New Everything

I walk into my apartment on Friday after work. It's 5pm and I'm looking forward to reading a bit and having a relaxing evening. I almost step on a notice that had been slipped under the door, 3 in fact.

The first one says the building I live in was sold on Thursday, and here is the new contact information for the landlord. The second one says the caretaker of the building is moving into a different apartment number and we can drop off our rent there from now on. The new owners don't accept cash, and rent must be in the form of a cheque or money order. So far so good. I couldn't understand why someone wouldn't take cash but it's a not life or death issue.

The third one is addressed to me and says "Your lease agreement is up for renewal on July 31st. We hereby serve you notice that we will NOT be renewing your agreement and expect possession of your apartment by noon on July 31st."

I'm being evicted.

"Jump on a plane and fly me to Canada." A civilized, first world country. You would think that having a place to live would be a basic necessity. You know, "food, clothing, shelter", the stuff we learnt in the 5th grade. But I guess it's not so in Alberta. If I don't find another apartment in the next 4 weeks, we might just be buying a tent and joining the hundreds of working homeless who live and work here in Edmonton. What a joke.

I called the new owners to ask what was going on, and they basically told me the rent in my apartment building was too low. They won't be renewing any one's lease. Once we're out, they'll be gutting and renovating our apartment so they can charge, "a lot more money". Hurray for capitalism.

The rest of my weekend was spent looking for an apartment. Here's a fun fact. Surrey, BC has cheaper rent then Alberta. British Columbia! How's that for "catching up to the other top five cities in Canada." I think we've surpassed that. Edmonton is on par with Toronto, the capital of the Country. Calgary is the 2nd highest in rent, next to Vancouver. Vancouver I can understand, they have an Ocean. Alberta has oil. One of those will run out, can you guess which one?

Sorry about my rant but this really burnt. In four weeks, I have no idea were I'm going to call home. That isn't the nicest feeling in the world.

Cheers to all you starving artists. Life bites, but never give up on your dreams. They're the only things that will keep you sane.

C