Okay- first up- I didn’t do fantastically today.

Yesterday’s wordcount: 986
Today’s wordcount: 606

FLIPSIDE total wordcount: 21,166

I’m not even convinced that anything I’m writing is particularly good.

Second of all, today was horribly difficult for a whole variety of reasons. The nightmare with our flat is refusing to go away- last thursday, I discovered that not only has the Landlord not yet fixed a date for the refurbishments to begin (Apparently, the builders he likes are both dead cheap and ridiculously difficult to control), but he’s recently turned down tenants who were definitely interested in the place, simply because they wanted it for longer than six months, and that would mean he wouldn’t be able to refurbish soon and bump up the rent. (Okay, he said that was a deciding factor at the beginning of this whole nightmare process, but it still rankles, as I’m sure you can understand). He’s also continuing his habit of describing plans in a way that makes no sense, and only really starts making me angry about eight hours later- for example, the builders are currently doing a job ‘for the next couple of weeks’, but he can’t actually set a date for the end of the contract ‘until they’ve actually started work’, otherwise they might bugger off and leave him in the lurch (Which should, theoretically, be his problem, but he seems to be doing his damndest to make it ours). ‘Sometime in April’ is his statement- and even that is with ‘no promises’. On top of all this, I’ve since found out that- at least at the moment- the flat has been taken off the system at the Estate Agents who were supposed to be advertising it, and isn’t appearing on their website- they claim it’s still being advertised ‘privately’ in places like Loot (although I’ve checked the Loot website and there is no sign of anything resembling our flat), but are saying that it’s probably due to the Landlord’s decision to hang onto it and refurbish, rather than rent it again, and the fact that it’s in an ‘unrentable state’- (despite the people last week who were very keen on taking it).

This has, understandably, been playing havoc with me. I don’t handle stress well- I particularly don’t handle financial stress well, and the current situation of having to pay £715 a month for a flat we’re no longer living in is, to be honest, a bit too much for anyone to cope with. Even with significant help from George’s mum and dad, we’re functioning on the average earnings of a church mouse. This morning, it knocked me for six- I sometimes end up ‘Hulking Out’ in terms of stress, which is very bad for me, and George was incredibly supportive- but we’ve just had a major row over what to do about this situation. She’s right, in that the time for rolling over and playing along with this is over- but I’m still seduced by the idea of just getting to a point where this isn’t a factor anymore- just paying the toll and going home. At the moment, we’re talking about four rent payments- (to be honest, we don’t care about the deposit, so it would really only be three)- but that’s still upwards of 2 grand, and potentially ending up in a Court Action situation over that kind of money is something that frightens me an awful lot, and I don’t always respond well when I get frightened.

I guess- if anyone out there knows anyone in the legal world, or any way we might be able to get some advice- we’re four months from the end of a Fixed Term Tenancy Agreement, and the Landlord is playing silly buggers. An amicable ending would be nice, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen. To be honest, it would just be nice to know whether biting the bullet and not paying is a sensible move or the daftest thing we could possibly do.

Any advice gratefully accepted…