Wednesday, August 1, 2007

A Hackney-ed start

hack·ney (hāk'nē)

n. pl. hack·neys
1. often Hackney A horse of a breed developed in England, having a gait characterized by pronounced flexion of the knee.
2. A trotting horse suited for routine riding or driving; a hack.
3. A coach or carriage for hire.

tr.v. hack·neyed, hack·ney·ing, hack·neys
1. To cause to become banal and trite through overuse.
2. To hire out; let.

adj.
1. Banal; trite.
2. Having been hired.

[Middle English hakenei, probably after Hakenei, Hackney, a borough of London, England, where such horses were raised.]
I'm a Hackney girl now. But only in the "borough of London" sense.

After scrubbing and emptying my room, I will still be billed a whopping 1974 kr (~P16,543~€265) for cleaning. I don't think I could have done much better though.

Crossing the bridge over the lake for the last time, I noticed how beautiful it is now, a sharp contrast to how it looked when I first arrived. I left chocolates and a note for Kirsten, who saved my life on my second day in Denmark (Rasmus did that on the first). The last people who saw me were three kind Chinese souls. Somehow Someone always send somebody to save me.

With a suitcase marked "HEAVY", I took a train, a plane, the underground and a bus to the residence hall in Hackney. That my back isn't broken is something of a miracle.

Though my new room is the smallest I've had and it's far from the WC and showers, I quite like it. There is a personal ref in the room and I'm right across the common kitchen. The view isn't spectacular--my window faces the goods entrance of Tesco--but at least Tesco's right there! More specifically, I can see from my window three red rubbish bins which many men visit in search of edible and useful things. The last guy I spotted fished out an entire bunch of bananas. Some of them take out whole bags. Talk about recycling.

Changes since I was last here: the notes (paper money) have been updated and smoking indoors has been banned.

And with this I turn over a new leaf. Travel tales and photos tomorrow!

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