Grumpy Vegan

Looking for and checking out flats (Americans read: apartments) in Hastings has been an eye opener. What appears to be customary here in the UK would surely be highly illegal in the US.

For example, this morning we viewed one flat (probably of four) carved out of a three-story plus basement terrace (Americans read: row) house. The good news is that it was recently renovated (really to posh a word to describe it). Everything was unfinished. And when I say “everything” I mean EVERYTHING. There were holes in the walls in the corridor leading up to the top floor flat. In the flat, electric light switches and electrical outlets hung off the wall by the electrical wires in them. The kitchen was unfinished as was the bathroom and a ridiculously grand and inappropriate fireplace in the living room come kitchen.

We then viewed another flat. This time it was in a basement in a central location to the town centre and sea front. The decor that any future tenant inherited was completed either by a frustrated artist or a prostitute with artistic tendencies. It was difficult to tell which. In the ceiling that was the area where the bed went hung exotic fabric and faerie lights. Everything in the bathroom was black. A large piece of tree was nailed into the wall and the ceiling as you entered the living come kitchen from the corridor. And so on.

Needless to say, they were both rejected. As have been other flats.

We’ve seen flats that were advertised with new carpets where clearly the British Army in dirty boots had walked all over them. We’ve seen flats where so-called double bedrooms are so narrow that you could stand in the middle and outstretch your arms and touch the walls. We’ve seen flats (and houses) where the landlord has done nothing (and I mean nothing) to them after the previous tenants had left.

We’ve seen flats that bear no relation to the photographs used on estate agents’ Web sites to advertise them. We’ve seen flats where there were holes in the walls, damp on the walls and filth in the kitchens and bathrooms.

And the estate agents have the audacity to say, “No pets!” These flats are owned and occupied by humans whose standards of hygiene and cleanliness beggar the imagination. The estate agents really should say, “No humans!”

Further, the ads frequently say “Regrettably No DSS.” This is, bluntly, economic prejudice against those who are unemployed and receiving benefits. So, those who are struggling the most have the hardest job of finding somewhere to live. Plus those who earn the most basic of salaries have to put up with expensive, dirty and dangerous rental properties. You would think in Britain this would be illegal. You would think that there were laws requiring rental properties to meet certain basic standards before they were placed onto the market? But no. Shame on Britain.

Why “Regrettably” anyway? It’s not as if they really care.

Well, the Grumpy Vegan disembarked from the Queen Mary 2 last Saturday with his human and feline companions. We traveled straight to Hastings, East Sussex to begin the next chapter in our lives. Emmy, the feline, is doing well. He survived the transatlantic crossing (photographs to follow) and settled into our new temporary accommodations with two humans, one 8-month baby human and two felines. The first order of business is to set ourselves up with living and working stuff. This is surprisingly time-consuming and interrelated. In order to do the first thing you have to get a second one done. But you can’t do the first thing before the second thing. And so it goes. Anyway, by the end of next week the basic functions of life should be sorted. The biggest difficulty is not having easy, free or inexpensive access to the Internet, which is why blogging has been so sparse of late. Now, we’ve found a very pleasant free Internet spot, which may also be where my future office will be. So, sadly, all for now but further posts will be forthcoming soon!

The Grumpy Vegan is half way across the Atlantic Ocean on the Queen Mary 2 with his human and animal companions. Emmy, our cat, is in the Cunard kennels along with one other cat and four dogs. All of them are doing extremely well. The kennel keeper is excellent and we’re impressed by how much he’s caring after the cats and dogs. We visit Emmy three times a day for about an hour each time. The human companions hang out together on our private deck where the dogs run free, supervised and restrained behind barriers. There’s a small sitting area inside the ship next door to the kennels where we sit with Emmy. No complaints with Cunard about their kennel service. We did have to complain, however, about the vegan food service but thankfully it has significantly improved and we’re now treated like vegan royalty! Sadly, Internet access is prohibitively expensive on the Queen Mary. So, limited blogging between now and when we get settled in Hastings, East Sussex in England!

For the past 10 years and more first as The Animals’ Agenda and then as the Animals and Society Institute, the Grumpy Vegan has come to work in The Broom Factory, which is in my old neighborhood of Canton in southeast Baltimore. The Broom Factory was once, well, a broom factory, and a direct descendant of the original owner leads the effort to creatively reuse the complex of three attached buildings as a “business incubator.”

Two of my most favorite businesses and neighbors are Blue Studios and Spectrum Advertising Inc. ASI’s Animals’ Platform CDROM would not have been made possible without Blue Studio’s Ken Feurer and Patty Feurer (brother and sister proprietors) and their creativity, brilliance and tenacity. Dave “Donut Boy” Bosley and his Spectrum Advertising office were directly across the office from mine. Although our professional paths never crossed, we would routinely shout across the corridor to each other putting the world to right, well, left.

The Broom Factory is truly a unique space with special tenants. But Dave, Patty and Ken are quite simply the best and will be missed.