[Sca-cooks] Flatting?- really OT

[Jess Armstrong]

>>A "flatmate" is a non-relative/non-partner with whom you share a
>>dwelling when you go flatting. The flat itself can be pretty much any
>>sort of dwelling -- I've lived in large houses, small cottages, multi-unit
>>buildings and half-houses which all count as flats. It's the fact that
>>people are flatting in it that makes it a flat, not any features of design.
>
>
>Interesting - I didn't know that distinction.  I've always merely
>associated the word "flat" with a single-floor apartment or condo.  So,
>does "flatting in it" mean renting any kind of domicile, or does it mean
>sharing any kind of domicile (rented or owned) with a non-related
>person?  Or a little of both?  What about an owned apartment that you
>live in by yourself?  Doesn't that count as a flat?

>
>OK, I give up -- "flatting" is?  Renting?  Not planning to stay
>long?  Putting up with white walls and somebody else's choice of
>carpet and appliances?
>
>Well, I suspect it's renting, but I'd like to be sure.

Okay I am going to delurk and share the wisdom of a Dunedin scarfie
(university student in Dunedin). Dunedin is at the bottom of the
south island of New Zealand where it is cold and damp. Just so you
know.

Yes, flatting is renting but with certain connotations. When you live
in a flat you are flatting. Phil has already explained that a flat
can be any domicile at all. The people you share your flat with are
your flatmates.

There are age and lifestyle factors that determine whether you are
"flatting" or  "renting". A couple with children, a young
professional couple, an elderly couple renting a house for themselves
would be considered to be "renting" and would probably refer to their
house as "my house/home".

University students, working people, people who have retained their
student mindset sharing a rented house with others are considered to
be "flatting" and would refer to their house as "my flat".

You could own the house and be renting out the other rooms and
consider yourself to be flatting. You could live by yourself in a
rented home and if you were of the right mindset you would consider
yourself to be flatting (for example a student would consider
themselves to be flatting in this case, an established single person
in their fifties probably wouldn't). If you lived by yourself in a
domicile that you owned you would not be flatting.

Flatting does tend to have a sense of impermenance about it. In
Dunedin it is very common for flats to dissolve at the end of each
year and everybody goes and finds a new flat with new flatmates.
There are some cases where a flat will last a number of years because
all the flatmates get on very well. This is a rare occurence and you
are very lucky if this happens to you. I have seen cases where all
the flatmates have uplifted and moved from one house to another. They
are still the same flat, just in a different location.

For obligatory food content when you are flatting you are likely to
be served with some of the worst food you have ever eaten. Half
cooked pasta, unidentifiable meat, mince, mince and more mince. No
vegetables. No seasoning. The search for a flatmate who can cook is
long and arduous. Otherwise you cook for yourself, but that isn't
nearly as much fun as cooking for others.

Okay I am going to go back to lurking. Must stop procrastinating and
pack my stuff so I can move to my new flat. It has a vegetable garden
:)

Jess Armstrong (Marie in the SCA)