The Big Smoke, aka The Real World

(Photo: J.A. Alcaide)

Sorry for the new-post delay but I've been living a rather jam-packed lifestyle during my interesting transition from student to real person, with, hopefully, generating prospects.

After I finished my dissertation, and allowed a few days to say goodbye to my fellow confused friends, I headed up slightly North like I was off on holiday (but never coming back).
Essentially, you could say I have moved to London, but that would be completely misleading and a blatant lie - this would be because what I am, in a rather large nutshell, is a squatter: of the fairly legal kind.
Every morning when my brother opens his bedroom door he will find a strange man lying on a mattress in the corrider. This man is me.

There are, however, many perks about working in the city, and these are as follows:

Number 1 - Forget about going to a fancy spa (I never have), you can get a sauna of the fainting variety on the Victoria Line. It's all the rage to look like you've been for a run in the Sahara before arriving at work.

Number 2 - Lots of people where perfume/aftershave - students can't afford this luxury generally- sometimes this is a good smell but sometimes it's like having a bag of dried fruit slapped in your face, repeatedly.

Number 3 - Tourists always seem happy (why wouldn't they...they're on holiday!)- although they also seem to walk insanely slow and trap you as you attempt to pass them.

Number 4 - Lots of London workers lunch in expensive outlets- I have been trying to make my own sandwiches to save money, but a) they go off in the heat b) I make them and then leave them behind accidentally.

Number 5 - Everyone thinks they're a celebrity - what I mean by this is, particularly in the area near where I am doing my internship in central London, a considerable amount of people wear sunglasses, which is normal when there is sun. But, when you're on a tube, with not the best lighting, there is still a large amount looking like they're hiding from the paparazzi.

Number 6 - For all these things it's actually a lot of fun (I'm not sure my brother agrees).