Still a little fish

The thing about big city life without a car or chauffeur or even so much as a skateboard is that not only do you have to walk everywhere, but there are also fewer one-stop shopping opportunities. I come from a town where nearly all my day-to-day needs can be satisfied by a 15-minute drive. Even without a car at college, a bus can take you to a Target pretty easily. Here, there is no Target, no Sears, and even the supermarkets tack words onto their names, like "Sainsbury's Local" or "Tesco Metro," to mean "Just the same as our suburban stores, except one eighth the size and we also don't carry mayonnaise." (And don't get me started about grocery shopping; I'm faced with the grim prospect of having to buy a Nana-style rolling grocery cart just because I happen to go through milk like a binge-eating calf.) I needed to get my watch battery and strap replaced, and while I would have known just what to do in the States (Sears Jewelry Counter, 10 minute drive), it was an all-day affair finding a pharmacy that sells watch batteries, learning that they don't open your watch for you, trying to pry open the watch, failing, and then tracking down a jeweler (or "jeweller" as they are known here). 40-minute walk (or £1.50 tube fare) each way. On the way, though, I did find all sorts of furniture stores, camera shops, and cell phone places, and at least 20 shoe stores that merit second and third visits later if I can figure out my British shoe size.

The good thing about big cities, especially foreign ones, is that there are generally no Wal Marts. I have heard that there is a version of Wal Mart here, but I have not seen it yet and so much the better.

Update on the Quaker coffee shop: perhaps not the place to hang out if one is averse to being surrounded by QUAKERMANIA, but the coffee was decent, takeaway, and only 80p, so I consider it a definite contender in the Coffeelympics 2006.

posted by limeywannabe @ 11:07 PM