It’s coming to a close, my life in Ottawa that is. In less than a week I’ll be in my new “home”; London, Ontario. What I thought would be an easy time, ie: only taking 12 hours turned into a two day affair. The short story is I found a great place which I’ll post pictures up once I’m in.
The long of it…. If I can give anyone entering the same situation as me; get pictures of the places beforehand! I mean lots of them. The 4 little ones that Kijiji has isn’t enough because the landlords sell their features. Also, get the full address (sometimes you just get the postal code) so you can look at the places beside them. The more information the better!
I saw many dumps… I wish I could give the houses/apartments/condos the benefit of the doubt but man there were some sketchy places! It started with the smallest house I’ve ever seen; it was a bachelor house! The oven was so small you’d have to food a 12” pizza in half to bake it!
Next was the crack district location. Buddy was “fixing” up places when he wasn’t tuning bikes. His choice for re-modeling? A pizza/convience store. The light up sign out front had been ripped off but all the bulbs were still there… Along with the electricals. Cap it off; there was a rock thrown through one of the windows the night before. Where can I put my stuff?!
It felt like it just kept getting worse and worse. After checking out one place the landlord wanted to show me another. As I was getting in my car I heard someone scream, “Don’t live here. They don’t clean anything. These places suck!” It was coming from the apartment building where I had just been! Man, just wake me up…
I finally came to a place I liked. it had hardwood and was in a safe part of town. Problem was the landlord wasn’t too keen on having a dog. Back to the drawing board…
The last two places I checked out were not too bad. The first was quite large which I would of shared the entire house with the landlord. it had a good size backyard and opened onto a large field. He, the landlord, had put in all new appliances. Rent was steep however… Getting a 2 bedroom place for less than $800 was definitely a challenge!
The last house before I called it a night was in the best part of town; the West end. I pulled up and the girl living above let me go look at the downstairs. She warned me that the people had fled a couple days ago after a party… it showed. Garbage, beer bottles and the best; flies were everywhere! This place after it would have been cleaned probably would of been the best of the day. Just to give you an idea of what I saw through my travels!
So instead of making the drive back to Ottawa in triumph I stayed the night in London in dispay. Trying to ready myself for another day of battle. Amanda and I scoured the internet for places. She found two locations which were in the area I liked so I wrote them and said a little prayer!
I got up early the next day and decided to start the day with a run. I checked out the city and also; looked for more places. When I got back to the motel my luck was about to change.
The next place had everything I wanted and more! It was a 10 acre lot with a drive way that extended off the road (so Figs won’t get hit by a car). My place was separate from the owner; think a beach house but built into the garage. I get my own car port plus tonnes of storage in their barn. The rooms in my place were nicely finished. Amandas favorite part: wood stove for heating! Supplied with free wood! Rent also knocked down $50 because the lady I met had a good feeling about me!
Yes it took an extra day but I really lucked out. The renters are some of the friendliest people from “the South” that I’ve ever met (TO peeps typically give bad vibes).
This weekend, its all about packing. Which I should be doing right now… Arrgh.
Happy (Moving) Trainin!
Cliff
