First day Plymouth

The day of arrival I only took a shower, drank a liter of tea and went to bed. That was a bit of an improvised activity, for these furnished rooms are not what they used to be. Of course there was an old, ugly desk with dito chair, and a broken cupboard, and a bed. But nothing concomitant with the bed. I had only brought a sleeping bag liner. Fortunately I had also brought my windstopper fleece, for the fieldwork, and I had had a Norway fleece as a gift. Combined with a normal jumper and the liner it was a sort of a sleeping bag. I was tired. I slept.

I only woke up once because all the jumpers had slipped off. And woke up refreshed a few hours later. The first thing I had to do was retrieve the bike! I decided to just walk there, and hope somebody would be at home. I figured I knew where my bike was, on the map, but not me. I managed to find out thanks to Janna, the Czech neighbour. I was off the tourist map... she lent me a better one.

The plan worked. The guy that opened the door was good with bikes, and put the pedals back for me, with his bare hands. A working bike! Now life can really begin!

A typical view of Plymouth

I dropped off the clumsy bike box, and went shopping. The run down house did not seem to come with toilet paper. Not with a lock on the bathroom door, actually, but that was improved the very day. And I looked forward to some breakfast too. And I found a mall that was open on sunday.

After breakfast I wanted to update the blog. I don't want to start a new job with a burdening lag in blogging! So my first stop was the library. Closed. Then Tourist Information. They claimed there are no internet cafe's in Plymouth... at least none open on a sunday. So I could give that up. I biked a bit on the university campus in order to find my way the next day, and went home. I was tired.

I had a nap. And some tea with Joe Speedboot.

The lady at Tourist Information had, when I had to abandon the blog plan, informed me on cinemas. There was one that showed foreign movies! As she put it. Bring it on! I felt like one.

So after the tea I went. And found it without difficulty. Plymouth is a very unoverviewable town, where it will take a while before I can navigate it without effort. I was glad my friends had given me a map holder for on my steer! Made life much easier. Especially as it rained almost all day.

I watched "moon"; never heard of, but quite nice.

And on the way out I found a Mac in a corner. Free to use! So there all the blogging worked out, after all... One without access for my camera, though, but that I can solve later.

So far Plymouth has showed a mixed face. Grim, because of the very unwelcoming house. And the crappy weather. But I have a bike! And I do continue to meet nice people. And the environment breathes opportunities of the outdoorsy, cultural, historical and social kinds. I do however look forward to tomorrow: I'll meet colleagues! People I will meet again. And tomorrow I'll go and see a house I may live in the rest of the two years. Things will only be getting better. And it's not so bad to start with!