On why I'm 93% cheese and grains, and why 10 year schoolchildren are my peers

In the comments section for an ealier post, I was talking with Mandy and Gregg about the high cost of drinking in England. The consensus was that it was, well, way too high for any normal (non-wealthy) person from the US to consider reasonable. With that in mind, I thought I'd actually make a post about the cost of living here in general versus back home in Idaho.

While reading through this, bear in mind that London is either #1 or #2 on the list of most expensive cities in the world to live. Tokyo rivals it, so I'm not sure which is currently pricier, but needless to say things cost a small fortune here. Case in point: I tried to go see a matinee of a play yesterday, but didn't have advance tickets. So I went to the box office right before curtain and tried to get some last minute ducat. When I got to the window they told me the price would be 80 dollars. Huh. Well, I'll see you guys later, because I certainly can't afford that. To be fair, you can get tickets for about 20 dollars, but there seemed to be a field trip of dozens of school children to the performane that day, so those little bastards bought up everything in the cheap seat section that I was hoping to get.

So, in sum, I am about as financially secure and independent in London as a bunch of 10 year olds. Wow, how is that for a blow to your self-esteem.

Anyway, marvel at this list of price differentials (all listed in dollars):

Idaho vs. London

A gallon of gas
2.60 vs. 6.88

Month of transit (gas for my car vs. month
travelcard on tube and busses)
30 vs. 128.57

Crappy apartment 30 minutes outside of city center
(beats me, I don't know how much
real estate costs in Marsh Valley)
vs.
1000/month

An evening movie
8 vs. 18

Proper dinner with 1 drink
11 vs. 26

Cheap meal at bar w/out drink
5 vs. 8-12


All you can eat Asian buffet + drink
5 vs. 12.50

Well, as you can see, it can cost a princely sum to survive in London, especially if you are converting Idaho costs to London costs. Consequently, fully 97% of my meals so far has been from the grocery store, while 80% of my meals have consisted of cereal, bread and cheese, and fruit. And, given the old adage about being what you eat, I think my body has reached a sort of carrying capacity where I'm actually turning into cheese and grain at the cellular level.