Fitting the battle of life

…and love the recession. Or at least not worry about it, too much.

As a student, money has always been tight over the past three years. From rent being due at the ‘wrong’ time (e.g. a week before the next loan instalment is due to come in), to finding I barely had enough money left at Christmas to get home to my mother’s house, it’s not been an easy ride. I may have overspent in my first year, but I’ve learnt those lessons and have more or less stayed on-budget this year – and I’m still struggling.

Food prices have gone up, going out is as expensive as ever (especially in London), and that blonde idiot BoJo even had the tenacity to put the bus fares up by 10p. It may not sound much, but it means I get one less bus journey (potentially halfway across the capital) out of a £10 top-up on my oyster. My bike is coming out of retirement, and I’m walking a lot more. (It helps that the weather is starting to turn, and I’ve invested in a good, sturdy brolly…!)

Anyway, for posterity, and anyone who might stumble upon this, here are some of my hot tips for a) surviving as a student, and b) surviving as a student in the recession. Read the rest of this entry »

I am a sucker for the old Waterstones 3 for 2. Especially when I’m being dragged around Norwich by my mother and sister looking at shoes all day – popping into any bookshop is frankly a relief. And I love books.

I just finished Libra by Don DeLillo, and am (and have been for some time – pesky exams getting in the way) two-thirds of the way through Underworld by the same. And yet there I am, bored out of my mind, and I’ve got £20 left in the bank. A 3 for 2 on £8 paperbacks is tempting at the best of times, but witht that little money in my account you’d have thought it would be a firm no. But the shoes were getting on my nerves…

…so I bought (for probably a lot more than I could have paid online, but hey – I enjoyed the process of buying them, because it saved me from the shoes):

• We Need to Talk About Kevin,
• Midnight’s Children, and
• No Country for Old Men,

which I might get round to reading this Summer. Maybe. Perhaps.

Terrible title, I know.

Went into Camden today to get some new shoes, as my old ones were a bit messed up. That’s mostly thanks to a couple of hours playing football in them, which I do not recommend doing in Converse! Anyway, pictures of old shoes with damage and my brand spanking new ones:

Pretty good for £45 I think – from Scorpion, which is on Camden High Street here.