It's been a productive but expensive afternoon. I've finalized plans for my trip during our week off, so from Oct. 23-27 I'll be in Paris, then to Venice via Milan until the 1st of November. I actually got a damn good deal on the whole trip (it was about £250 less than I thought it would be), but still, I think it's the most money I've ever spent in one go apart from my surgery. It's a little nerve-racking to just slap down a credit card for something of that amount, but I've attempted to soothe my usual qualms about spending money for this trip by telling myself that it doesn't matter if I come home bankrupt as long as all the essentials (i.e., rent) are paid for. After all, how many times in my life am I going to get to do this?

Some further observations about London:

The spirit of petty crime is alive and well. I've been lucky, and so have my friends and housemates, but I've seen signs in lots of different places to beware of pickpockets and petty thieves. Not to mention, I was out dancing with friends on Thursday night (holy crap, are there ever a lot of skeevy ugly guys in this city who think I'm beautiful), and one of said skeevy ugly guys came up behind me and put his hands on my waist to dance with me. I thought it was one of our housemates at first (that'll teach me not to look), and I didn't mind until a hand started sliding into the pocket where I had my money and tube pass. That's not cool. I turned around and yelled at him, and I think I scared him more than he scared me. I still haven't figured out whether he was just trying to be sexy or genuinely after my money, but either way, ewwww.

I have seen surprisingly few pets in this city. I don't know if that's just because I haven't been in people's homes or what, but I haven't seen nearly as many people walking dogs as I do in Guelph, and the only cat I've seen in three weeks has been the one at Westminster Abbey. (Yes, I know, people don't generally walk their cats outside, but usually you see them sitting in windows.) At the same time, though, there are tons of animal protective leagues and shelters in addition to the RSPCA, the biggie. (Did you know that the Society for the Protection of Children, or whatever the official name is here, formed something like a hundred years after the RSPCA, and as an offshoot of it?) It's a strange contradiction, at least to me.

I had another observation, but I'm a bit braindead today (didn't sleep well last night, bloody buses outside my window), and I've forgotten it. I should really start writing these down.

Due to my class schedule, I always have Tuesdays free, so that's when I've been doing most of my touristy things. I'm not sure yet what the plan for tomorrow is, but it may involve the V & A Museum. I'll let you know.