In mid-December there are 73,990 UK listings on SpareRoom.com. It’s my second month of searching and I’m becoming quite popular on the platform. After a slow start and no replies, my inbox is now flooded. Even Spare Room isn’t exempt from the mad Christmas rush, people wanting to get things in place before the festive period. Still, the attention is both flattering and addictive.
I find myself messaging people back just to find out more, even though the room they’re flogging doesn’t fit my criteria. It’s a lens into another world: Flats listed as ‘newly refurbished’ – but with photos that expose the update was at least twenty years ago. A bunk bed in a shared room in an eight-person ‘warehouse for creatives’ still £850 + bills.
Among these listings, ‘Spacious room close to station – must like cats’ appealed.
I had a cat once. I carried her home as a two-month-old kitten who I could hold in one hand. By the time we’d bonded and she’d settled in our home, brave enough to prance around the flat, my boyfriend and I realised that his cat allergies were too bad to keep her. In the days that she was part of our little family, I lived to wake up in the mornings and be greeted by her brushing her silky fur against my legs. Having to re-home her and let someone else enjoy her was torturous.
When I broke up with my boyfriend this summer, knowing I could have a cat again was the star that twinkled in the distance. Seeing this house share listed, I imagined how lovely it would be to live with a cat again.
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