WELCOME TO BALHAM

Before making the big move, looking for a house, was actually one of the things that didn’t worry me so much. Everyone kept telling me that there are so many properties available and that you can move in so quickly, that I wouldn’t have a problem finding somewhere and in the end, this was in fact true, however there was a crappy bit in the middle when it didn’t feel quite so much like it!

It was always the plan, that Mum would come and visit the first weekend I was in London, to help me ‘location scout’ and potentially even have some viewings. However before I’d even left Harrogate, I’d booked a viewing and once that had happened, it kind of got the ball rolling.
I went along to that viewing on the Tuesday (as in day 3 in London!) and it was fine but nothing overwhelming and so I went home and messaged lots more people on Spareroom.com, which believe me, is a bit of a soul crushing experience as you try to desperately not sound like a weirdo as you mention potential flat mate and potential flat mate. I then booked a couple more viewing for the Wednesday, however had a mini ‘what have I done moving my whole life to London’ wobble on the way to the first one and so ending up bailing on that (it was very much my least favourite anyway) and headed to Balhamm for one which I thought could be quite promising. I ended up leaving the viewing in much better spirits, waiting to see if I was the lucky ‘chosen one’ and deciding to hang fire on any more until after the weekend, when I’d seen mum.

So Saturday came and we spent a lovely day wandering the streets (in a non wired way!) of Balham, Wandsworth and Earslfield before deciding that Balham was definitely the place for me. One thing that really helped seal the deal, was having brunch in a cute little cafe called Lavish Habit, which was the cafe I had spotted when I travelled through Balahm that last time I was in London and made me think it would be a nice place to live and it was! And as fate would have it, no sooner had I said goodbye to mum but my viewing from Wednesday got in touch and offered me the room. To say I was excited and relived was an understatement and I even had a celebratory truffle to mark the occasion!

Fast forward seven days and the whole Warburton clan (minus Jess!) have packed up my life and turned up in London.

What started off like this,