The cheapskate that i was, i actually managed to smuggle the pillow and blanket from my flight. *laugh* i was trying so hard to stuff the VERY BULKY items into my 2 already full bags. Amazingly, i did it! So now, i’m very comfy with my Givenchy blanket and in-room duvet, and a mini pillow.
Took some time to re-organize my bags in the toilet and boy, the customs queue is still as long as ever. Cleared customs with the minimal of fuss – smile at the officer, offer your greetings and wait patiently. Guess it helps that there were lots of other students also going through customs – it’s the season for incoming foreign students. And nope, xinyan, they didn’t make me take an x-ray. After getting all my luggage, decided to go through the nothing-to-declare lane and i passed without any incident. Dilly-dallied a lil too long at the airport, but i can also say that i had a good rest there. And yes, made new frens called tyra and Sonia.
Bought the cheapest water at boots – it still cost some S$4 for 2 small 750 ml bottles. Called up all the mini-cabs for quotations to get from heathrow terminal 3 to my accommodations at great dover street postcode SE1 (£38 cheapest quote). Turned out that dot2dot can do the same thing for only £20. But later, i realised a drawback. As my place was the furthest from the airport, the shuttle service would drop off its other 7 passengers first and me last. Hence, it was a long 2 hour ride before i reached my accommodations. The driver was very nice, chatting with me after the other passengers left. He must get paid pretty well, able to afford a £650 airfare to Bangkok 2 weeks ago and another £450 to phuket next month. Of course, he was gushing away about how cheap it is to enjoy himself in Thailand, since he was converting everything to pounds. I find it cheap just converting to sing dollars!
Anyway, reached accommodations, and nice driver helped me take all my luggage to the reception desk. Yup, got a taste of british rudeness at the reception desk. But never mind. I’m used to rude Singapore service. Nothing i can’t handle. Good news of the day – the room i was getting will be my permanent room! I can get my mum to send my care packages straight away! And i can unpack all my stuff straight away. After much juggling, i managed to cart all my luggage into my micro-small room in 1 trip! However, i got very stressed and depressed when i couldn’t find my phone in all my bags. I spent not an small amount of money calling up the shuttle service and waited a long time at the reception area for them to call me back – My room has no phone. Just like the immunization booklet, I gave up after 2 hours and went back to my room to unpack.
All’s well that ends well... unpacking the first bag unearthed my immunization booklet. Unpacking the second bag, i think i have packed more than enough clothes and not quite have enough closet space. Unpacking my last box, i realised i forgot to pack in a cup! so, meanwhile, i have to settle for tea in a bowl. replacing the white in-room given bedsheets with my own new bedsheets also helped in my depression. Deciding i need to walk around to get my bearings, i changed and put on my coat, etc. Then, i realised that my phone was in one of its pockets after all! Yippee! Straight away, No more depression!
Before i left, made friends with 2 of my apartment mates – we would share the corridor and kitchen for the next 40 weeks. One is a german girl, seriena, taking masters in intelligence and international security. Cool! Another is a black brit, joe, in his 3rd year at king’s college. Both very nice people at first impressions. The german gal has bought some pots and pans, crockery and cutlery and offered to share them with the rest of the apartment. The guy is friendly, has a constant smile on his face and laughs easily.
Spent about an hour outdoors, Walked about 3-4 km, i think. Pretty good ‘expedition’ – found a cafe place with free wifi, borough market (which i’m going tmr morning for fresh fruits and vege), londis mini-mart (not going there again!), tesco express (with a lot of half-price and one-for-one promotions), Sainsbury local (to explore tmr – i still need ham and bread). Noticed how much the brits love their happy hour after work and basically filled out every pub in the area. Seriously, every pub and drinking hole i passed by was filled to overflowing with loud and noisy brits drinking and smoking away. On a Thursday evening – i can’t imagine what tmr evening will be like.
The borough tube station is about 5 minutes from my accommodation. I’m in an area called southwark and apparently, it’s not exactly the safest area in london. just at the corner of my accommodation, there are a bunch of flowers in memory of a kid who was robbed and stabbed recently. There was also a notice telling people to take care of their safety when in the area. Er...
Got back at 8 pm but the sky was still a dull blue grey. Had my dinner – chicken roll thanks to sia. Read the free daily – the London paper, similar to our today, but distributed in the evening after-work rush, rather than the morning going-to-work rush. Succumbed to sleep at about 9 pm.
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