convenience
Continued…
I spent the last few days walking around trying to familiarize myself with everything in the broad day. The other night on my way back from Eliza and The Phoenix I got lost. Every street looks the same and my ‘remember the roundabout’ theory didn’t work. There are roundabouts everywhere.
I’ve found a grocery store, a liquor store and several little convenience stores and I know the number of streets I have to turn down to get to them all. I keep twenty pounds – about thirty five dollars – in my pocket at all times just in case I get lost. I can get a cab even if it’s just around the corner. Bella said only use Black Cabs because otherwise it could be any ole sex offender with a neon sign. Paul (the housemate) told me to ignore Bella and that if I wanted my money to last I better start shopping at the Co-op or Somerfield, “Tesco will kill you.” Tesco’s a grocery store in the city center. They have loads of French and Indian food but no buttermilk.
The convenience stores around here are all pretty small. The aisles are narrow and gritty and they sell some kind of beer in two-liter plastic containers to kids who look twelve. I’ve not managed to do a proper shop yet. I’m afraid my money will run out. I buy a Twix Bar and a Sunny D every day and that’s all. I eat nothing else. I’ve lost six pounds. Bella’s fixing dinner tonight. She said “I love to cook for people. Everybody calls me Monica.” Like, from Friends.
20 August 1998
