Jason's Daily Notes

Still no internet in the apartment, so I returned to LSE in the morning. I took the bus, and on my iPhone came "With a Little Help from My Friends" by the Beatles, which made me tear up a little bit with love for all my great friends. At LSE, I called Iain to confirm that I was going forward with the internship. As I was following up with other emails, I got a call from Demi (our landlord) asking if I would be home soon to let the plumber/electrician in. So I took the bus back around 2pm and let him in.

The handyman confirmed what I had suspected about the gas - the bill hadn't been paid! Next, the electrical socket for the oven, which wasn't working. He discovered that the neutral wiring had been burnt off, which meant there was no current. He re-terminated all the wirings, and the electricity was flowing again! That's one small victory for the flat. Next, the washing machine. There was no where to plug it in to! So, we just simply need an extension cord to reach it over to the wall plug. (Seriously, why are there so few electrical outlets in buildings here? I have nowhere to plug my laptop into in the dining room, which really sucks! Finally, he checked the toilet, which is continuously flushing. He said he could fix it tomorrow, since all that's needed is to replace one of the valves; he just needs the landlord to approve it (greeeeeaaat...).

I followed up with the landlord to tell him what to do, and he was again hesitant. I mean, c'mon, just call the fucking gas company and tell them to activate it now! (Apparently you have to pay by inserting a gas card into the meter.) And the plumbing issue should have been resolved asap. But no! UGH.

As a flat, we all agreed that we deserve some sort of refund on our rent.

Dinner was microwaved shepherd's pie for me, and then we tried to make guacamole to go with the remaining tortilla chips, but it became a massive fail as the avocado was still hard and wouldn't mash. It turned out to have an awful texture.

In the evening, Mike was dead set on cheering me up, so we went to the cinema and watched Untouchable, a remarkably feel-good film about a man helping another man who is paralyzed. It's such a simple concept, but the characters are brilliantly executed and you can't help but cheer up when you watch it. :)