Is it really only Wednesday?

When I was last living in London, all of two years ago, I seem to recall that I would almost always be able to buy all the ingredients I needed for an evening meal for less than £2. That is, if you divide the cost of things like soy sauce, cheese, or flour among all the meals they will be used in. Even when I was cooking for three people each time, I usually managed this. And this was what I based my food budget for this year on. But suddenly everything seems to be quite a bit more expensive...
At least I'm saving money on travel. Though on Monday I had a day using buses to ease myself in, on Tuesday I braved the streets on my bicycle for the first time. Though I made a mistake at just about every point where I had to turn onto a different road, and had to wheel my bike on a few bits where it didn't seem as though you could cycle across (for example some unexpected no right turns where I wanted to turn right) I didn't get really lost, and, as I had known from cycling in my first and third years at UCL, but somehow couldn't quite believe, I was able to verify that cycling in London really does look scarier than it is. With the few places where I have to wheel, and in some cases wait to cross at a pedestrian crossing, it does however come to a journey time of around half an hour- so only ten or fifteen minutes quicker than walking. Still, it's definitely more interesting, since you're either whizzing along too fast to get bored by the same old scenery, or trying to avoid being run over, and it saves carrying a heavy bag (I have a basket).

I cycled in again today, with a little more success though I still went a bit wrong, for the Graduate Students Induction. This was all very important and mostly relevant, but I can't really recall the specific details. It's all on the web though, so it's probably not too important. It was largely about what help and support is availiable, and how the departments are organised. Actually, I think the only thing that really grabbed my attention in the here and now was that apparently (we were told by the General Secretary of the Students' Union) you can buy the Guardian in the LSE shop for 20p. Considering it normally sells for 70p this is obviously a bargain. Though they were sold out by the time I got there today.

After cycling back to halls, I went out again by bus to see whether the London Underground Lost Property Office has my watch (it doesn't) and to get a washing up bowl, brush, cloths and teatowels- I went to Robert Dyas again, since I saw a branch close to the Lost Property Office- I'd thought I'd have to walk to Oxford St. Somehow, I also ended up with an A-Z and some scales- both things I'd meant to get though I hadn't even thought they might sell an A-Z in Robert Dyas, and I wasn't going to get scales today except that they had some reduced from £30 to £4.99 or thereabouts- I hope there isn't a good reason why. The bus ride was actually rather a nostalgia trip, since not only did it pass within sight of UCL, but also very close to where I was living in my fourth year, past shops I used to go to and the Thameslink station entrance to the underground I used to use sometimes.

When I got back I realised the tin of tomatoes I'd bought was not a ringpull type so I had to buy a tinopener. It would have been very easy to get one in Robert Dyas if I'd thought of it... as it was, I wandered down to what my new A-Z told me was called Whitechapel High St, which seemed like a good bet, and where I finally found an electrical, stationery and miscellaneous shop that sold them. So I was able to make my ratatouille as planned.

And of course, I've finally managed to install the internet, after following all the security recommendations on LSE's webpage, which took ages, not helped by the fact that I don't normally use the account with administrator privileges (long story) so one account had internet access and the other was allowed to install programs... At least my computer was able to get on with it during the two fire alarms we had in the course of one hour. I met L again outside, and told her I now knew the extension number for my room phone and would be emailing it to her.

All in all, a busy week, and it's only Wednesday. I thought it would be quiet as there were only two scheduled things I had to attend, but I didn't realise how long it would take to get equipped and generally up and running... Now I can't wait for classes to start, not that I'm exactly looking forward to the workload, but just that I'm getting scared that (a) the course content will be too hard for me, and (b) that I'll never manage to get all the work done and do the extra-curricular stuff I'm hoping will boost my cv. So I just want to see what it's actually like...