In One Ear And Out The Other

You know, while walking around today I kept finding inspiration for today's blog post - it was everywhere.  And then I got home and couldn't remember a single bit of it.  Typical.  So I guess today's post will be boring, sorry.

Something I forgot to post about last week: my packages arrived six business days after I posted them from the States.  If you need to ship just a few boxes overseas, definitely use USPS!  Low cost, high reliability.  Woop.

In other nuts and bolts news, I've finally gotten a new phone.  When I arrived in London in September 2008, I bought the cheapest phone I could find and went off a pay-as-you-go scheme.  Bad idea.  I could have saved tons of money if I had had the foresight to buy a monthly payment deal.  When I arrived this time around, as I've said before, I went straight to the O2 store to get a new phone and a contract.  I had to wait for both until my new UK debit card arrived (Thursday) and I transfered all of my money from my American account to my British account (Friday), but as soon as those two things happened I hied myself to fix what was quickly turning into a money sinkhole.  I got a BlackBerry, which was what I had in the States, for free along with a £30/month contract that includes unlimited texts and 600 minutes of calls.  (Love BlackBerries.  Hate iPhones.  Why are we smartphone owners so passionate about our gadgets?  It's sad, really.)  A warning to any of you planning on buying a phone and a contract when you move over to the UK: if you have no credit history here, as I don't, they will charge you a £100 deposit to ensure that you don't run away with your phone; apparently I'll get the deposit back after three months, but it's still a chunk taken out of my account that I would have rather stayed in.  Boh.  Another complicating thing is that I transfered my old number to my new phone, but the transferring process takes 2 business days - my old number won't be on my new phone till Wednesday.  So for now I have two phones, two numbers, an empty wallet, and a headache.

Went to the V&A today with Edward, my visiting friend.  (He and I are cultural buddies: Tate Modern on Thursday, V&A today, and Wilde's Salome at Hampstead Theatre on Wednesday.  My brain is exhausted just thinking about it all!)  Unless you're going to see a particular exhibit, I really think the best way to explore the V&A is to wander and get lost in the endless galleries.  (Jon says that visiting the V&A is like rooting through your eccentric, well-travelled, wealthy aunt's attic and discovering all the curiosities she's brought home from her adventures.)  We meandered the halls for about two hours, which is my museum-wandering limit.  One of my favorite galleries, surprisingly, was the one of metalwork.  Such gorgeous wrought iron pieces!  I kept daydreaming about having this balustrade on my staircase, or that firescreen in my living room... it was heavenly, especially since I'm going though an iron patio furniture phase.  This gate cresting is one of the pieces I liked the most, though I don't know if I'll ever live somewhere grand enough to warrant it:

And on that note, I wish you all a happy Monday!