Blah Blah from The TeaBreak Team.

Some of the regular readers may recall me mentioning that I’m lucky to have a job in this time of recession (Alhamdulillah), and I will be joining it soon if my visa switchover goes on smoothly. Now what I didn’t mention at that the office is based in a place called Kings Langley, about 40-minutes drive during non-rush hours from the place where I currently reside.

Hence, I’m required to move to keep the travelling time short(est). Now this place (Kings Langley) is designated as a village although I didn’t see cows and sheep there on my last visit but still its not large enough to be a town. The nearest towns from this village are Watford and Hemel Hempstead. Both are about 4-5 minutes journey by train and about 2miles in distance. All this means I have 3 options to choose the destination. Either its the village, Kings Langley or any one of the two towns. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to all, but it boils down to village v/s town in the end. Here’s what I think:

Kings Langley

Its a very peaceful, historic and beautiful place. Close to workplace, so should be about 10-15 minutes of walk. The problem I anticipate is the lack of proper shopping places, there is a small high street though where you can get the basics…but nothing much. I will visit the place in a couple of days for a detailed survey, but I don’t think there is a halal outlet or anything like that either. A counter argument is that if the towns are so close I can always catch a train and hit the town within minutes where I can find everything. Another point in favour is that this place is (possibly) cheaper, but I haven’t noticed a huge deal of difference compared to the town prices.

Watford/Hemel Hempstead

Both these are places where you have at least one huge shopping mall and all other things you’d find in a normal city. Not as busy as London (thankfully), but then going to the office would require a walk to the station and then a train journey. The journey would cost some money so that can be added to the expenses of living here, and whether I can find a place close to the railway stations is also questionable. Basically, these are small cities in a way, but still relatively peaceful.

While writing this I also found that its hard to find a place in Kings Langley because its such a small place and there is hardly any studio of 1-bed flat vacant at the moment. The whole village will know if something’s vacant I guess

In either case, I’m trying to find a studio or 1-bed flat rather than a shared accommodation. My father thinks I should have it shared with a friend but I don’t know anyone who’s moving there and I don’t want to share with someone I don’t know and then regret it later.  So that’s out of the equation for now, unless enforced by circumstances.

I’m really unable to choose which is a better location for me. What do you guys think? Am I missing any factor that I should be considering? It wouldn’t be so difficult if I was sure of getting a driving license any time soon, but I can’t bank on something which has only a 40% probability.

So I know for a fact that I am moving some time around next month, but I really don’t know where.