Hyde Park view of London

While I had been staying in Ealing I had been looking online at somewhere to stay. Being with the guys was cool, but it’s kind of their bachelor pad, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that. Plus I don’t fit in with the crowd that smokes and drinks, I didn’t want London to change who I am and I’ve never wanted to smoke and I hardly ever drink. I was looking into finding a house-share, which is what the guys were doing – sharing a house. With bills included I would be very lucky to find a place that would be about £85 per week. Most were £110 or so, but I found one place which I went to see. It was in the North of London, in an area that I wasn’t too keen on finding in the dark. The guy was really nice, he was looking after the job of finding a new tenant for his sister who owns the house. Seemed okay, at least there were girls here, although there was at least one couple which I wasn’t too keen on. I wanted to be straight though since he seemed like a nice honest guy, so I told him I probably wouldn’t be there as long as other people looking. So, I didn’t get it.

I kept looking online though, maybe there was a long-stay hostel somewhere or something. I found this website that looked really helpful, and found a place that looked amazing for the price – £79. Not wishing to be a burden any longer than necessary, and wanting a proper shower, I decided to book two weeks – not as long as I was really looking to stay if I got a job, but enough to check out the place. What I didn’t realize was that it meant £79 per night. What a blow! By the time I realized it was too late to cancel or change it, no way I could get a refund. Just half of my money down the drain. I was very angry at myself, I mean how stupid am I to not even realize that the price I was paying was far, far more than £160ish. I hate being so stupid sometimes. Rather than beat myself up about it too much, as that wouldn’t help me in any way, I decided to look at the positives. For one, I would get to see a nicer side of London than I had so far, I would get to stay in a really nice place for a while, and I would have a place to call my own almost in the middle of the city.

The place turned out to be a tiny room with a loudly squeaking single bed, a bathroom where not only could I brush my teeth while sitting on the toilet, I could practically shower there too, and a tiny kitchenette beside the bed. There was a kettle and a microwave on a shelf above the two hot plates. The microwave’s plug was hanging down freely, and didn’t seem to have any way of being plugged in. The kettle I could either plug in on the floor at the foot of the bed, or on the wall while perched on top of the bed. I used the bin as a bed side table, and since there was no table or chair that was useful for a cup of tea while I ate dinner. Good times. I don’t know quite how many times I pushed the bathroom door open with my ass when I was getting dressed after a shower.

On the day I moved in to that new home, I had a job interview. It was at a shop called Tezenis, I think, it sold lingerie although not much of it was anything I would want. It was quite plain, and a lot of it looked like it was for pre-teens. Anyway… the interview went okay, you never really know if they’ve gone really well or not, but she hadn’t asked me to stay on like she said she might. She said she would get back to me by the end of the week. I kind of hoped I wouldn’t get it, since I was pretty much decided by now that London would be lovely if you were with a bunch of friends, but by yourself it’s not so kind. I never heard from the lady, so I decided I would just see London for the rest of the two weeks and then be on my way. I remember on my way back from the interview feeling suddenly very far from home. There was no one to ask how it had gone. No one knew I’d been. No one knew me. I guess that’s another negative to having found that place near Hyde Park; I didn’t end up staying in a hostel where I might meet some fellow travelers.

I spent that week and the next exploring inner London. I thought I might begin with Regent’s Park and Madame Tussauds. I ended up just going to the park, since the wax museum was over twice the price I would pay to see an exhibition in an art gallery, and I didn’t have anyone to take silly photos with. The park was really nice, although I obviously caught it before it’s best. The rose garden was all spikey thick stems without leaves let alone roses. But it was a beautiful sunny day, and I found my way to the edge of a pond where two swans were pompously twining and fluttering and being elegant. I sat on a bench and took out my diary and a pen. I began by writing some thing that had been circling in my head, one of them was a note about the smells of London, which can change so suddenly from cheap men’s perfume to the acrid choking stench of cigarettes. Then I did something I hadn’t done for a long time, I drew what I could see. I drew the path with the benches and people walking, and I drew the swans in the pond, and I drew the large tree that was right in front of me. I really enjoyed it, sitting in the sun drawing. Then I took out my book and read for a bit. I was there more than two hours I think. By then I was very cold, since the English sun is pretty weak, and doesn’t warm you up very much.

I have so many more things to say from my visit to London, and this is long enough already, so I will end here for now.