What is it with the British and washing??!!! Still no shower....some days I can get one at the City Lit http://www.citylit.ac.uk/ (Adult Education institute where I study Italian), but I don't go in there every day.....
Last time I rang the Council about this, I thought I'd better not push my luck by asking for a bidet, when they won't even provid a shower....but doesn't it occur to anyone that if I had a shower and a bidet, I WOULDN'T NEED A BLOODY BATH!!!
And it would be considerably more hygenic AND less wasteful!!

managed to catch the Velazquez exhibition on the last day!!
I don't know how well you can see these reproductions, but I included the one of VULCAN'S FORGE because I love the detailed and realistic way Velazquez painted musculature and anatomy...he obviously made a really serious study of the (male) body. (The portraits of women from the Spanish royal family depict them as more or less imprisoned in their huge crinolines).

Or not, as the case may be.
Today I went into the kitchen at Goldsmiths College to ask if I could was my mugs in their sink. No problem, but - guess what I caught them doing? THROWING FOOD WASTE DOWN THE SINK!!! Shock, horror!!
I suppose the College doesn't have a compost bin...but I looked at all these lovely vegetable peelings and outer leaves of lettuce and cauliflower being thrown away, and I thought...can we do something about this? Like, get a free compost bin from the council?!!!

Ooh, look what I found!!
(with an intro by Renee Fleming)

http://www.francinesegan.com/opera.html

Just discovered the major drawback to my new flat....NO SHOWER!!  There WAS one when I viewed the flat...but due to some complicated regulation, since it hadn't been installed by the Council, it was taken out before I moved in. There's a bath, but no shower.
Now, I thought this was going to be a simple matter of contacting the Repairs Dept. and getting the shower replaced! Not a bit of it!! They referred me to Occupational Therapy (sic), who offered me a seat and a board , which are supplied by the RED CROSS!!!
And are abso-bloody-lutely USELESS!!! What on earth is going on here???!!!! I don't have a shower, I don't have the facilities to wash my hair!!!
Occ. Therapy asked me to ring them back and let them know how I was managing with the 'new equipment'....so this morning I rang back and told them how useless it was, and could I have a SHOWER please?? NOW???  Er...no, first of all they have to make an appointment to visit to see how I am coping with the new gear....and the earliest appointment is 22 FEBRUARY!!! Huh? I'm supposed to manage without a shower for SIX WEEKS? Actually the woman I spoke to was reasonably sympathetic, but said that there were a lot of people with a similar problem.....does that mean there's a lot of  smelly people in Camden with unwashed hair??

So, I suppose I will just have to have one installed at my own expense...AND I don't even get it refunded!!!

On the credit side....everyone loves the garden (all the pots and containers I brought with me from the old flat), and the compost bin is doing really well.