Week Eight: England

Owen dropped me off at the station where I took the train to my Mum's cousin, Gill's house who lives in Kent. I was so deadly exhausted, totally drained and I was really excited to just have some time to myself and chill. It was like being at home, with Gill and her husband Mike, they would cook me dinner, like real food, and we would watch X-Factor.

That's when I decided I would go the the local shopping centre Bluewater and get a haircut. So I walked down to the bus stop at around 2:15pm. The bus would arrive at 2:22. Extra early just to be safe. However, I don't have a phone nor do I have a watch so at all times of the day I can only tell the time by looking at the sun like some kind of cave man. I waited at the bus stop. And then I waited some more. And more and more. I started playing games with myself like counting how many red cars drove past and how many people looked at me sitting on the ground. When you live without technology or commitments, you literally have nothing else to do but things like this. I didn't realise how long I had been waiting there for, but it was kind of taking a toll on me now I was getting quite hungry. So, I gave up and walked home to get a cup of tea and a biscuit, because I'm English now apparently. I got back to the house, and realised it was fucking 3:30pm. I had been sitting on the ground for OVER AN HOUR, without even realising that I was doing that. Shocked, I looked up the next bus time because by this point I just really fucking wanted to go to Bluewater. I've already come this far, aka 7 minutes walk down to the bus stop. I needed this. So I went back for the next bus that was at 3:45pm. Then I waited some more. And even longer. So much so that I had actually sprawled myself out over the pavement and was watching the clouds go by. Time goes much slower when all you have to do is hang out with yourself. Then, a car pulls up next to me. A youngish normal looking guy rolls down his window.
Guy: Are you okay?
Katie: Yes I'm just waiting for the bus. 
Guy: I can see that. It's just... I went to the gym 2 hours ago and I saw you waiting there, I'm now on my way home ...and you're still here...
Katie: Yeah. Right, well I just really want to go to Bluewater. 
Guy: If you want... I can drive you, it's on my way home. I just thought I would help you out.
Before everyone starts shouting "you fucking idiot he's a rapist" at me, I really did assess the situation before I got into the car. He looked about 23 years old, he was wearing gym clothes. Now looking back on it, it probably wasn't the best thing to do but I had been waiting at the bus stop for TWO HOURS and I had been broken down into an insane person and I just wanted to get to the shopping centre. Anyway, he was fine he was very nice and he dropped me off at the shopping centre and everything was fine. Sometimes you just have to believe in the kindness of strangers.

That day I cut my hair short and dyed it purple. Since very recently, everyone I have met has considered me to be purple hair girl. Other than that, there is only one more interesting thing that happened to me during the week in Kent. Gill suggested that maybe I should contact Edinburgh Napier University about the student accommodation I had applied for. Since I hadn't actually heard anything about getting accepted, but I just kind of assumed that I would be living there since they hadn't told me anything and I started school in a week. So that day, I emailed the school asking about the student accommodation. The reply email goes as follows:
ENU Student Housing: The student housing is full. You will have to find off campus housing. 
And then my heart fucking dropped. I was like "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaat" I realised I was fucking HOMELESS. I was supposed to start school in ONE WEEK and I had NO WHERE TO LIVE. I knew NO ONE. I had NO IDEA about the city. At this point in time I was freaking the fuck out. That's when my relaxing time in Kent was cut short as I jumped on the next train to Edinburgh to find somewhere to live.