Cozy appartment. Sleeps 1/2.

House hunting is a fickle beast. The emotions one experiences, looking at place to place are enough to drive any man, woman or beast to drink. Let alone me.

We started our search by internet and found that to be a complete waste of time. All the services were charging. I didn't find their services all that useful anyway. As we came out of the Bunac internet office, two girls who have been here a while, said it was murder trying to find any places to stay and wished us a sarcastic 'good luck!'

Confidence was not high, but Ian and I are made of tough stuff. We told them they could keep their negative vibes to themselves as we decided to march on foot to an area we wanted to live in. We walked block by block looking out for for rent signs. We were prepared to do it the hard way.

The first we found looked horrid. We decided to look around the back in case we were missing a secret treat. However, the only secret treats around their were left by the local wildlife.

Stoically, we moved on and found a much nicer looking place. I rang the number on the board and asked the landlady for a viewing. Her English (or lack of it. She was Hungarian) and my accent made negociations difficult. The hallway looked like the inside of a brothel and the landlady kept hitting me for some strange reason. It was a nice flat and a very good price too. Problem was we couldn't move in until 1st November. The mad landlady also lived in the building which made we worry. Not because we will have wild parties. More because by the state of her bloodshot eyes, it looked as if she did.

Plan B. Get the Saturday listings and go through the paper to find places. The first was in the right area and sounded great. Again a good price. I called what sounded like an elderly gentleman. He had me convinced that this was a fantastic deal and that we should get over their as soon as possible. Ian and I bolted over their as fast as we could to meet this guy. We tried to contain our excitement, but it was hard.

We got there. We were waiting looking smart. Ian even had his glasses on to look more professional and less like the hooligan he is.

We know we were in trouble when we saw the gentleman had no teeth and a limp. We had been warned about 'Limpy" aka Paul. He had shown some friends of ours around the previous day in another flat. According to them, this boy old boy was quite mad and his places all smell of urine.

Being charitable, and a great lover of the elderly, we decided to give limpy a chance. Sadly he took us straight into the very same flat we had looked at upon in didgust the previous day. It was a flea pit and the faint odour of urine was also present.

Limpy took us to his office and showed proudly, his collection of complete crap which he gets out of other peoples trash. I spotted A picture of Ullswater in the Lake district. I mentioned that this was in England, out of desperation to manufacture some sort of conversation. Poor Ian was numb with dissapointment. With upmost sincerity, he said that I could have the picture of Ullswater he picked out of the rubbish tip for myself if I took the appartment. Nice !

However, even with incentives as strong as other peoples crap, Ian and I phoned him an hour later and politely thanked him but we were not going to take up the lease.

Clearly demoralised, Ian and I sat on a park bench as Ian sifted through more adverts and I called them, desperate for a new lead. I got answer phones on every one.

We had given up for the day and decided to go around Stanley park on hired bikes with a few new friends. I got a call on my mobile. It was one of the landlords we had called earlier responding to my message. We hunted for the advert about the property. It said cosy 1/2 bed basement appartment. Hopes were suitably subduded as this would mean that it would be tiny. Some other friend had been in a simular basement apartment, like the one we were about to visit. They said that the ceiling was no taller than 6ft at any point. I went along to see this place for myself today and they were wrong, the max is 5ft 11in.

We arrived at the house and it looked very nice. A lovely spot really ner the beach and great bus routes into the city. We met Barbara, the land lady and she seemed very nice. She took us around the flat and we were pleasently surprised. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. It had been planned out very well to save on space and provide a roomier feel. The bedrooms were the biggest we had seen. We even get a garden with a sheltered patio. It was also the cheapest so far!!!

Both Ian and I were hooked on it. We applied immidiately and tried to convince her that although we as yet had no job, that we would be the greatest tennants she had ever known. I thought we would hear late next week, so we were going to keep looking. However, the old Bully charm must have worked, because she rang within the hour and offered us the place. We met in Starbucks (where else) that night and signed the contracts.

One problem is that we can't move in until 1st November. Everyone else is in the same boat, and I really believe this flat is worth it. A few little Ian and Andy touches and this will be a bachelor pad to rival all others.

Flat sorted, I now need to get a job to pay for it. It's thanks giving weekend so I have had today off. People are back to work tomorrow, and so will I. I have named it "FIND A JOB TUESDAY"

Wish me luck xx