It looks like there's a brief respite in the weather. Perfectly timed I reckon - much longer and it would have been a bit much. My new offices are nice and airy, although yesterday the heat still managed to sap everyone's will to work. Every year it's a dilemma whether to get air conditioning - the heat that stops you sleeping at night usually only lasts a couple of weeks, and that doesn't quite justify the thousands of euros that AC seems to cost. However, it's only June at the moment, and we've got July and August to go, so that seems a bit ominous.

Last night someone found a solution to the heat, and that was to run around the street throwing water balloons at each other. Would have been fantastic if it wasn't for two things - a) I wasn't invited, and b) it was one in the morning.

Sound from the street carries all the way up to my fourth floor flat. It manages to seep easily into the gaping gaps in my windows (gaping gaps?), since I've got picturesque but ancient windows - no double glazing in my century apparently. Normally the street is quiet, since it's not on a main road, but it always seems to be on the sleepless nights that someone decides to deafen his mobile phone, or just plain yell at the walls. A month ago it was a spontaneous football game....

So, I've decided to move apartment. It's not just the noise, more of a strategic downsize because I'm in a huge flat which I don't need and I want more disposable income (I just love disposing my income!).

It's a tough decision to make. Not because of how much I love my apartment or my quartier, but because of the pure hassle of finding a place. The whole process is messy, and not helped by the unhelpful tenant/landlord rules here. Tenants have lots of rights. Landlords also do, but are generally terrified of the tenants rights. Now I've explained about having a dossier packed with all your life details in my 'Moving to Paris' entry, although not to any great detail. Being self employed makes that challenging straight away. But for me the biggest hoop I have to jump through is the three month's notice I have to give to my current agents to inform them that I'm leaving.

The trouble is if I go and see a flat now, the owner is rarely impressed by having to wait three months before I move in. They usually will pass you over for someone who can move in tomorrow. So, my best option is to give my notice in now, wait a month or so, then find a flat. The risk is, of course, not finding a flat. Cardboard boxes and wine in plastic bottles start to appear on the horizon.

So... here's the point of this post. Has anyone got an apartment to rent? Sounds bizarre since my occupation is apartment rental, but I don't really deal with long term rentals. Preferably a studio I guess...