Yesterday I went to Kent for the BBQ and it was lots of fun! I pretty much forgot to take photos except for this one of me, Auntie Glad, and Mickey in a kilt, so I'll have to get Auntie to send me copies of the ones she took! I didn't really have any problems getting there (I even got to leave work a little early which was nice!) except it took me forever to get a ticket because the station was so busy and then when I got on the train of course I picked the car that had the screaming kid on it... fun. haha. But it was great after I got there!!

It was really nice to see Auntie, Susie, Todd, and Tara, and also to meet Louisa and some of her friends and family. I think there was probably about 15 people there for the BBQ. The food was great - it was the first real meal I've had here (I eat a lot of sandwiches LOL). I stayed there overnight so I didn't have to go on the train late at night, and this morning Susie made us breakfast which was fantastic (again, real food haha). They then dropped me off at the train station before heading off to Scotland. I will hopefully be seeing them again next weekend though before they leave - I think we are planning to go to "Heaven" which is a gay bar in Soho, should be lots of fun. I wish I could've gone to Scotland with them though...

Anyway, today was by far the worst day I've had since I've been here and I almost feel like crying. Haha, that explains why I am sitting in my room alone on a Saturday night at 9:45pm! So I got back from Kent around 11:30ish this morning, came back to my residence to drop off my stuff and get changed, then decided I should go to pick up my bank cards and do some shopping. I applied for my bank account about 2 weeks ago and had to wait 10 days before I could pick up my cards, and then I found out today that I now have to wait about 5 or so more days until I receive my PIN number in the mail so that I can actually use my cards... apparently it takes almost a month to get a bank account around here!! So frustrating. But that's not the bad part of the story. So I needed to bring my passport with me for ID purposes and the guy that was helping me at the bank forgot to give it back to me before I left, and I didn't notice that it wasn't with all the stuff he handed me. I was at the bank around 12:30pm and they closed at 1pm because it is Saturday. I then proceeded to wander down the street and purchase a bed linen set and a new pillow because the one provided is super flat (so that was the best part of my day haha how sad is that?). After getting back to residence I realized I didn't have my passport but by then it was around 2pm! I called the bank's 24 hour phone line but the guy just said I'd have to call the branch on Monday at 9am when they are open to ask if they have it.... well I work at 9am during the week, and the bank closes at 4:30pm which is way earlier than I get off work, so I had to call Raj and ask him if it was alright if I come in late on Monday (hopefully it won't take too long at the bank!!). So now I have to stress all weekend until Monday morning when I find out if they still have my passport there or not......

Then to make my day even worse than it already was, I was supposed to meet some guys that I work with (including Elliott the other Canadian student working at St. James's Place) for someone's birthday at a restaurant/bar by Covent Garden Station around 7pm. I got there at about 7:30pm and looked around but none of them were there yet. I called Elliott and he said that he would probably be there around 8pm so I said I'd wait. I wandered around a little bit and then got back to the restaurant around 7:50pm, looking inside again in case they had got there (which they hadn't) and then started to wait outside again. Finally it was 8:30pm so I gave up and left to come back to residence. After I get back to South Kensington tube station I get a text message from Elliott saying that they decided to go to a different bar and I should call him for directions. He then called me and asked where I was. When I told him I had already left he was like "why??" - I wanted to yell at him that I had waited there for an hour but I didn't haha. I just told him that I waited until 8:30pm, he said they were there at 8:45pm so I must've just missed them... then he asked if I still wanted to come out with them but I decided I didn't want to go all the way back there just to pay a 10 pound cover charge to get into the bar and to hang out with three guys I don't really know after having a really bad day... and now here I am sitting in my room alone at 10pm on a Saturday night. Woohoo. Go me.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. I think I'm going to venture out for some "retail therapy" if I can find a cheaper area to shop. Other than that I'm not sure what I'm going to do... "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is playing at a nearby theatre tomorrow at noon so maybe I'll go to that if I am not shopping somewhere else, and I think I might go on the Harry Potter walk tomorrow at 5pm because at 8pm on the first floor of my residence in the lounge they are watching the second Harry Potter movie so I figure if I'm going to go to that I may as well get in the mood! haha. I hope I can get my mind off my missing passport for a while tomorrow though... I hope I can just go there Monday morning and they'll be like "yep your passport is right here!" and I won't have any problems... one can only wish.

Well I'm not sure I have anything else to say... but I kind of want to keep typing because I don't have anything else to do LOL. I think I'll go read the end of my book because I'm almost done and then maybe I'll draw something if I feel like it... otherwise I'll just go to bed early and try to get an early start tomorrow. I really need to meet more people to hang out with so my Saturday nights aren't so lame! At least next weekend I already have plans :o)

Love and miss you all!

Later days

PS - 11 more sleeps until Madonna!!!