Life Update: New flat, New Tattoo

Whilst this isn't a lifestyle blog I just wanted to do a quick update on why I've been quite busy lately and therefore less active on my blog!

Firstly, I decided to get my 2nd tattoo. I was looking for a paint splash style which isn't so common yet so it took me a while to find a suitable artist. I found Sam Barber of Heart for Art near Manchester. I've never been up north before - hey I'm from south Wales and then moved to London, Manchester is super north to me! I decided to go up and spend a night there. I stayed in an Ibis hotel which was surprisingly nice with a shower that lit up depending on how hot or cold it was (so I turned off all the room lights and had some sort of disco shower of course).

The tattoo took around 4 and a half hours in total. It was fine getting it done but healing was a pain! It was much more tender than I remember my first tattoo being and I'm sure it took a fair bit longer to return to normal skin, but it's well on it's way now. Here's a shot of it freshly done just after Sam finished. A few have asked why a shark - well it's because they've always been my favourite animal and I think they're grossly misunderstood and demonised. I hope to swim with them one day!


Secondly, the most major reason I've been away lately is that I came to realise I was very unhappy in my new flat. I moved there in a rush after the flat I previously lived in for almost 3 years was sold and I had to move out. It seemed nice at first but it went downhill from there.

Firstly the area was noisy, ambulances & police cars every few minutes blaring past the front door, day or night. At the crossroads outside traffic often beeped their car horns through the night, sometimes just for fun. I even had roadworks going on right outside my flat at 1am a few times.

Then the problems inside the flat started. I'd rarely have plates, cooking utensils or cutlery to use as they had all been used by my housemate & left out dirty. It soon became apparent this was a party house with drunken people staying over on a regular basis in the shared kitchen/living room, so when I'd wake up I couldn't even make myself breakfast (I shouldn't have to go in and wake up hungover people in my PJs almost every weekend). Some weekends a whole load of people would come over and make a load of noise all night, leaving the place in a disgusting state when they finally left. I've basically spent the last 2 months as an invisible housemate, cooped up in my bedroom at all times until everyone goes out so that I finally felt comfortable using the kitchen to make myself some food.

In only my third month, my rent was increased by £50 per month. I finally lost all my cheer and motivation. I stopped going to the gym and spent most evenings watching hours upon hours of Netflix. I stopped drinking alcohol as I found it was making me too fed up. I was constantly tired and having intense headaches. All in all, not great! I needed to get out & desperately hunted for a new place to live, only to get excited about 2 places that ended up slipping through my hands. Finally yesterday I agreed on a new place in the docklands which I'm very happy to say I'm moving to this weekend. It's en-suite and even has a balcony :) really hoping this one works out! Here are some photos of the new room:


So do you have any tattoos or are you thinking of getting one? Or perhaps you have some nightmare flat sharing stories to share of your own? Let me know!