London 27/10/1989 Friday
We arrived here yesterday at 7:30, at the airport. We took a taxi. The taxis here are trippy! It’s very strange, the cars going the other way, cars going on the left instead of the right. Crossing the street is the worst, I always look the wrong way! We arrived at the student accommodation (in the center of London, Euston) and I sat on the stairs, waiting for my mum to get the keys from a colleague. It took her one hour! While waiting I got to practice my precarious English. First with a japanese woman (or chinese? not sure…) who asked if we were moving in, where to, etc. I answered as well as it was possible for me. Then an Australian asked if I knew any bars in the area, he stayed and chatted for a bit. My English is pretty useless. Then an African man turned up, and after speaking in English we started talking in Portuguese (so he’s probably from Mozambique?) – I could finally tell someone why I had been sitting on the steps for too long.
My mum finally turned up and we came to flat 5. This is where Carmen lives, she’s in Brazil right now and we can stay here until we find a permanent place. This flat is filthy and we need to get the communal vacuum cleaner to clean it. Today, at 11, after lots of crazy dreams (only Freud can explain…) I woke up. My mum and I had an homeric (ie. epic) argument, to start the day. She’s so annoying! Then we went to LSE and bought some food. Do I even have to say how different everything is here? Everything needs coins in the flat to work, electricity, washing machine (also communal). It’s only cold in the street, in the flat the heaters are on twice a day. In the supermarket you have to put £1 in the trolleys and then you get it back when you return it. £1 is about how much a packet of cheap cigarettes costs.
Our last day in Madrid: we went out to eat, then to the post office, then Plaza Maior. I bought a toreador souvenir, I just had to! Then we went to a shop called ‘Vitamina’. All sorts of smoothies, caipirinhas, caipiroskas. The owners are Brazilian.
I haven’t seen any tall buildings around, everything is low rise. Londoners don’t like tall buildings and it makes it feel like you are in a small town. It’s great!
We went to two Brazilian friends’ flat, nearby, to pick up Carmen’s tv. We chatted until very late. They said the English are neurotic and prejudiced… My mum is one of the oldest people in this student community. The average age is 32 for these masters and PhD students. We couldn’t not talk about politics. According to the polls my dear Lula is in second place.