No more springs in this house for me!

So the time has come.  Yesterday I got a mail from the landlord: I have to be out of here within 3 months, as they are clearing the house and selling it.

This is not exactly high drama, at least not yet.  3 months is a lot more comfortable than 3 days, which is what I had last time.  Of course, last time I thought I had a new apartment – I had in fact partly moved in, as it was within walking distance.  But the huge amount of stuff broke the camel’s back. So this time I am either looking for an apartment large enough to easily swallow all my stuff, or getting rid of more of it before I move.

I did get rid of a ton of stuff when I moved here, probably literally.   And the Pigsty Project got me rid of almost all my CDs and all but one glass jar.  Next up is my old books – luckily the used book shop is still around, as I would hate to burn them.  I have already packed a bag of light fantasy novels by Piers Anthony to get rid of. This was something I should do anyway, to make room for the books by Schuon, Wilber, Godwin and Okawa. It is time to get rid of some of the portals to lower worlds and install portals to higher worlds instead.  Even this body is after all a rented house, and one day the landlord will deliver final notice, no matter how faithfully we pay our rent.

But in a more upbeat tone, I have started looking around already. There are actually a couple apartment in the same price range nearby, at least one of them within walking distance, and the size is acceptable if I continue to throw away stuff.  It is not as if I have used the whole house here after all – the attic was off-limits, as was almost all of the basement and even one small bedroom up here.  So a full basement might be just as roomy, or nearly so, and probably cooler in the summer.  Certainly this one is – during the heat wave early this summer, I would spend some time in the washing room downstairs, it was as if escaping the season.  Now not all basements are like that, but still.

Or I could try to rent a house out in the countryside.  I don’t particularly mind a long commute, but the problem is if it is not going when I need it.  There was an awesome place for rent up in the mountains, another way to shorten the summer by the way.  (Yes, I have a particular problem with summer.  When it is could, you can add another layer or two of warm clothes. But when it is hot, you cannot take off the skin.)  The price was right, but the bus is clearly not meant for commute, only for shopping and such.  It arrives just before 9 and leaves around 3:30 AM, too short for a workday.  (Actually it is almost a workday for me, since I only work 90%, but not quite.) The next bus in the evening isn’t home until 11PM – an hour to midnight.  That is barely enough time to sleep before having to jump up and run for the bus to the city again.

But this is just the first day.  Tomorrow I will find something more tempting.  This time of the year is great for finding a new home to rent.  And conveniently, I seem to have enough money to pay double rent for a couple months if it comes to that.  So if there are no other problems, there is no need to cry for me. Yet.