I have written a few blogs on housing by now – and by housing I mean the issues of finding a house that is affordable, clean, and doesn’t come with a set of psychopath housemates. Last time, I told you I had found one. One of the girls might have seemed a little bit controlling, or fussy, or not-so-very-easy-to-please, but I liked the place, loved the other housemate, the location was good and the rent very affordable. Unfortunately, it only took a few days for that to change dramatically. Four days after publishing the blog saying how lucky I was to have found the place, shit hit the fan. Not just normal shit on a normal fan; no, a massive load of shit on a gigantic, fast spinning fan.

I don’t want to go into details, but in a few words, it’s this: I gave my notice, she basically kicked me out, threatened to take me to court/ the police (5 times) and wrote me a 600-word essay on what a terrible person I am. She then offered me to rent my own room as an Airbnb because I had friends coming over from overseas; friends who were supposed to be sleeping in my bedroom. Reading all her rude, passive-aggressive WhatsApp messages, I then proceeded to have a massive breakdown and started crying. At work. Luckily, my beautiful colleague generously offered me her room in her mother’s house for me ànd my friends. Can you believe that? This psycho chick doesn’t let me have people in a room I pay for, but this Mum, who has by the way never met me before, offers me and two strangers a place to stay. Are you reading this, Ex-Housemate? Take notes.

It is amazing how lucky and #blessed I am to stay in this house. It’s in Glebe, which is an amazing neighbourhood, and once I stop taking the wrong buses (yup, that’s plural) and getting off at the wrong stops (plural again), I should be able to get to work in half an hour. I live with my colleague’s Mum, her brother and his two friends. The Mum is absolutely amazing; she is funny, smart, kind, welcoming and she calls me sweetie. These wonderful traits are also applicable to all the other housemates – except the sweetie part, they just call me Laurien.