Saturday 2 June 2012

Fifteen floors above the Cardiff pavements

For the past month I have been living in a flat in Cardiff of my very own. It is in an apartment block called Altolusso, right in the city centre. My neighbours are now a Tesco express, Cineworld, Nando's, several hotels and a bunch of bars down on Mill Lane. My brother is renting the apartment with me, he is pretty obsessive over things and made sure that we kitted the flat out brilliantly from the start, so the white leather sofa that came with the place is adorned with fluffy brown BHS cushions, there is a plant by the window and a creme coloured rocking chair kind of thing plus a 40 inch plasma tv. The flat is at the furthest end of the building and so we have a big floor to ceiling window which looks out toward Cardiff central train station and over the city to the valleys. The sunset you see every cloudless night is the kind of thing people drive for miles and hours to see. You do not know how incredibly lucky (and undeserving of this) I feel right now. Life has a funny way of coming right when you least expect it.

The job is going well, it is contract work, PPI complaints reviewing, so just temporary which could be renewed for another three months at the end of June, I get paid more for this than I have ever been paid in my life which is also a nice touch.  Thinking of studying for a certificate in financial planning as well which will kind of legitimise my last three years of employment and ensure I can keep doing what I am doing for a little longer at least.

I am going on holiday at the beginning of July as well. First off I am going to Sheffield to meet my holiday companion, a friend from America who is staying in Manchester for a month. We will be seeing Marina & The Diamonds, then staying over for the night before being on an early train to Manchester airport, flying over to Paris for three nights, one of which we will be watching Jack White play, then going to Rome for another three nights before flying back to the UK and getting messy in Cardiff. An absolute stunning plan for a week. The next month cannot fly by fast enough.

This weekend my brother has gone back to Devon for a friend's birthday. Being somewhat new to Cardiff still but mainly due to my social ineptidude I have nothing to this weekend so am just lazing about on the sofa. The TV is on the blink, someone from Comet is coming round tomorrow to pick it up and give us a replacement, so there is not even that to watch. Chippy Lane is just a few footsteps from the flat so I will head there in a bit, pick up some chicken and chips, then a night in with the internet and some cans appears to be what is left on the cards.

Until the next rare installment x