I then became quite delayed in my original goal of going into the office, and only set out at 4 PM, making it there just in time to make a few printouts and head out again to the club!
I was there for a Younger Member's Committee Meeting, so we could sort out what we needed to do for the next few months and think about ideas for next year. It was also a good chance for me to speak with Claire about our plans for the upcoming Magdalene dinner, which finally after so many months is just over two weeks away!
Whilst looking for the room where everyone was meeting, I stopped by the bar to see who might be there, and ran into Cornelia and Andre, who will both be at the Magdalene dinner, so it was a nice chance to say hello to them and chat a little bit about the dinner (and tell Cornelia I would be delighted to attend her Christmas dinner on December 11th). Yet it was good to have the committee meeting to escape off to, so I didn't feel like I was interrupting their drinks with Andre's parents.
It was a good meeting, as we decided on a Chinese New Year-themed dinner for our Inter-Club event in February, and I found myself volunteering to organise a within-club Moveable Feast in June, now that I've got so much experience planning dinners after my experience with the Magdalene dinner! I also managed to get given access to the club Facebook group, I think a wise idea given how much time I spend every day on Facebook!
I wish I could have stayed at the club for the evening (oh what a wonderfully relaxing place it is!) but sadly I had to be cast back out into the world, to go meet with my new potential landlord. Sam, one of the chaps from the meeting, walked me to the Tube even though he didn't actually have to take the Tube himself, which was incredibly gentlemanly of him. Although of course at the club, I think I get far too used to having wonderful gentlemen all around me...
I wasn't looking forward to this meeting with my potential landlord, as he'd been e-mailing me with an excessive list of demands, and it turns out the room didn't even have a double-bed and he wanted some crazy £200 "cash holding deposit" that I thought was absolutely nuts. So I wanted to walk out on the whole thing, but I figured it was such a good place, that I should try to get the landlord to come around to a compromise that would work for me.
So I used some classic sales technique... Get them excited about how great you are, and they're totally sold on you, and then get them to agree to the thing you want, as by this point they're so desperate to have you.
Hence I went in there with tons of copies of papers showing my bank references, my employment references, and was super-prepared with info that he might need. Obviously, I was a super-organized and prepared tenant.
Then I said, "So are you going to buy the bed for me, or do you want to give me a budget and I'll handle the logistics?"
So, he's buying the bed for me. And I even mentioned I wanted one with space underneath... No divans for me! Let's just hope he remembers that...
After he left, Tessa (the woman I'll be living with), said she was impressed at how I handled it, that I got the bed as I wanted. She said, "He's a man of his word, so I have no doubt that you'll be getting a bed now. Although I'm sort of surprised you got him to agree to that."
Also, I didn't hand over any money either, I said he needed to have the full tenancy agreement written out and signed. He also agreed to that. 1-year lease with a 6-month break clause.
So, those were sort of my two main points, I figure I could live with the rest of it. So, he said he still needs to call my current landlord (Emily) and check up on my work references (I gave an HR contact), but assuming those all check out (why wouldn't they?), then it's a go. I've got a place to live.
He was TOTALLY weird about how to take payments however, pointing out that once we signed the agreement, even if I handed over a cheque, it would take 3 days to clear...and same with paying online. But I was like, "How on earth else do you propose to handle it? Cheques clear! I've got the funds! You've just got to CHILL OUT, dude!"
{Sigh!} I suppose at the end of the day I need to keep in mind that I don't have to live with this guy, I just have to deal with him. And I will admit after he left, I stayed chatting with Tessa for a bit, and she seemed as nice as ever and we got along brilliantly. So I can only hope that's a good sign for the time ahead.
Finally though, since I was starving (hadn't had dinner!) I begged off to head home and get some food into me, with plans to come back on Monday and sign all of the final paperwork (and hand over a huge deposit, eeek!)
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