London
Day 137
Wednesday Dec16
I woke up on the bus yesterday after a much needed couple of hours of sleep and it was snowing. It looked so cool and I really didn’t expect it.
The bus ride was fairly uneventful however it did take one and a half hours to travel from the out skirts of London to the centre. It was snowing however and looked really pretty so I didn’t mind.
First things first I walked from the arrivals part of Victoria coach station to the Departures part and dropped my pack at the left luggage. From here it was off to try and find a cable for both my computer and my camera.
I knew there were a lot of electronic shops on a street called Tottenham Court road. So I jumped on the tube and headed here. After stuffing around in a few shops I eventually found what I was looking for. It was a bit more expensive then I’d hoped for however and I ended up forking out 55 for the computer lead and 20 for the Camera cable. At least the bloke was nice enough to knock 5 quid off the price for the cable as a Christmas present for me.
Next I went back to Victoria station to try and find somewhere with some Wifi that I could use. But with also a power point. I found some power points up in the food court and dragged a chair over beside them. They didn’t work and had phone numbers written underneath them. I figured you’d have to call someone up to have them activated.
Un detterred I went back to a star bucks I’d seen and lined up for a coffee. I asked about the WIFI. It was working however you needed to pay 5 quid to sign up for a star bucks card. I decided I didn’t really need the WIFI and just sat down and began typing.
I sat here for about two hours. Trying to catch up. It was pretty painful especially writing about the previous night.
1430(18Dec)
After grabbing my pack from the left luggage at the couch station I jumped on the tube to head out to meet Ellie. After 2 tube rides I got to Angel station, near where Ellie works. The plan was to just chill out waiting for her to ring me when she finished work. So for a change I found a star bucks and ordered a cup of tea. I was a little worried earlier that I was addicted to Coffee as I’d been drinking a heap so I decided to go cold turkey just to make sure. I’m pretty sure I’m ok.
After a series of phone calls establishing which of the 4 star bucks I was at on Islington High road Ellie finally met me. She’s a great laugh and has an assortment of mannerisms identical to Laurens. She was one of the 3 that I’d met in Budapest at Sziget.
After a quick pit stop at ellies which was only a 5 minute walk away we decided that staying in the frigid house was no good and went down to the local to meet Mick. One of the housemates. He’s an interesting guy. Typical quiet expat, hated the cold. There’s no way I could live in London. Sure you can have fun here but it’s probably the least interesting capital city I’ve been to.
Next on the cards was dinner. Just around the corner was another pub called “The famous cock” so we went there. It was good there and the 7 quid I paid for the hunters chicken was definitely worth every penny. They also had one of the EPL games on a Big screen so mick and I watched that while Ellie stared into space.
My self and Ellie were dead tired so the three of us decided to go home. Here Mick made my day. While offering a drink it the options were water, juice, milk or VB. So we sat down and drank the stubbies having a bit of a laugh.
I was so tired by the time I put my head down. I really wanted to watch a family guy episode so I put one on. But by 15 minutes into the episode I was dead dead tired so I turned it off and made myself comfy. I had the whole floor. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor, yeah sure it’s hard but it’s flat and it’s like having an infinitely sized bed so being tall it’s not too bad and I had an awesome sleep.

Day 138
Thursday Dec17
1500(18Dec)
I woke up on Thursday at 0730 and packed. Ellie joined soon after but I wasn’t quite ready to leave when she left so I waited for Laura to get up to let me out. You cant lock the door at there place and just close it behind you so I needed one of them to let me out.
The tube into town was packed. I grabbed a ticket for 1pound 60. Not bad I figured I expected it to be more. I was lucky here and didn’t have to change lines to get to victoria station.
As with home to get out of a tube station you need to swipe your ticket. So upon leaving I put my ticket in and it spat it back at me. I tried again and got the same ‘seek assistance response’. I took my ticket to one of the guys to seek some assistance. Turns out I’d just bought a top up for there oyster cards. First the guy told me that I’d have to go back to where I’d come from and buy another ticket. I asked if I could just buy one there, he said no I’ve bought the worng ticket I said “Yeah I know I f***ed up didn’t I” he laughed at that and just let me through. I was wearing my santa hat so he couldn’t not let me.
I went upto the food court where I’d been the day before to use the net. And grabbed a bagel and a coffee. I’d totally forgotton that I was boycotting coffee and there was a deal on. Oh well.
I sat down to try and sort some stuff out and at first had a bit of bad luck and originally was quite depressed. I was hoping to spend new years up in a cabin in the hills of Austria but apparently there isn’t enough space. Then I got word from my university that was not positive towards me working in Austria the following year.
But then I got some good news. One hurdle for working this year in Austria was enrolling at TU graz. One of the requirements is to have a sufficient knowledge of the german language which means you need to be able to say more then Yes no, and two beers please in the local language. But Martin informed me that there’s the possibility that I could enrole as an “extraordinary student” to get around this requirement and I like this title too.
Next I again tried to reach Chris, the POME we had when I was in high school. He’s studying in Oxford so the plan was to crash at his for the night. But I didn’t have his number so this was going to proove difficult.
I was lucky with the bus ticket. The lady asked me if I was a student and had a card and it saved me 5 quid. I was stoked.