The British Way

A work colleague and I were sharing fun horror stories about looking for places to rent and flatsharing in London.  She's in her twenties and originally from Germany, but now lives in London.

I told her about when I was looking for a flat to share with a friend. We went to look at this flat above a shop. The rooms were a good size. Although there was this gaping hole in the living room, we decided we could live with that. The kitchen was not only tiny, there was an actual bath in the kitchen. My friend and I joked that while she's cooking, I could be taking a bath. When the landlord returned, he asked us what we thought about the flat. My friend and I replied in unison, "We'll let you know." We then literally ran out of the flat and burst out laughing.  We couldn't believe the landlord seriously expected people to live in that flat?

"Why didn't you tell him the truth?" my colleague asked me.

"We had to be polite, it's the British way," I said.

I told my colleague about another room in a shared house I went to look at, which was quite cheap.  When  I asked the landlady why there were two beds in the bedroom, she told me I would be sharing the room with  her mum. Hmm, interesting! I told her I would think about it and get back to her, not!

My colleague was horrified at the idea of expecting to share a room with a stranger.

My colleague told me she recently went to see a room in a shared house in west London. The landlord promised a communal living space. There was a Iving room which the landlord used as his office and bedroom. She asked why he had called it communal when she's not going to be able to watch TV in that room.  He said she was welcome to watch TV in the  room. She said the kitchen was like a tiny corridor. It reminded me of the idiom, "not enough room to swing a cat." She also said it was a basement flat with no sunlight. He was asking for £1,100 a month. My colleague said she told the landlord exactly what she thought of the flat and why she would not be moving there. He told her to get in touch if she changed her mind.  

I told her I would have just said to the landlord, "I'll let you know."

That's the British way. 😂

Thank you, God, for giving me lots of opportunities to love work colleagues from different cultures and perspectives. ❤️