Wednesday 12th March

Had a strange day today. Woke up to a blue sky which was nice, but had really ache legs. Tried reading some of the critical studies texts and got halfway through one and decided I needed to get out however tired my legs were - there are too many long words in the text for my liking! I wanted to see if I’d had any reply confirming that my work had been emailed successfully, so I went back to the cafe Liz showed me yesterday. I had the most delicious vanilla milkshake whilst there, and it was nice to be somewhere quiet but not alone. I have no reply from the art school. On the way home I walked past the Virgin Megastore and decided to have a look. They had a small english book section, which I was excited about so ended up buying 1984, which I had been wanting to read for a while, along with a postcard with an image of 3 rubber ducks sitting on the edge of a bath on it - I couldn’t resist! When I was paying, the cashier noticed that I was buying an english book and asked if I could understand much French. I said a little, but not a lot, and she gave me 14 cheap entry cinema vouchers and said that watching french films was a good way to learn. It was very kind, but with a student card you can get the same price ticket anyway - 3.90 euros (very cheap compared to the £4.50 in Norwich), so I don’t actually need them. Back at the flat I arranged to meet Liz and Mary at the launderettes at 5.30pm, and sorted out the washing. Then I went to Mono-prix and did a big shop, stocking up on food and expanding my range to olive oil, tinned tomatos, sweet potatos and the like. The two bags were very heavy, but not as bad a carrying 6 bottles of water up to the flat! Then I began reading 1984 and at 5.15 I wandered down to the launderette with two bags of washing (I thought I may as well do everything at once), and got there just in time. It was very busy but there were two machines free. Five minutes later Liz and Mary walked thought the door. I was there for nearly two hours, trying again to read the critical studies text and learning french, waiting for the machine to finish, then waiting for a dryer, then waiting for the dryer to finish, but eventually I got home with lots of clean clothes. However, when I got them out of the bag they were still damp (damn nations), so I had to hang them up along with the stuff hanging up from yesterday, using the ladder rungs as well as the line, and drying socks and pillowcases on the little radiator. What a nightmare. Now my room looks even more like a laundry room, or that a bag full of clothes has exploded! Had gnocci in a tomato and mascapone sauce for tea (makes a change) and finished 1984, then spoke to Mum and Dad while still drying socks. And the rain has started again.