My current living situation is a three bedroom flat with two other females. One has lived here for very nearly 18 months, the other for about 8 months.
I don’t know how well the two housemates get on with each other: not long after the newbie moved in, the oldie got in to a relationship so was spending less time at home, and as we all had our separate lives, time when all three of us were in the house was slim.
Then I went away for a month, and by the time I came back, the oldie and hey boyfriend were super serious meaning she was spending the vast majority of her time at his.
The COVID-19 hit and the oldie lost her job in hospitality, and so did her boyfriend! Crisis times, right? Or so you’d think. You’d think that with no regular income coming in, they would compress their living and move in together; since she was already at his all the time, it would make sense to officially live there.
Whilst it’s been nice not having a super crowded house in isolation, I have learnt I don’t think I would want to live in a share-house with just one other person. If your housemate wants or needs to talk to someone, there is only you. If something in the house annoys you, you know exactly who is to blame. If a housemate goes away for any period of time (and assuming you like having company in the house), you are fully left alone until they return. And if there is any tension between the two people in the house, there is no one to break up the tension as an outsider.
It’s been a blessing to have a partner in this situation: they spend part of the week working from mine and being the extra person for the newbie to talk to. Then I can take a break from the house and go and spend time at his (don’t worry, this adheres to the social distancing rules in place!).
I do wonder where the oldie is though.
She is basically paying for really expensive storage for her furniture and some of her clothes! Will she come back at any point? Will she ever properly move out?