After a Skype chat with Jacqu and Jay I’ve decided to do a blog about our life as a married couple in a hostel. It’s not really your conventional living arrangement but it’s not permanent so we are making the most of it. We spend a lot of time in the common area in the basement, which consists of a number of dining tables, chairs and a TV. This is where most of the socializing and the infamous DC parties take place. I think this is one reason I haven’t been too home sick. There are always people around to chat to when you get home. Some of the people who live here long term like ourselves, have become our good friends. It is referred to as our DC family and we sometimes to daggy things like family dinners. We don’t have favourites, but Mel is our favourite, and we often have dinner, picnics or short trips away with her. On nice days the family often heads to Meredith’s M-tree for a few drinks, a kick of the footy or an impromptu picnic.
There is also a 2nd floor balcony with a few chairs and tables on it that is nice in the warmer parts of the year. There is a kitchen attached to the common room that Damien and I have a habit of taking over to cook our dinner. We have found that the food we cook is often better than what you can buy at restaurants as well as being much cheaper. The only issue here, besides other people not cleaning up after themselves, is there is very little fridge space so we can’t really cook in large quantities as was my habit back home.
From the common room there is a hike of 72 steps up to our room. This is what makes these living arrangements possible, we have somewhere to escape to when we need some time alone. It’s not a big room and we do tend to fill it up very quickly with all our stuff but it is our space. It has the usual stuff, a bed, wardrobe and chest of draws but also a sink which is very handy considering the bathrooms are shared. We have bits and pieces that make it feel less like a hotel room and more like home, such as the Christmas decorations my mum made and Damien’s Saints posters. Recently I bought a window box for my herbs, I really miss the garden at home. I’ve had to improvise with a coat hanger to make sure the window box is secure as we are on the fourth floor so I really don’t want it to fall and kill anyone.
The bathrooms consist of four individual shower rooms and five toilets over the five levels. These all look pretty dodgy but are ‘cleaned’ regularly. There are always two girls who are employed here to do all the cleaning and manage the bookings. They are very nice but don’t clean things as toughly as I would and Damien gets annoyed when I do stuff because I don’t get paid for it. The grot drives me nuts and my need to get rid of it drives Damien nuts. One of the nice things about staying here is the girls change our sheets and towels once a week. I always get excited about clean sheets day!
I also get excited on Sunday because this is pancake day. Every other day of the week we could have bacon and eggs for breakfast but generally speaking I leave for work before 7:30am and breakfast starts at 7:45am. Saturdays are also pretty good as this is the one day I can take advantage of free bacon and eggs.
In our spare time we try to do some of the touristy and cultural things around London. We have done a few guided tours around the Tate Modern, done a couple of walking tours and been to a number of live performances. There is always things to do! There are also lots of good markets which usually have amazing food and lovely parks to explore.
The facilities we miss most about home are internet and the laundry. We take our washing to the laundry mat down the road once a week. Because there are no washing lines we have to put everything through the tumble drier, something I wouldn’t use at home. This is especially necessary in winter when it takes days for things to dry because it’s so cold. As for internet, we get free internet at the library, Starbucks and McDonalds if we’re desperate. Sometimes we can piggy back off the neighbors but this is never very fast. We should really stop being such tight asses and get an internet dongle but everything we save is being allocated for various trips.
An added bonus, and one thing that keeps us at Dean Court, is that when we go on a trip, we can clear out our room so someone else can use it. This means we are not paying rent whilst we are traveling. We could get a studio apartment or something for around the same price we are paying, but then we would have to pay a bond as well as rent whether we are there or not. This keeps our life flexible as we can up and go whenever we like.
There is also a 2nd floor balcony with a few chairs and tables on it that is nice in the warmer parts of the year. There is a kitchen attached to the common room that Damien and I have a habit of taking over to cook our dinner. We have found that the food we cook is often better than what you can buy at restaurants as well as being much cheaper. The only issue here, besides other people not cleaning up after themselves, is there is very little fridge space so we can’t really cook in large quantities as was my habit back home.
From the common room there is a hike of 72 steps up to our room. This is what makes these living arrangements possible, we have somewhere to escape to when we need some time alone. It’s not a big room and we do tend to fill it up very quickly with all our stuff but it is our space. It has the usual stuff, a bed, wardrobe and chest of draws but also a sink which is very handy considering the bathrooms are shared. We have bits and pieces that make it feel less like a hotel room and more like home, such as the Christmas decorations my mum made and Damien’s Saints posters. Recently I bought a window box for my herbs, I really miss the garden at home. I’ve had to improvise with a coat hanger to make sure the window box is secure as we are on the fourth floor so I really don’t want it to fall and kill anyone.The bathrooms consist of four individual shower rooms and five toilets over the five levels. These all look pretty dodgy but are ‘cleaned’ regularly. There are always two girls who are employed here to do all the cleaning and manage the bookings. They are very nice but don’t clean things as toughly as I would and Damien gets annoyed when I do stuff because I don’t get paid for it. The grot drives me nuts and my need to get rid of it drives Damien nuts. One of the nice things about staying here is the girls change our sheets and towels once a week. I always get excited about clean sheets day!
I also get excited on Sunday because this is pancake day. Every other day of the week we could have bacon and eggs for breakfast but generally speaking I leave for work before 7:30am and breakfast starts at 7:45am. Saturdays are also pretty good as this is the one day I can take advantage of free bacon and eggs.
In our spare time we try to do some of the touristy and cultural things around London. We have done a few guided tours around the Tate Modern, done a couple of walking tours and been to a number of live performances. There is always things to do! There are also lots of good markets which usually have amazing food and lovely parks to explore.
The facilities we miss most about home are internet and the laundry. We take our washing to the laundry mat down the road once a week. Because there are no washing lines we have to put everything through the tumble drier, something I wouldn’t use at home. This is especially necessary in winter when it takes days for things to dry because it’s so cold. As for internet, we get free internet at the library, Starbucks and McDonalds if we’re desperate. Sometimes we can piggy back off the neighbors but this is never very fast. We should really stop being such tight asses and get an internet dongle but everything we save is being allocated for various trips.
An added bonus, and one thing that keeps us at Dean Court, is that when we go on a trip, we can clear out our room so someone else can use it. This means we are not paying rent whilst we are traveling. We could get a studio apartment or something for around the same price we are paying, but then we would have to pay a bond as well as rent whether we are there or not. This keeps our life flexible as we can up and go whenever we like.
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