Oh dear.

When FNG and MfW left the house and the new guys moved in, I sent an extensive email with lots of helpful information and some other stuff about splitting the bills etc. and specifically our Virgin Media bill and how to pay me.

One guy, immediately replied back.

"It's too much. We should look for better value for money."

I instantly got defensive. I hate when people try and dress stuff up like that. It's not value for money he's looking for. He wants to reduce the bill. However, he doesn't know what we get for the money we pay each month. It's this kind of tightness that winds me up and all for what would probably be a saving of about £4 per month for each person.

We're currently on a friends and family deal that AM arranged for me, so we're doing pretty good under the value for money angle.

The other new guy never said anything about the Virgin Media stuff, so I never bothered doing anything about it. I noticed from my online banking last week that the complaining guy never set up a recurring payment, so I sent him a text. His reply was almost identical to his first complaining email, only this time he dropped the "value for money" angle.

I replied back telling him about AM's deal and how much that same deal would cost a new customer - AM's deal is "saving" us about twenty-five pounds per month. Paying ten pounds less than we currently do would really reduce what we're getting for our money.

"We should strip the package back to the bare bones and then only add things if everyone agrees to it" is his idea.

He then sent another text. He sent a "test payment" to my bank account. A fucking test payment. I've never heard anyone send a test payment before. It seems to me that he's being deliberately obtuse.

Seeing as neither me nor the other guy (though I really need to clarify this with him) have any issues with the monthly payment, I have a feeling that the complaining guy is going to be disappointed, but this needs to be sorted now and I don't think he's going to like the outcome.

Spanner -> Works (Part 3)

Both ladies on the list have passed on the offered room. One girl said it was quite small. I don't know what she's basing that on, while it's the smallest bedroom in the house, it is comparable to a lot of master rooms that I've seen when viewing houses. I'm slightly disappointed... I was hoping to get a girl in to add some balance to the place. Living with MfW, UF and FNG has made me want to see what it's like living with a female. I know we had NSU, but she was always away on business or back in her family home, so doesn't really count.

I'm down to one person, and I've just sent the text. I don't like getting in touch with people this late, but I can't listen to more of MfW's whining. Six day's notice indeed. I'll probably know early tomorrow morning if this guy is willing to take us up on our offer, but I can't see it... it's been too long since he first viewed the place and probably has a place lined up.

I've done my bit... I'll be interested to see what lengths MfW goes to over the next three days to ensure he can leave the place at the weekend.

Decision, decisions.

So, after spending all last week with strangers walking through our house, we need to make a decision regarding who's going to take FNG's place. I was expecting a disaster, to be honest. MfW is a friend (barely) who I've known for ten years but we rarely agree on the little details. I predicted, wrongly in fact, that there would be a massive argument over the new person.

As it turns out, our top two are the same, just in reverse order. MfW's concern over my top choice is valid - shift working patterns, so I've asked her (yes, my top choice is a female) for clarification. Hopefully she will come back and confirm that her shift working will not be invasive i.e. no 3AM finishes.

The other person is an I.T. guy. Having previously lived with two technically-minded people recently (UF and FNG), I just fancy a change of vibe about the place which is why I'm angling for a non-techy female. The I.T. guy seemed really sound though, so having to settle will be disappointing but not a disaster.

Here's hoping that my first choice texts back soon and can offer some assurance that she won't be running around the place at 4AM after doing a late shift.

Pleased to meet you...

This week, MfW and myself have been "interviewing" potential new house mates this week. FNG has simply refused to take any responsibility in the process, even though he's the one leaving us in the lurch. It's been a mixed crowd and there have been some surprises - the twenty two year old secretary seeming much more mature than a late forties pilot, for example. There are an awful lot of time wasters though.

It's been a huge pain in the ass though and I can't wait for it all to be over - that'll be around this time tomorrow night. There have been a few people already who look like good candidates, including the twenty two year old, though given that she's approximately half my age, that's the one negative against her.

Roll on the weekend!

The unexpected.

Today was A Good Day. Nothing spectacular happened - no lottery wins or booty calls from Jessica Alba - but the little things all seemed to fall into place. Things at work started taking shape for the future (it's been a slow year to date, so something that has a more long-term feel to it is welcome). I deposited some money into my savings account today that will halve my credit card bill. The bill itself is not unmanageable in its current state, but with some big goals next year requiring finances, this is simply a small step towards that.

The banking cashier was a cute blonde girl who triggered a feeling of, well, something... and that hasn't happened since I last laid eyes on CB which was 18 months ago, so I engaged in some flirting. Completely unrelated, she managed to find out that I'd miscounted, so I got a "free" £20, and that led to more self-deprecating humour and flirting.

This afternoon, the entire office descended into some kind of lull. I don;'t know what triggered it - perhaps the unexpectedly hot and sunny day (we were due wind and rain), but it was a more relaxed atmosphere than recently and little work was done in favour of meetings and general mucking about.

The only downside is trying to put together an advert to replace FNG as he informed us last night that he's leaving and MfW and myself are completely in the dark about the landlord's intentions. The next few weeks will be unnecessarily stressful.

Oh dear.

For the past week or so, I've been asking MfW or FNG to get in touch with our letting agent. Our contract is due for renewal at the end of this month and I want it sorted ASAP. Part of the problem is that FNG has work commitments that he needs to sort before we can do anything ourselves. Another part of the problem is that MfW is adopting a "fuck 'em" attitude because the letting agent is poor at her job and refuses to answer emails or return phone calls, so MfW is doing the same.

But now FNG is leaving. His work commitments now mean that he is being transferred now-ish rather than next year and we're going to have to find a replacement. I have my doubts about how long he's known this or at least how long he's been trying to get that question answered... we really needed to know this time last week.

Theoretically, we have about three weeks to find a replacement, but MfW is hoping we can wangle an extra month out of the landlord. This is where his "fuck 'em" attitude is dangerous as we're asking favours when he's been immature. Now, we've been good tenants - the only work we've required is because of wear and tear, bills are paid on time, it's only when we deal with the letting agent that MfW is difficult.

The timing is poor though. I have plans for next year that kinda needed sorted by around this time. Extending our lease means that I will be tied into the next lease until the start of October 2015. I might be able to escape a few months early if I am lucky, but it is a risk.

Plus there will be the undoubted headache of having to come to an agreement with MFW about a new flatmate and he will want to revisit the rent allocations. He thinks I'm not paying enough, but doesn't realise that it's because he got the ratios wrong when we last advertised for a new flatmate i.e. NSU. She ended up paying over the odds while both MfW and myself gained a little... but only by about £5 per month.

Elementary.

MfW poked his head in through the door from the kitchen. He's been back less than 24 hours and he's already used up all the bowls and the dishwasher hasn't been emptied by FNG despite him spending all night in the kitchen last night doing who knows what.

Anyway, MfW asks me if I've been putting dirty dishes into the dishwasher. I know what he means - with FNG not pulling his weight, someone's been putting dirty dishes into an un-emptied dishwasher.

I trundle down to investigate and he's shows me. It looks like a bowl with caked-on Weetabix. However, the only person that I know who eats Weetabix and doesn't have the gumption to rinse a bowl (after leaving it for a day) before putting it in the dishwasher is MfW himself.

I look at the bowl and then I look at him.

"I don't eat Weetabix" and I leave it at that.

I shouldn't have to say to two professional males that they need to be more pro-active around the house, but it is getting to that stage. FNG might be OK, but MfW can be problematic.

*yaaaawn*

I finally fell asleep this morning at around 5AM. I do have these occasional insomniac nights. Sometimes there's a reason for it and I have things on my mind and others are inexplicable. Last night was one of those, though it probably wasn't helped by the neighbours watching some action film until after 1AM, then FNG being unable to close doors quietly at 3AM when he went for a piss.

I was due to be taking tomorrow and Friday off work, but as I had a stupendous headache, sore eyes and obviously needed some sleep, I took this afternoon as well. I haven't managed to get any sleep, but I have gone to Tesco and back and am now chilling out. Sleep will elude me until bedtime tonight.

I've also, again somewhat inexplicably, been thinking about CAB for some reason. Dunno why though.

Excuses, excuses.

I was out with MfW last night for a few beers and some World Cup. Unexpectedly, the conversation took a semi-serious turn and we ended up talking about FNG (I see problems arising there in the next month or so) and my love life.

MfW was asking questions. I didn't want to tell him about the whole CB and on/off funk, but I did tell him that I went through moods between being single not bothering me and actually wanting to meet someone seriously. That was, according to MfW, an "excuse". An excuse for what, I don't know because he wasn't able to tell me. That's part of MfW's problem - he often has strong ideas which he is not afraid to vocalise - but often cannot explain why he has the point of view that he does.

With that in mind, I got the subject off my love life and onto other things such as FNG's inability to close a door quietly and the upcoming, expected troubles.

FNG doesn't want to sign a lease for a year when ours is due renewal in August. I do, because I've had plans in progress for the past few years that will all come to a head next summer and a year long lease ties into that quite well. I think MfW wants to sign for a year, so we might be asking FNG to leave. I certainly don't want to be looking for a new housemate in February with the potential that the landlords will get sick of us only signing 6-month leases and demand a 12 month lease at that time which really screws with my own plans.

Oh, and MfW has some cheek complaining about FNG's door closing abilities when his own are probably the poorest in the house.

Hmmm.

When UF lived here, I felt a little ostracised at times. When I first started sharing a house with UF, I made a few attempts to get the guys to socialise, but without any real result. Once MfW moved in though, UF became a lot more social. I don't think that UF liked me very much. As such, he and MfW used to head out to the pub. Rarely would I get an invite and if I did, it was usually at the very last second. Literally as they were leaving the house. Even now that UF has left the house six months, there have been a few times I know that he's gone to the pub with MfW and I wasn't invited.

MfW is a man who's hard to read. I don't socialise with him enough, but that's down to him as he's burned his bridges with people he used to call friends such as GB and GM. So when we head out, I don't include him. He doesn't have the manners to turn up and be polite - he would actually go out of his way to be difficult - so he's drifted away.

I thought with FNG moving in, this could be different. If I'd had the choice, I don't know if I would have approved of FNG moving in. He's fourteen years my junior and while he does have his head screwed on, I think I'm much rather have had someone closer to my own age. I don't know that there are a lot of people out there my age looking to share a house though.

I popped into the kitchen last night after doing some shopping and made general chitchat with FNG and MfW, asking about plans for the weekend etc.  MfW seemed in bad form, so I didn't say an awful lot. I made some dinner and sat down to eat it in the living room. After I'd finished and was sat watching some TV (none of this is different to what I usually do, but I'm usually home and finished by the time anyone else gets in), MfW came in. I heard him muttering to FNG - they'd obviously been planning something - then he asked if I wanted to go with them for a few drinks. They were leaving right then.

I did - I went out and had a decent time. But I couldn't help think that if I hadn't been sitting in the living room that I wouldn't have been invited out. I wasn't involved in their plans and it was yet another last-minute invite out. I almost didn't go because I don't really like last-minute arrangements.

MfW's seeming bad mood was nowhere to be seen and we chatted about lots of things. That continued today where we've been sitting watching telly and chatting again for a good few hours this afternoon. I was meant to be heading out with FP this evening, but he's claiming some kind of illness.

I'd love to head out to the pub. It's likely to be quiet, what with it being Easter weekend, but it's the nicest day of the year so far and just seems like too nice a night to be sitting in. I'm contemplating asking MfW. FNG is away. He may or may not be back.

Oh fucking hell.

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

*SLAM*

FNG has an inability to close doors behind him quietly. It's near 11PM and in the half hour he's been in the house since he came back from the gym, that's all you can hear. He has no concept of time - doors will close automatically behind him (which is near enough slamming as makes no difference) and this place has no carpet in it and the walls are paper thin, so everything shakes.

I'm going to have to tell him to pay more attention when he's around the apartment.

He's a heavy footed fucker too, so I can look forward to him clumping around, doing about ten laps of the house just to make a cup of tea.

Good riddance and welcome.

NSU has moved out of the house. She first announced it about five weeks ago and then promptly disappeared. This week has been stressful as we were told that there was a replacement that MfW and I only met for less than five minutes. The decision had been taken out of our hands - NSU had made the decision by herself without consulting us. The landlord knew, but didn't seem to care. The letting agent was just typical of estate agents in general - useless, lacking in courtesy and uncommunicative.

Through no fault of our own, MfW and I could have been really screwed, but we managed to get a proper chance to talk to the new guy before he moved in (though we still couldn't have stopped anything) and he seems to be a decent sort.

So, good riddance NSU and welcome to FNG.

Only time will tell though.