by Vivienne Pratfall on the economics of being twenty-one in London in 2025 and the expensive education this provides
By Vivienne Pratfall for The London Prat | Also at Bohiney Magazine
My landlord has raised the rent. Not by a small amount. By an amount that made me sit down in my kitchen, which is also my living room, and look at my finances with the specific expression I assume people wear when they open a letter from the council.
The Numbers, Briefly
I pay rent. I pay bills. I buy food, mostly from the reduced section of Sainsbury’s at around 7pm which is when the good stuff appears. I pay for the Tube. I pay for the gym which I keep meaning to cancel. I have, after these expenses, an amount of money left which I can describe as “technically positive.” This is the economic miracle of my generation. We exist. We are technically positive. Someone in a newspaper article will call us resilient. I will read it on my phone while eating a reduced croissant on the Overground.
The londonish.uk guide to what rent gets you by zone remains the most-read thing I have ever written, because it is extremely specific and extremely true. The Guardian’s renting coverage confirms that this is not just a me problem. It is a generation problem.
The Date Update
Josh from Hinge is lovely. We have been on three dates. He has not yet seen the flat, partly because there is nowhere for two people to stand without one of us being technically in the kitchen. I am approaching this as a logistics problem rather than a romance problem. The romance is fine. The square footage is the issue.
What I Am Doing About It
Writing more. Pitching more. Reading the feeds at Bohiney Magazine for material, which is dense with material this week. Eating more reduced croissants. The plan is working in the sense that I am still here and still technically positive. The plan is not working in the sense that none of this is getting cheaper. But that is London. That is twenty-one. That is, I think, just the story right now.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
