Are we cursed?

This is crazy. This must be a sign. England is trying to tell us something: "Go back to America, you good-for-nothin' immigrants!" We usually are quite fortunate, but we seem to have run into a stint of bad luck ever since we came back from Florida (though it probably started from the incident during re-entry).

Ok, first we find out that we have to move out of the apartment we're currently in because our landlady wants to take over the property. So we stress out for a bit and find a really nice place in Canford Cliffs and it's CHEAPER than where we are now. Phew! We've been looking forward to moving into that apartment (nice size, no mold because it's not a ground-floor apartment, cozy garden where I might even be able to do some gardening, close to the beach, dishwasher, large refrigerator, etc.). Life's looking good, right?

Not quite. Today we are told that the fellow who owns the flat is very ill and could possibly die. All right, yeah... commiseration, sympathy, and all that... but it means that we are pretty much shit-out-of-luck. If he dies, the property will probably go into "limbo" while some lawyers figure out what to do with the guy's estate. They might sell it (they'd make a pretty penny if they did) or they might decide to keep leasing it to tenants. If they sell it, obviously we're not moving in there. If they decide to keep leasing it, I don't know if we should move in there because the landlord's next-of-kin might suddenly decide they want to sell it or move in or whatever and then we'd be back on the apartment search again. And if they do continue leasing it, I'm sure they'll want to lease it for the highest price they can get (i.e.- not for a strangely low sum of £695 per month), so then we'd be priced out of it.

Then again, he might not die... this time. But if he's ill enough for this to suddenly happen, he could certainly go at any time and if we're already living in his flat when it goes in "limbo", well that's no fun either. No matter which way you slice it, it looks like we're going to have to find another place. The estate agent will call us on Monday to let us know the outcome. He said, "Don't worry. We'll find you another place." We don't want another place! We wanted that one!

So... anyway... back to what I mentioned in the first paragraph. England is trying to kick us out. It's like what happens in workplaces over here: it's almost impossible to fire someone, so they just make the person's life a living hell until they quit. Ok, to be fair, our life's not a "living hell", but shit... this sucks! I'm really pissed off about this! And none of it would have happened (to us) if our landlady didn't decide to oust us.

K and I have both been thinking, "Fine... I get the picture... it's time to move back to the US." It's hard not to take this as a sign, but there's just no way. There's no way that we can just up-sticks to do an inter-continental move by March 7th. No matter how you look at it. It's just not possible. At least not without GREAT expense, frustration, and trauma.

So, step off, England! We ain't leavin' yet! Not until we're good and ready!