Paying in cash always makes me feel like an idiot

Once again, I got to work fifteen minutes early this morning.  I'm so early, there's no one in the office yet.  I even made a detour to get a tasty pastry at the Costa around the corner.  A tasty pasty indeed.  I sat on some steps and om om'd away until a silver Toyota pulls up in front of Blackdog.  I start in surprise to find that Duncan, the CEO of the place, was riding in the back seat.  He had a driver drive him to his place of work!  Not sure how much he gets paid, but damn man!  He preceded to pull out children's toys from the trunk of the car.  It's apparently his young son's birthday party today.  Aww.

Spent the day toiling away at scanning text and reading it to make sure it translated correctly.  Lunch was leftover pesto pasta from last night including the piece of cheesy bread I didn't eat.  Since there wasn't a microwave, I heated up the pasta on the stove and used the oven to heat the bread.  Burnt my hand getting the bread out.  When I finished eating and washing up my dishes, Marianne taught me some burn treatment tricks.

Burn treatments:
- dip burn in milk instead of water
- when milk isn't available, use lukewarm water
- it's important to keep the burn moist and cool
- feminine products are really good for bullet wounds (this she learned in Australia, where she's originally from)

Was also sent to the post office today.  On the way there, a section of sidewalk was taken over by a group of protesters who wanted human rights somewhere in the world.  I think it was the Congo because Marianne said that they do that on occasion.  There were policemen keeping them contained in an area but not imposing on their right to free speech.  Marianne also said that if you look around the corner, you see back up policemen crouching down and reading to keep the riot contained if it ever gets that bad.  I wasn't looking.  And everything Marianne said to me about those protesters I learned when I returned from the post office.

At the post office, I felt very incompetent because I was fumbling with change (can almost tell a twenty pence from a ten pence from a fifty pence!) and I wasn't sure what to do next with the letters.  I would think that if someone looked that incompetent or had such a dubious look on their faces, the worker would be more inclined to help them.  Apparently not.  I had the feeling she rolled her eyes once or twice.  Either way, I was glad to be done with it.

Then it was back to work where I learned that I can, indeed, take next week Friday off and split up the hours between Monday and Thursday.  Which means no late nights on Sunday.  I can live with that.  When Monday happens, I'll have to check with Marianne to see if it could happen again sometime in November.  No exact dates for my next trip yet, but I'll be planning!

Checked out a couple bargain bookstores on my way home.  Both were entitled Bargain Books and both looked to be different branches of the same store.  Liked the second branch more because there was a section of classics and they were mostly classics I want to read.  What made it even better was that ALL the books in the ENTIRE shop were two pounds each.  TWO POUNDS A BOOK!!!  Such a steal!  (That's roughly $4!)

Attempted to make a picture journey of the bus ride back to Lambeth North.  Instead, the pictures turned out blurry and I got distracted by today's Evening Standard because Matt Smith was in the corner.  (Matt Smith = current Doctor Who)

Made sweet and sour chicken on the stove when I got home.  This was a meal from Iceland.  You could either use the stove or the microwave, and I decided to use the stove.  Halfway through cooking, Vanessa comes in and tells me I can use the microwave, it's much faster.  I told her that I knew that and that I wanted to use the stove.  One of these days, I'm going to tell her "If I wanted to use the [more convenient method], I'll use it."  And it's going to sound as snappish as it's written.

Then I cleaned my room.  Yes, that's right.  You read me right.  There's less clutter, I actually threw away the trash, and now I'm really annoyed about a stain in the corner of my desk.  It's sticky and still wet and I would like it gone now.  Also, there were a couple newspaper articles that were too funny to throw away (like the one about the thieves chased onto a roof and then got stuck waiting for a fire truck's cherry picker to get them down and the other one about a millionaire who ran off a cliff on his segway).  I cut them out and they're now nestled in my "Souvenirs" folder.  I also started decorating the area around my world map.  Here, take a look:

There's a giant advertisement for Wicked in the paper.  The dude in the corner of the map is the Matt Smith that distracted me today.  The postcard is a generic postcard from London surrounded by a Tube travel card and a bus ticket.  The red poppy in the corner was for the children.  Yes, I did charity work in London.

Also today, I made plans with neighbor Hattie to see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater on Wednesday.  Which means I did not think things through because I have to work the next day.  Oh well, it'll be worth it.  So worth it!!  We're going to figure out tickets, but we figure they'll be cheaper than the website I found online.  We hope.  Repayment will happen in cash.

Goals next week:
- The Phantom of the Opera stage show
- leave for Edinburgh on Friday