The flatmates

I have lived with some nutters in my time. There was the self-destructive alcoholic, who used to deliberately provoke the other guys in the house to punch him in the face. There was the laundry fetishist, who would take my wet clothes out of the dryer and fling them all over the kitchen. There was the phone-line-sex-chat addict, who spent $960 in a week talking to "lovely ladies". There was the heavy sleeper, who would sleep through the most piercing of alarm clocks, and could sit up and talk, or answer the phone without recollection, while still in the deepest of sleeps. I would have to wake her every morning by physically lifting her out of bed and walking her around the room a few laps until she woke up, and I was scared every single time. There was the marine biologist, who kept her scientific samples, both alive and dead, in our fridge.

But now I am the luckiest girl in Hobart, as I have the best flatmates. Miss P and Miss Q. Hands down, no contest. I love them dearly, and I love living with them. There are several factors that contribute to our blissful arrangement. For starters, we live in a large house. We have a dishwasher. We have several tv's, and 2 bathrooms. These things relieve the minor points of contention, such as whose turn it is to buy the toilet paper. I am way too old for that argument.

But in the larger sense, we are just very compatible. Similar personalities, similar points in life, similar values, similar lifestyles and interests. I know it sounds corny, I know it sounds too good to be true, and maybe it is. But it's gold when you find it.

Of course we have tiffs. They mostly consist of one of us (usually me) getting cranky by being woken up at 3am in the morning by some impromtu party. Yet I find the crankiness subsides so quickly when it comes with a heartfelt apology.

Before I moved into my current house, I lived by myself and loved it. I thought I would never be able to live in a share house again. But now I find my home life is even better than when I lived alone. Both the flatmates travel very regularly for work so are away a fair bit. To my very great surprise, I miss them when they're away. I thought I would be grateful for the peace and space, but it is the opposite. The house feels more like a home when they are in it.

P and Q, you are the best.