STILL trying to find housing

I had those phone calls that I was talking about...  One from Student Support and one from Accommodation Services.

Student Support sounded genuinely sorry for what I was going through - at least after I read my impressive list of everything I've done trying to get help with housing.  They even suggested that I could get a guarantor through the University to help me get my foot in the door for a flat!  How brilliant is that?!  Takes a massive weight off my shoulders because then maybe these places won't ask for six months rent up front - I mean, how impressive will it look to a landlord that my guarantor is an organisation, especially one as big as the University of York!  Wow!

So the next day, Accommodation services call me back (I've been trying to get in touch) and ask me a lot of questions...  Who have you called about finding a flat?  What websites have you been looking at?  According to her, it's because they "weren't sure how much I was doing to help myself".  Well, more than YOU'RE doing to help me, lady...  96 phone calls between Saturday and Wednesday to letting agents, councils, MPs offices and the University itself.  With knock back after knock back.

So I told this woman about the offer from Student Services, about them being my guarantor.  What did she say?  Altogether now - "Oh no, that's only for International Students! Or if you've already been here for a year..."  Wahey! /sarcasm.  Genuinely looking like I can't go to York unless I go to another country and try to get back in.  Or unless I've already been there for a year...  Now where did I leave my TARDIS?

The end of the conversation - wait until September, there will be far more flats available then because that's when we get the International Students moving over.  They're even going to have a find a flat event in the University and maybe I'll want to attent that - oh but by the way, no one wants to let to families, because if they then want to change their property back to a student house, they have to pay a fine to Planning Permission.  GEE, THANKS.  They're just stacking everything upon everything against me!

I'm just trying to get there with my boy to start my degree.  Everybody deserves an education.  Everybody.  Mums are people too.  Home student mums are people too.

If I thought my boy could hack it, I'd be buying a caravan right now and finding somewhere to park it permanently.