I knew it was going to hurt my wallet when we moved. My godmother and her family have been incredibly generous letting me live in her Knightsbridge flat for the last year. It’s enabled me to get settled in London without having all the hassle, not to mention the expense of finding somewhere to live. However, I never planned to be in her place for more than a year, so before Christmas my girlfriend and I started looking at flats to rent in the Shepherd’s Bush area of West London.
I had a viewing of a small but cozy flat in the area back in November. Because the rental market was moving very slowly at the time I decided to put in an offer to rent the place. It’s in an ideal location for us because I will be able to walk to work at Television Centre in about 15 minutes and Lizi will be able to get a direct bus to work without having to change buses or use the tube.
Anyway, we have now moved in, which wasn’t a lot of fun due to the three flights of stairs all our stuff had to be carried up. The main thing that’s hit both of us is the cost of renting on the open market in London. To say that my godmother was giving us ‘mates rates’ is a severe understatement. Not only were we paying very little rent, but we also didn’t have to worry about council tax, electricity or gas bills, the TV licence or broadband. We are now paying just over £1000 a month in rent alone, as well as two-three hundred for the aforementioned extra essentials. I’m not really complaining because we could have been paying that for the last year as well as now, just stating that it has come as a bit of a shock to our bank balances.
Since I last wrote I have been on a BBC familiarisation visit to Manchester. We went to see around the MediaCityUK site where 5 Live will be broadcast from later this year, as well as some areas of greater Manchester, which the estate agents thought we might want to live. Having seen where I’m going to be living and working in less than a year’s time has made it all the more real and exciting. Even from the brief time I was up there I got a real sense that the city has a community vibe, unlike much of London. I’ve written in Living Orkney before about how much I miss this side of Orkney life so I found it very encouraging to find how friendly and chatty people seem to be in and around Manchester.
On a different note, I wanted to briefly make a point about student tuition fees. While it will be of major concern to many young folk that in the years to come they will begin their working lives with a substantial amount of debt, I wouldn’t like to see them put off going to university. I’m still convinced that the benefits of an appropriate course can be very substantial. Many university courses, mine included did not have a timetable of work to cover 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Far from it, in fact, we had a total of around two or three days a week ‘off’ which I used to get involved in other projects like the student radio station and being a student ambassador.
I think this is one of the critical issues here; If you plan to go to university just to do the minimum in order to pass, and spend the remainder of your time in less than constructive ways then you may well graduate with a lot of debt and not much to show for it. On the other hand, if you are prepared to use some initiative and apply yourself to a variety of other projects that will either widen your skills and experience, or help to finance yourself then you’ll have had a much more valuable experience. You will probably meet more people as a result, and make yourself more employable whilst making more friends and ultimately having a much more enjoyable time.
So, if the tuition fees are raised, I hope it will mean that our universities are full of folk who are determined to make the most of the experience rather than seeing it as a way of putting off having to get a job.
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