The Tenant

And now we have a place, already. It isn't quite Copperfield Gardens but it's close: Mayfield Gardens, just down the road from there. Not a town house, of course, but a maisonette, with the landlord living above. So no more of those wild parties we are always thinking of having. And no more letting the grass grow to seed (not that there is a great deal of grass) - oh no, he'll be out there with a ruler every day, and tut-tutting loudly if it gets beyond a certain height.

It was second thoughts like this that drew me - even after we'd paid the initial unrefundable 'reservation fee' - to view the flat on Cameron Close Dave looked at the other week. He'd been quite positive about it, except for the surroundings. Cameron Close is a small estate near the station that rather resembles my old comprehensive school as it looked in the late 70's. As though to confirm this impression the various blocks are called things like 'Glamis' and 'Cawdor' - nothing like a 'Macbeth' reference to make you feel at home! The estate agent was late, giving me the opportunity to soak up the atmosphere, while the Dead C's Repulsion played on my i-pod, and it started to rain.

At least it's ethnically diverse. There are two Thai girls living across from the flat I was viewing. So the estate agent pointed out, almost suggestively I thought. He also remembered Dave as 'the guy with the use of only the one leg', which seemed a rather roundabout way of saying it. As if Dave still had it locked in a cupboard somewhere, but had mislaid the key.

In the end I felt that living on Cameron Close was really a young man's game. I'm more in the market for sheltered housing. Mayfield Gardens it is then!