"The selection"

Well the weekend passed uneventfully and my cold passed of its own accord without the need for antibiotics I'm happy to say. I have a couple of days off before heading to England for 5 days and since the bf is in the middle of exams and is often physically and almost always mentally unavailable I have been left to my own devices. This is probably a good thing however as my diplomatic skills are needed at home where we are 'selecting' a new housemate (this is a rigorous and strictly observed process and you need to have gone through at least 2 Italian houseshares to fully comprehend how to do it).

As well as an advanced degree in housemate selection, diplomacy is needed because my housemates have inexplicably fallen out over the course of the last 6 months (while I've been at work they've been at home studying and getting themselves worked up over all sorts of imagined slights that I've then had to hear about on my return from work). Result is I'm acting as intermediary in the organisation and selection process. So far we've had one guy who made the comment "so, we can organise that I cook and you two clean seeing as you're girls". Err, no thanks buddy. We've had another guy who keeps phoning with random questions about the wardrobe dimensions or similar but won't confirm that he's interested or even that he wants a second look around. We've had three no-shows. And today we had a nice French girl who we hope beyond all hope will call back with a yes. We're sort of desperate; there are only 7 days until the room has to be occupied by a new housemate. And the UN representative (me) is leaving the day after tomorrow. Therefore tomorrow evening is decision time. Let's see if the selection has been effective or if we're left chasing the fish we rejected and threw back into the sea.