Came back to Scotland in the middle of August and it was quite full-on from then: I got a bit ill with flu-like symptoms, and because I had a tick bite some weeks earlier I was warned to take tetracycline antibiotics if this would happen – of course it could have also been the change into the very cold, grey and rainy Scottish autumn which caused all the headaches and sniffles.
But then I got even more ill because of the side-effects of the tetracycline and was again lying flat and sick for over a week. With the Edinburgh festival, we had also about five guests or more staying, apart from that I was applying for jobs, heading for interviews, try to get the dissertation going with my tutor suddenly retired and away, getting the whole MOT car service and yearly renewals out of the way, fetching the guinea pigs and selling on the spare cage, hutch and run now that they moved all in together.
At the moment I am painting the spare room to make it available for sublet; I went over to the Muirhouse Housing Association to ask about available houses and apparently am on the Council’s waiting list with quite a number of points for “undercrowding” my current 2-bedroom flat.
I quite like that there is some space in the flat though. The Council has just been knocking down a huge number of old 70ies highrises and selling the ground on to private and profit-driven companies, the number of “really” affordable properties is declining rapidly. Although the companies have by law the obligation to build about a fifth of their properties to be “affordable”, unfortunately, this only means that their selling price is marginally – lower than the average property; and with hugely inflated prices they actually aren’t for people on National Minimum Wage.