I was shocked and appalled to discover yesterday that a train from London to Leeds would cost me £70 sterling return. Clearly my complaints about the cost of trains in Ireland were foolish and misplaced, this is phenomenally overpriced. It would cost me substantially less to get a plane. Not to mention that to get a plane back to London this Sunday would not involve the plane stopping halfway, dumping me onto a bus for an hour and a half, and then a fresh plane being supplied where the sky starts again, 60 miles further on.

On the other hand, the eurostar doesn’t seem all that extortionate, so I am planning a trip to Paris on it. I will admit to having originally envisioned a massive glass tube through which we could watch whales for hours, despite knowing full well that 1. the undersea part of the journey only lasts about 30 minutes, 2. There are no whales in the English channel, and 3. the damn thing is not made of a transparent material of any kind. Its amazing what little fixations the human brain can come up with.

Anyway, I realise I covered my first couple of days here in detail, and then completely left a blank. So I’ll summarise as concisely as possible. I stayed the first week with Agnes. I was stunningly lucky, and found a perfect place to live by Wednesday, but couldn’t move in until Saturday, so she had to put up with me until then. Sophie’s last night in London lasted most of that week, or so it seemed, I wish I could have been a more active part of it, but unfortunately I spent most of the week exhausted, having had very little chance to catch up on sleep lost on the days leading up to my move.

On Saturday I moved into the flat, along with new flatmates Josh and Julia. Josh is a cute Australian, who likes meat and beer, and carries heavy things. He’s also a chemist, who has to be in work by 8am every morning. Ouch. Julia is an assistant photographer, or maybe just trying to be one, I’m not too sure about this stuff. Apparently it involves working for free until a photographer offers to pay you. She showed us her portfolio the other night though, it was amazing. I have limited art knowledge, and no photography knowledge, but I know what has meaning, and on that scale her work is really good. Then we have Halona, who was away at the time, South African chick, but Indian descent, she’s a banker, and a bit of a girl, but she’s cool. Anthony is the token English guy, he’s an assistant photographer who has managed to get paid, he moved in last so I don’t know much about him yet, but he has a good sense of humour, and seems pretty alright.

Agnes and Moise (adorable French guy, I can spell neither his nor her name correctly without switching keyboard layouts) cooked dinner in my new place the first night, and everyone had a really good time, Joanna called over, and Jim even appeared as he was avoiding the Ministry of Sound for the evening. It was a great night, of much drinking and hilarity. Overall, I’m amazed I found a place, and much more amazed that I like everyone who lives there. We’ve all started off fairly equal, as we all moved in at pretty much the same time, and so far it’s been a blast. We get on really well. Hopefully we’ll all be staying at least the 6 months of the lease. I am also the proud possessor of a credit card and bank account. This whole London thing is working out quite well really…

I love it when a plan comes together.