In her last blog Rachel Killington explained how she was dealing with her break-up with her boyfriend and the pending loss of her flat. Closer to homeless Well another two weeks have passed since I wrote my last blog, and although it sounds pessimistic, I’m two weeks closer to becoming homeless. Great.
At the moment I feel like I’m in a daze - like my life isn’t happening to me and I’m watching a film, being thankful that it isn’t me in it - but the harsh truth, however much I try to avoid it, is that it is happening to me, whether I like it or not. Although I’m a strong person, it’s getting harder and harder to just pick myself up and dust myself down when I get those (seemingly endless) knock-backs. Surely something has to go right for me soon? A flatmate appearsA couple of weeks ago I got an email from one of the presenters who had a friend that needed a flatmate. Katie was my age, worked for the police, and lived in a really nice area of the city. The house was lovely, the room was en suite, and the rent was reasonable. The current tenant was due to move out at the end of August which was perfect timing for me, as it meant I could stay in the flat for a few more weeks and sort things out properly. Although I was concerned about my freelancing work drying up, I figured that I’d be OK as somehow I’ve managed to save a bit of money up ‘just in case’. So the housing situation was sorted, and I began to cheer up - I actually had something secure for the future and spent evenings scouring the Argos catalogue planning what I’d need to buy for when I moved. It was all very exciting, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I’d been. Work however, wasn’t quite so positive. Work in the short termI’ve always been very aware of the fact that my current position is only temporary, but I’ve never actually envisaged that job ending. I adore my job. It may not sound like the most fun job (I manage websites for the One Network) but I love it. It is always varied, I get to work on over 20 different sites around the country, and I get to write my own copy which is great. I’ve always been fascinated by the internet, and love seeing the impact it has on everyday contemporary society. (Yes, I admit I’m a bit of a ‘techie geek’ but we all have our foibles!) I guess I’ve been a bit naïve and tried to ignore the fact that my position was only ever meant to be short term, so it came as a bit of a shock when my boss Neil told me that although he had work for me for the next week, he wasn’t sure whether there would be any more after that. Cue panic stations… I spent the next week scanning the papers and internet for temping jobs ‘just in case’. I reassessed my financial situation, made mental notes of possessions I could pawn should I get that desperate, and I made sure I put extra hours in at work. The ironic thing was as I received my last months wage slip I noticed I had finally had money taken to start repaying my student loan, something which has never happened before. They took all of two pounds. Yes two pounds. Although I laughed (at that rate it would take over forty years to pay it all back), it meant that finally I had started to repay my debt, and now it seemed as if I would be back to square one. Not good. But still, I had some security in the fact I would be moving into my own little place with Katie in a few weeks' time…or that’s what I thought… ‘Never mind’I happened to send an email to Katie last week. It was nothing out of the ordinary, just a friendly ‘how are you, not long til I move in’ sort of thing. I actually felt physically sick when I got a reply the next day at work – ‘Hi Rachel, I’m sorry to say that the room has already been let…’ was the only thing I saw initially. It turns out that my ‘friend’ Katie had let the room out to someone else. I don’t know when she planned to tell me, if at all. Apparently the current tenant had moved out early so she needed someone that could move in straight away, only she hadn’t even asked me if I would do that - which I would have done. The very last line of the mail – 'nevermind, I’m sure you’ll find somewhere soon. Cheers, Katie’ - summed it all up. No, of course Katie didn’t mind - why would she!? I guess that as long as the money was coming in from somewhere, she wasn’t really bothered. I felt so angry and betrayed. As a ‘friend of a friend’ I felt I could trust Katie, and she knew that I definitely wanted the room, as I had told her. How dare she do that to me, without even telling me?! I guess it’s a lesson I’ve had to learn the hard way yet again, and next time I won’t be so naïve. Good and bad newsJust as I was recovering from the disappointment of Katie’s news, I had a phone call from my boss Neil, who was travelling back from Leicester Square. He said he had ‘news, good news and bad news’. At that point I almost started crying. The ‘news’ was that he was sorry the work I had been doing that day (copying and pasting from one site to another) had been boring, although to be honest it didn’t bother me. Then he got to the ‘bad news’ and my heart almost stopped beating, as I steeled myself for the awful realisation that I was to be heartbroken, homeless and unemployed! The ‘bad’ news was that he was meant to be taking the web team (me, John, and Sara) out for a meal as thanks for all the hard work we had done recently, but he couldn’t make it. Which to be honest, turned out to be the best news I could have wished for, particularly as the ‘good news’ was that he was able to give me another eight weeks' work, although he did stress that it would never be a ‘long term’ position. So now I’m living on borrowed time again. I have to start my house-hunting from square one which is a nightmare, and I still don’t have any job security after the end of August. In fact I have no security about anything after the end of August. But I do have a lot to be thankful for, and I haven’t forgotten that. And who knows, a lot could change in eight weeks… here’s hoping... See Rachel's previous job logs: | 
