A Day in the Life of a Flat Hunter

A Day in the Life of a Flat Hunter    

     Alan Townend, the author has taught in Switzerland and Germany. He has written many funny short stories to learn English.

      Erika Weiss hail to German and Peter Jarvls is of London. They personally met one other at the London Airport. But, they had corresponded each other nearly for three years. Erika has come to work for a year at the London's office. She started staying at hostel. But she was uncomfortable at the hostel. She did not have privacy and food was horrible. She had to be at the hostel by eleven in the evening. Ultimately, she decided to find a flat of her own. As she was new to London, she could not understand the flat/accommodation  advertisements. So, she decided to approach her friend Peter for help.

       Peter mentioned that finding a flat in London is not an easy task. He explained that he himself has got the flat with a great difficulty. He also said that at a point of time he felt to join in a hostel.

       Peter advises her in many ways. He asks her to buy the first edition of one of the London newspapers and then she has to search in flat/accommodation advertisements. Later she had to make the call first for meeting of the flat owner. He even says that when she answers the telephone for a flat not to give an impression that she really is in bad need of the flat. He emphasizes to make her the call as if she has dozens of other flats in her hand.

       Peter has a lot of experience on flat accommodations. He says that according to the character of the street the dollar rate changes. In fact, he gives even more tips for speaking too. If price is above the expectation then he tells her to use statements like 'there is no private bath or not interested, after all when compared with other.. as to his prior experience. He says that even the worst of all flats with unpainted, broken windows and dirty houses are not reasonable.

      Finally Erika understood that Peter has got a flat with help of an agency after paying a small amount. The agency had given him three addresses. However, he settled in the second address. She actually liked the idea of getting the flat through an agency.