I am only just starting this post and already it feels very familiar. A return to the blog after a fair bit of silence on this page to talk about changes and admitting defeat in my bid to upload weekly music posts etc etc. Ah, life.
It has been a mad couple of months and not in the exciting ‘Oh I’ve been up to so much!’ way. No, much more along the lines of ‘Oh life is soooo draining right now’. Cor, don’t I sound like a ray of sunshine? In all seriousness, a lot has happened recently and it is only now that I have managed to sit down and reflect on it all.
As you can probably guess from the title there have been/are about to be a lot of changes in my life. So far we know that earlier this year I switched jobs to a little chocolate shop in Winchester, and as such was planning on relocating to make the trip to work that little bit easier. However something just wasn’t quite working for me.
Anyone who lives in the Hampshire area will probably know that house prices in Winchester are pretty steep – there was no way I was going to be able to afford my own place. So I went to spareroom.co.uk, on the hunt for a suitable house share, but in all honesty, I was not having much luck. I didn’t know the area well enough to feel comfortable with the location of the decent places and to be honest, they were still pretty pricey. I then entertained the idea of ‘buddying up’ with other users on the app to find a two bed flat, but timing was a little bit of an issue what with my 12 month contract in my own flat, void of a break clause of any kind. So I decided to wait a little while longer before moving to lil old Winch.
However, in this time I realised something. I didn’t want to move away from Southampton. Don’t get me wrong, the city isn’t perfect and I could think of way better places to be, but what it really comes down to is the community in the area, the person I have become since moving here and the friends I have made. Moving to Winchester just seemed like distancing myself from something I have spent the last seven (!!) years building and growing in.
Naturally, I have decided to stay in Southampton. Now this city is really not much cheaper than Winchester, so I stuck with the hunt for a house share, but having had a bad experience a few years back, I was definitely taking care to find the right place. Still, me being me, I didn’t really think about it too much at all; the whole thing was very blasé.
There I was just casually viewing places to see what was out there and bam, an email comes through from my landlord offering a new 12 month contract in the flat. Panic. I could no longer afford this flat and there was absolutely no way that I was going to get tied into another year long contract. Of course, the sensible thing would have been to negotiate a rolling monthly contract with them, but what did I do in my sheer panic? Oh, I straight up told them I was looking to leave the tenancy, to which they replied, ‘okay no problem, we will end your tenancy on 14th September’. It was 30th August. I hadn’t secured a new place. Smooth, Sam, very smooth.
Luckily, I had already viewed a nice property. It was with a live-in landlord which normally gives me the heebie jeebies, but this particular house included two other housemates, all around my age with a definite sense of community. Other places I had seen were pretty much old student houses, one of them done up at least, but still with a strong feeling of everyone shutting themselves away in their rooms, only bumping into each other in the very small kitchen. It all seemed way too much like my old house share which was never considered a home.
I immediately got in touch with the live-in landlord and asked for a second viewing and pretty much straight away paid the deposit for the room. Everything seemed all good until the small matter of a mix up with the move in date. This little change resulted in me having to rent out a storage unit and stay with Lucy and Chris (absolute superstars, thank you guys) for a few nights before being able to move in… but we’ll gloss over that because yes it was stressful, but you know what, only for a minute. As quickly as it came up as an issue, it had all been sorted out. I might be a bit haphazard with my organisation but I always get there in the end.
So, yes, I am in a new house and although I do miss my own little flat ever so slightly, I absolutely love this new place. I’m glad that I tried living on my own but I was missing that extra bit of human interaction. My first night in the house was spent watching Bake Off with all the housemates, one of whom whipped up some homemade cookies! I mean what a cracking start right? I know, I know, simple pleasures.
Now, remaining in Southampton was an easy decision, but ultimately lead me to realise that seeing as I didn’t want to commute to work, I was going to have to rethink the whole job thing. My initial plan was to remain in this job until the new year, but as it turns out I was only doing this out of guilt of leaving the company in the run up to Christmas. It was time to serve myself and so I applied for some jobs in Southampton. Initially I was unsure if I wanted a 9 to 5 office job or remain in retail and well, long story short – I have accepted a job at John Lewis. The only slight issue is that it’s a temporary role, so come the new year I may have to look for something new but equally, there is the opportunity to apply for permanent positions. Seeing as my whole career at Lush started from a temp role, I’m feeling hopeful. Keeping positive and all that.
While I am sad to be leaving the small indie business, part of me is a little glad. See, what I learnt while working there was that I really don’t like hospitality all that much and this was very much key to the job. Still, I gave it a go, learnt what I like and probably more importantly what I don’t like.
Kinda funny really that I started this year as a trainee manager with a company very dear to my heart, to now embark on a new venture as a temporary sales assistant. Though they are matching my old wage the hours are significantly lower so overall I will see a drop in pay even without my commute, but I’m actually pretty happy about it. Now that I’m in a house share, spending less money on where I sleep at night, I can afford to lose a little money and gain a little more time. I am so excited to reclaim all those hours spent worrying too much about things that don’t matter.
Right, this has been a long old ramble so I think I best leave it here, just wanted to pop by and show that I’m still alive and say a massive thanks to everyone who has helped me or even just said anything kind to me in the last few months, you are all superstars and every little thing means the world to me. LOVE YA.
x
SAMANTHA MAE 