Homeless
Well. Our 'lovely' landlady telephoned us on Tuesday last week, precisely 10 days after the 6-month break clause in our rental contract, to give us notice that we had to move out so she could move back in. This was rather unexpected and threw us into chaos for a while there. We had no intention of moving anywhere, especially considering how much we love this flat, and what a complete pain it was to move house only 6 months ago. The thought of doing it all again so soon makes me wince.

I had a few tantrums, tears and hissy fits in the days after the phone call, but eventually realised this is out of my control and it was going to be less painful the sooner I could accept it and move on. So, still ever so slightly cranky and grumpy, we started calling local real estate agents only to be told time and again there is a dire shortage of 1-bed flats in the area at the moment. Which means the price of what is available is massively over-inflated.

So, for not-that-much extra a week we ventured into the 2-bed flat rental market, and have seen some places over the weekend. One flat still had a bong in it left by the previous tenants, filthy walls, and a 'garden' consisting of cracked concrete and knee-high weeds; another place was in a council housing block and the door opposite the flat had been smashed in and was boarded up; the third place was a lovely 1920's era town house, raised ground floor flat with the living/dining room being the same size as our current kitchen, dining AND living rooms, clean walls, two bedrooms, and a roof terrace. Guess which one we put on offer to rent on? We find out Monday if we got it or not. It felt right for both of us from the moment we walked through the door, we could both picture ourselves living there and being happy there.

It's in West Hampstead (the Kilburn side for those who know the area, near Shoot Up Hill Road), the bedrooms are on the small side but the living space more than makes up for that, it has really, really, really high ceilings, a fireplace with a gas fire that looks like real flames, the roof terrace overlooking the gardens below with views to north London, a small kitchen but clean and modern looking, and a standard bathroom with ginormo Jodie-sized bath.

I really hope we get it. I woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I need to know I have a home, and feel so unsettled at the prospect of being homeless. This place would be home, we would be happy and comfortable living there. Fingers crossed! , I have so much packing to do...

Food news
I have to say the smell of the chicken I am roasting for lunches this week is fantastic, but is about the superceded by the pheasant I am about to roast! Yes, that says 'pheasant', which you can now buy in Sainsburys. I've not tried it before, and I like most game birds so hopefully will like this one too! Does anyone know the rhyme about the pheasant plucker's son??

Study Update
For my upcoming tutorial co-presention on the development of language in children we're going to look at the influences of genetics vs the environment. I know most people start tuning out when I start talking about my psych, but for anyone interested there is a fascinating book by Stephen Pinker called 'The Language Instinct' and it is full of studies and analyses about language structures and abilities in general, as well as in children, that will have you saying 'no way!' out loud at the complexities of grammar that a 3 year old can understand without ever having been explicitly taught about it all. I keep finding areas that fascinate me, and don't have enough hours to read about it all!