Done some strange things in my time. Actually no I haven't, I'm particularly boring and normal. Which is why currently I'm going internally berzerk on the hour every hour wondering why I can't see the Harbour Bridge from my bedroom and why none of my mates seem to be answering their mobile phones anymore. For today, I am in London. And I still can't quite figure out why.
When I got to Korea I thought I should take a quick walk around the hotel to get the jist of a winter climate. That was a brisk five minute walk and enough I thought to give me an idea of what was to come. 12 degrees it was. Landed at Heathrow the next day - 6 degrees. 6 degrees of bone chilling appendage shrinking separation. Suffice to say I noticed it. Look I know it's boring as watching CSI Miami to talk about the weather, but when you're in a new city, the weather is the one thing that you do have a point of reference of. I don't understand where the roads go. Don't really understand how the money is valued. But I do understand that 6 degrees knocking off probably another 2 or 3 for wind chill is not quite what I've been groomed for in the fair land of Oz. If the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one, then "hi, my name is Chris, and I'm rather chilly at the moment. Can someone be a love and put the kettle on".
For a while I found it quite refreshing. And I felt rather comforted when my good friend and resident tour guide Dan said "Mother [INSERT SWEAR WORD HERE] it's mother [INSERT SWEAR WORD HERE]-ing cold at the moment". If he'd have said "tshirt weather come on we're going streaking!!!" I fear I would have hunted down a travel agent and boomeranged straight back into shame. So now the novelty of "well it's not quite like it is back home" has worn off, and now I'm fully into survival mode. And I'm actually quite liking it. Get your jumper. Your coat. Your scarf. Your gloves. Take a beanie. In London you can take a backpack around the city and not feel like you need to chuck in a book or an ipod to justify it. And you can wear all this stuff and not feel like a pretentious twat for doing so. A scarf in Sydney? Get your hand off it mate. Seriously.
So now I am a dosser. The lowest of the low. I'm bunked up with Handsome Dan in a fantastic four storey place in Islington (which I really should take a photo of so I can spare you the tedium of explaining the layout), and the clock is now ticking. Learn the city. Get your bearings. Figure out the transport system. Do the math and figure out just how long your savings are going to last you. Actually forget the sums - the answer is "not bloody long matey". I'd love to take a room at Dan's but whoa baby the rent is out of control. And until you earn pounds, EVERYTHING is even more expensive that people have warned you about. Things that cost ten dollars in Australia still cost ten pounds in the UK, and it's far too easy to think that it's not really that bad. And I thought New York was expensive. Nuh uh. But wow, I've seen more stuff I've wanted to buy in one day here than pretty much the last ten years of my life. Could this be my town? Maybe. If I can afford it.
ps - Shopping tip #1: Old Street. Brick Lane. Sunday Up Markets. My first purchase for the UK...
Come in Mike Skinner, your time is up...
