I Still Know What You Did Catching Up: Saturday, September 16, 2006

Damn! I wake up to find that I’ve lost my last 2 genuine Montreal bagels, my cherished organic instant coffee, butter, etc., all of which I had bought while staying at Wigram House. The reason they're gone is that yesterday (Friday) was officially the last day for the outgoing residents, and the cleaning crew (who don’t speak a word of English) are apparently under orders to be merciless with anything they find still lying around. Sadly I had not suspected this and had thrown my stuff in the fridge with theirs. Even a note saying "Please do not throw this out" would have been ineffective. The only alternative would have been to keep my yogurt and butter in my room -- not exactly an appetizing prospect.

But one man’s trash is another’s treasure, and score! Belatedly cluing in to what’s going on, I practically leap into the kitchen across the hall to see what I can salvage, since I am one of the few residents, incoming or outgoing, in the entire campus. So I help myself to lots of free kitchen accoutrements, including knives, cutlery, plates, pots & pans, and several staples like spices. It’s a good haul, and as a result I have saved a good deal of money and, just as importantly, time shopping. I am glad that I didn’t buy that package deal offered in advance, after all. I wander around the Kenton road in search of breakfast.

At this point I will pause to remind myself that if I keep writing about money in the way that I am, I risk turning this blog into a dry, boring accounting ledger not unlike Bill Wyman's Stone Alone. If you've ever read it, you'll know what I mean: the first hundred pages are fairly amusing, until he gets caught up in the pounds and pence. Anyway, if I'm not careful this will turn out identical to his book. Except he was 53, and Mandy was 19 at the time. And I'm only 43. I have no "Mandy." And I'm not a millionaire. Yet.

I’ve now waited too long, and the food deprivation headache is just kicking in when I find a small cafe further down the Kenton road, and I get a hearty (if fatty and meaty) breakfast for a reasonable sum (£2.85, or around $6.00... doh!). Beggars can’t be choosers, and under the circumstances it tastes like one of the most delicious and nutritious meals I have ever had, particularly the coffee.

At the corner there’s a gas station where it suddenly occurs to me that it's a likely place to buy an A to Z Guide of Harrow. I'm already reasonably familiar with the area around the Marylebone campus, and since this will be my base of operations for the next 9 months or so I reckon it's a good investment. Even so I’d also like to buy an A to Z Guide of London itself, with larger print and clearer maps, to replace the small but unreadable Collins book I bought. I think my eyesight is degenerating day by day.

Today I met two of my new flat mates, Shashank & Anu in flat O. They are from India.
Later, I head out from some dinner groceries. With or without passport, it turns out that not even a major chain like Sainsbury’s will accept my American Express travelers’ cheques; they are not worth the paper they are printed on, in England anyway. Perhaps if they were called "Colonial Express"...? (Let this be a warning to you all. Sure, the banks and everyone recommends that you carry them – but that’s only because the banks charge you for getting them, and then the bank that changes them into actual cash gets a slice of the pie too. I'd swear they are in collusion.) Finally, after some 20 minutes of haggling, persuading and generally smooth-talking through successive levels of line manager, someone agrees that they should, indeed, accept travelers’ cheques and I even manage to get some change to add to my (still alarmingly small) reserve of cash.

First thing Monday I’m going to a bank to get rid of the damned things, even if they soak me more cash. This hassle is not worth it. Never again will I use them. Spread the word; they are as practical as teats on a bull.

I just hope that the sum it surrenders will sustain long enough that I can open a bank account (since we Internationals are warned it may take weeks) and wire myself some funds from home. Otherwise it’s credit cards all the way, which is just throwing good money after bad.