Our Second Little House in London

"You've moved? What was wrong with the old place?" Yes, we have! The place itself had nothing wrong with it, but one of the house mates basically wanted to re-organise the place, and let's just say that Liz and I were not included in the new plans, no matter what we tried to do. We could have fought it, of course, but we didn't really want to have to live in a place with housemates like that. So, we found another one. We view it as all part of the travelling experience - when you find yourself getting stuck in a rut, move on!

"So where are you now?" On the 8th of March, 2003, we moved in to another share house at: 143a Cricklewood Broadway Cricklewood Greater London NW2 3HY United Kingdom If you feel like phoning us here, remember the time difference then dial 0011 44 208 452 1746 from Australia or 0208 452 1746 from the U.K. You can see a map of the place, and surrounding areas here, although that map is not particularly accurate. The weather is also listed, just so you can gloat at how much better it is in Australia.

Above: View from Crickewood Broadway - we are above the Pawn Broker on the left Above: Nicole, Carlo and Liz show off the back of the house, complete with lots of concrete.

The House We live on a very busy and very noisy main road. There is a huge construction site across the street, and the traffic is constantly heavy due to major roadworks going on. Luckily, our bedroom is at the very back of the house, so we don't hear any noise when we are in there. And it's quite pleasant to fall asleep feeling the house rock as the buses roar by! Quite different to the old place, this one is built on three levels above and behind the shopfront on the high street. Downstairs, there is the kitchen at the back, which you access via a long corridor from the road. This house is quite a bit bigger than the old one (we now have two bathrooms instead of just the one - will come in handy if all nine of us are actually ever home at the same time, and everyone here is really friendly.

Our Room Our room is on the middle floor, right at the back of the house. We get the sun streaming in the window which is great fun, while hearing a suprisingly small amount of noise, considering how busy the road is out the front. Our bedroom is a bit smaller than our last one, and there is a lot less storage space, so Liz went out and found a bookcase kit Ikea-type thing (only not from Ikea). We put it together when he got home from work that night, and are still suprised that it lasted 24 hours. It has a very dangerous lean on it, but we can't work out if thats more because the bedroom floor is a bit uneven or if the bookcase is really that dodgy. But it should last us a few months until we head off again.

Above: Rare sun streams in the window of our bedroom Above: Any bets on how long our shelving will hold out?

Things We Like About It

• Five minutes walk to the Crickewood Thameslink overland station, where we can get a train straight into town in about fifteen minutes. Great to get to work.
• Ten minutes walk from Kilburn tube station.
• Five minutes drive to the start of the M1 motorway, the main one out of London.
• Since we are right on the main street, there is endless small specialty shops, along with all the major fast-food joints for when we are in an evil mood, a couple of huge supermarkets to choose from as, well as plenty of great pubs.
• Suprisingly not noisy considering our location.

Our Room-mates

• Carlo and his wife Nicole, Melbournians of Italian descent.
• John, who is a kiwi carpenter.
• Sarah, a kiwi nurse.