Randomness

Does anyone recognize what place is in the picture below?




I took a trip to the King's Cross rail station. They don't recommend anyone's trying to get through there, but it is there.

I spent part of the day in frustration as I walked all over Bloomsbury looking for the Charles Dickens Museum. It wasn't really near the underground station, but I kept walking around. I asked several people, and none of them knew where it was. The colorful city maps that show up in various parks did show it, but each time I thought I had gotten to where it was, the next map showed me to be miles away. I finally asked a man in uniform who was giving a parking ticket to two very angry construction workers who had left their truck too long. He gave me very explicit directions to the street the museum was on. I followed them to the letter and ended up nowhere near it. I finally gave up and went back to the underground. I went to Westminster one more time as I wanted to get a London tie in the Abbey gift shop. Silk ties, in some of the men's shops I went into, which did not say London anywhere on them, were going for around 90 pounds. Needless to say, I didn't buy one.

Chris raised a good question in my last post. What kind of salaries do people make to afford these incredible rents? Short of stopping people and asking them, I decided to check out Craigslist and see. A company called Pebble is looking for someone to work on Apple computers for customers and clients. Depending on what Apple certifications the person may have, the pay range was from 25,000 to 32,000 pounds a year with performance related bonuses. That’s not bad. By contrast, someone else was looking for a dental nurse (it wasn’t clear whether they really meant an RN or not). This paid 18,000 pounds a year. Another group is looking for an RN in midwifery, delivery, etc. It doesn’t list salary, but has this interesting line: “Keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket with 20% tax cap. This is a great place to grow your career, get more hands on experience and save some money. Relocation assistance and retention bonuses available.” It makes me wonder if there are different tax rates for different occupations. A customer service position was listed at $7 to $10 (it said dollars and not pounds). Another company is looking for “morning people” to sell breakfast food to commuters, for four hours a day at 7.50 pounds an hour. Some publication is looking for film reviewers, paying 40 pounds for 500 words. I noticed an ad the other day for English teachers to do tutoring, and that paid around 7.50 pounds an hour. So, I don’t know if that begins to answer the question. I am at a loss to figure out how people live here. I just looked at one ad, and it listed several one bedroom apartments. The price range was from 380 to 445 pounds per week! That’s 19, 760 to 23,140 pounds a year. Amazing.

I guess I won’t be moving here any time soon.