More London

Life goes on in London.

Acquired more clothing, and I've been exploring the neighbourhood. Lots of ethnic shops where I can get all different kinds of food (including a Lithuanian shop that sells a variety of Latvian food as well). And the regular supermarkets also have great selections of food.

One thing that has surprised me here is the price of food - everyone says London is very expensive, but the food here in grocery stores is actually fairly cheap. The cheese in particular seems to be about half the price I'd pay for it in Canada, even considering the exchange rate. I found one cheese specifically that is also available in Canada - same brand and everything - that sells for one pound here (so about two Canadian dollars), that in Canada would cost upwards of five dollars.

Public transit is also fairly cheap if you work it properly. Taking the Underground everywhere would be very pricey, but buses are not. Buses are only 90p, and they go everywhere, and the zone pricing system that applies to the Underground doesn't apply to buses. If I wanted to take the Underground downtown, it would involve a 20 minute walk to the station plus 30 minutes on the Tube, and that would cost 2 pounds. Or, taking the bus, I have a 30 second walk to the bus stop, 30 minutes downtown on the bus, and it only costs 90p. I'm not adverse to walking long distances since doing the Camino, but in this situation, why would I do that to just end up spending more money? There are three buses a 30-second walk away that all go to different parts of downtown, and they all come every 5-10 minutes, so it is a decent system.

And oh, all prices quoted are using Oystercard. It is more expensive if you don't use Oystercard, but really, why would you not use it? Oystercard is a reloadable card that you can use both for pay-as-you-go (the prices quoted above) as well as a card on which you can put Travelcards and bus passes. There is a 3-pound deposit to get the card, but that pays for itself very quickly (without Oyster, a cash fare on a bus is 2 pounds, so you'd only have to make three bus trips to make it worth it).

Still looking for work, as well as interview/work-appropriate shoes. However, it appears that shoe stores don't want to stock anything besides shoes that belong in a red light district, so it might take awhile before I find something that is appropriate. I'll keep looking.

Hopefully I can acquire at least some temporary employment by the end of the week. Ciao for now!