hunt for flat/flatmate(s)...

hmm... found a letter in my wee white mailbox yesterday evening when i finally made my way back from the dept at about 10pm. it was a letter from the landlord/lady and parts of it read: "... we regret to inform you that from mid Sept. the rent for the loft flat will be increased to... " some amount i am quite unwilling to pay for a wee place... even though it is a really lovely setting and all, but it is really small. imagine a room that is large enough to fit a medium-sized car, with a small wee cubicle at the left corner of the room that has a shower and toilet and sink, a portion of this wall has been converted into the 'kitchen-area' with a 2 hob stove with a fridge below it and along it, a kitchen sink and a pull-out work-bench are fitted next to each other with some drawers and a washing machine below them. the remaining part of this wall has a built-in cupboard in which i hang my clothes etc.. the bed is fitted to the end of the room just fitting the width of the room between the stone wall and the cubicle toilet opposite to the stone wall (i think i might be confusing you all here!). in it includes a small wooden square table where i eat and work, a wooden shelf and 2 wooden chairs, a comfy ikea seat on which i pile my jumpers, and the storage bench i bought last winter as well as a small bedside table-shelf. it takes me about 6-7 steps from the bed to the french window-doors and about 3 steps from the stoned wall to the kitchen-area. while i have a lovely view out into the owner's garden, one can at times feel quite trapped looking out from the sky-light window.... it was what i managed to find before returning to Edinburgh last Fall. and i have been quite happy on my own, although i feel quite lonely at times, and i wish it weren't always such a squeeze when friends come to visit. oooh dilemma.

so begins my search for another place.... it takes so much effort -- telling potential flat-sharers/owners who you are/what you do/what you're like (oh boy...)/etc... , and most people i know or would like to live with have already found themselves a place to stay (we have different contracts/lease-durations) or are working so council taxes apply... and what if.. what if i end up living with someone and we don't get along?!? or, if i can't stay on this side of the city and enjoy the daily cycle rides to and from uni? or if the room i end up renting doesn't have a nice view? .... mope.... i don't want to be a nomad all my life! ... how i wish i could afford to purchase a property/ or be eligible for taking up a mortgage with a guarantor (who needs to be British and preferrably your parent).... it makes little sense spending all that amount on rent each month when it could be used to pay the mortgage instead!