Random Thoughts

Ceci arrived a little while ago, and while she is taking a nap I thought I'd talk about a few things that have been on my mind.

I really like this flat--the location is good and the flat is quite spacious.  But on a Friday and Saturday night, especially, you can pay the price for being in a hot spot.  The sirens are blaring at all hours of the night.  I was woken up at 3:30 on Friday/Saturday night/morning by a screaming siren and someone talking at the top of his lungs.  The week before, when Lynne was here, she swore that she heard a woman getting murdered, or sounding like it, at about the same time.  The building across the street, Aquarium Bar in the Albert House, apparently a private club, has people standing outside from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.  Lynne says that is where the screaming was coming from.  There is a firehouse next door to my building, but most of the sirens are from police cars.  I think Old Street must be a good avenue for getting to other places in the city.  Or else there is a boat load of crime in this neighborhood.

This picture is taken from my window.  The club is in the blue building, not the one on the corner which is the now defunct Bar Aquarium.

And to accommodate all the revelers, they put temporary urinals on the street just next to my building on Friday and Saturday nights. They are gone by about 11AM the next day. Quite thoughtful, I'd say, unless you're a woman.

I am getting pretty good with the money, though I'm still likely to just give someone a pound rather than try to come up with 85p.  Which means I now have a lot of coins.

I had a bit of an incident with the washer/dryer on Wednesday.  My sneakers were getting pretty rank so I decided to wash them.  There was even a setting on the washer/dryer for shoes.  But I made the mistake of trying to dry them as well.  The dial said 40 degrees.  I figured, how much damage could 40 degrees do?  It was only later than I remembered they use Celsius here, not Fahrenheit.  My shoes came out in so may pieces I could actually see exactly how they were made--and unmade.  Anyway, I had to buy new walking shoes.  From what I can tell, they don't believe in wide sizes here, so my shoes are very long and just wide enough.  They also have a good instep and for someone with basically flat feet, it now feels like I am walking on the outside edges of my feet.  On the other hand, my back is better.

I spent much of Thursday looking for those shoes and also buying some clothes that were appropriate for summer.  It has been very warm here and my sweaters, though light, are just not doing it.

I am beginning to think about having to go back and it is making me a bit nervous--not sad, just nervous, realizing about all the things I have to do when I get home.  Need to put those thoughts off for at least a few weeks.