I wish the fish didn't party so hard

Noise Complaints

 We recently had a noise complaint this is now our second and we are confused, very confused. Now is where I should inform you that me and Riley are boring, and we don't 'party'. Our days mostly consist of reading books, watching TV, cooking and sleeping. She goes out to uni and I go to work. Our flat is a pretty quiet place, so quiet in fact that the loudest thing in our flat is the noise of downstairs kids (and god they spend 90% of the day screaming and crying). And they have the cheek to complain that we are making noise.

The most recent noise complaint is even more baffling to us, as apparently our pet is too noisy... Yeah we only have 2 pets and they are both Goldfish. I may be wrong about this but as far as I know Goldfish don't make noises. They swim around all day and occasionally they might move a stone or two and other than that the only other noise is the pump to their tank. However I can't hear said stones or pump over the noise of downstairs kids! I really must tell the fish to stop partying while we are asleep.



(Maybe it's our flat ghost Dennis... )

A different perspective

My flatmate Riley has started a blog, also about starting adult life and stuff. Fortunately she is a more frequent blogger than I am, and she is pretty funny. The blog is called Growing Up Broke and well worth a read you can find it here.

So far she has posts covering:
- Moving in
- Neighbours
- What your parents didn't tell you
- Deadlines
- And why adults don't have sleepovers

Totally unrelated - Blogger's spell check doesn't recognise the words blog or blogger.

Adult Life?

My flatmate is still a student and as I had nothing better to do with my day, I went with her. It offers a change of scenery, a chance to look at all of the stuff that I can’t buy and perhaps more importantly – it means I’m not just lying in bed all day wishing I had better things to do.

It was a very surreal experience, walking around town with the knowledge that everyone I knew had left, yet I still expected to see them.
Well most of the people I knew have gone, there are 3 or 4 still around. One of which we were meeting up with. While the 3 of us were together, Riley got a phone call informing her that she had got the job she’d applied for; this prompted my friend to make the following remark:

“One of us finally has a real adult life”

Now I know she meant nothing by it, but it suggests that in her eyes I am not living a ‘real’ adult life… does having a job define adulthood? If so many 14yr olds are adults. I may not feel like I am an adult, but that does not mean that my life is not adult. I have my own flat, pay bills and at the age of 21 I’m legally an adult in every way, and in every country. I’m just missing the job.

So what defines ‘adult life’?

On a different note…That night we decided to have sausages, mash potatoes and gravy. It was only after the sausages and potatoes were cook did we realise that we do not if fact own a potato masher…

Yes we live together, No we are not gay.

[Disclaimer: There is nothing wrong with being gay.]
[Disclaimer #2: Names have been changed]

In my first post you may have noticed that I said "We are not gay" - and this statement is becoming the tagline of our life. I should mention I don't think there is anything wrong with being gay, it's just that neither me nor my flatmate are gay, yet everybody assumes we are.
Maybe I watch some misleading TV but to me the idea of two friends flat sharing is not shocking or strange. Is it just that we were good friends before moving into a flat together? Is it that most flatmates are complete strangers when they move in? Does it really make that much of a difference?
Our problems started from the moment we filled in the tenancy form - and continued onto me applying for housing benefit.

Advisor: "Are you living together as a couple?"

Us: "No"

Advisor: "Do you have children together?"
Us: "No"

Advisor: "So you are just sharing a house?"
Us: "Yes"

She then flicked through the form I filled in which would have given her the above answers. If that wasn't bad enough she then tried to tell us that I shouldn't have included my flatmate - Riley- under the section where it asked about other occupants living with me because we weren't a 'couple'.

She finally conceded that we were right.

Is it really that odd for two friends to share a flat?

Although maybe we are just too comfortable with each other and this makes us come across as being gay. It doesn't help when we have conversation like this:

Riley: "I like this wallpaper"

Me: "what about this one?"

Riley:"It's the same one as over here"

Me: "No it's slightly different"
Riley: "I don't think it is"
Me: "It is"
Riley "Yes dear"
Me: "Did you just call me dear?"