Friday, January 4, 2008:
Landed at Heathrow at 11am, managed to make it through customs and everything just fine. Jumped into a cab that cost me 39 pounds. Checked into my hotel early and discovered neither my cell phone or calling card worked after making it into Harrow. I walked all the way back to the hotel and then back down into town before finally reaching my mom [to let her know I had landed safe]. I wasted time wandering the shopping district. Bought a sandwich from a place called Costa Coffee. Decided to spend the rest of the afternoon just relaxing in the hotel room. I had no intention of sleeping, but I dozed on and off while watching Brainiac on SKY 1.
So now I'm sitting on the bed; on a mattress that is more like a piece of foam set on springs, and I'm watching The Simpsons. Half of the lights don't work, the toilet is tempermental, as well as the sink. The shower drain regurgitates when I use the sink, and I have a space heater as my only source of heat. On top of it all, I just figured out that none of my plug adaptors/converters are going to work, so I have to go search for batteries for my alarm clock tomorrow. I won't have the internet until tomorrow (I actually didn't get it until a week later). At least tomorrow I will be settling in to my permanent residence, instead of being in this tiny hotel room.
... Written by me last year on the first day of my half-year stay in England. It was sunshine and daisies the whole time, quite obviously. But I still miss it. Can't believe it's been a year already. That hotel room was more like a dungeon cell than anything, although it did have TV. I never had TV in my one-roomed flat. I kept getting angry letters in the mail from the government that I needed a license for my TV, but I didn't have one! I was sort of afraid that some TV squad was going to come busting in through the doors and punch a hole in my computer, mistaking it for the TV-in-question that I had never purchased a license for. But then I found out from some locals that they just send the letters to intimidate people into actually buying the license. I got about 50 Final Notices throughout my stay.
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