I’m having the same problems, but also I can’t seem to use any of my possessions outside of London at all?
Unless it was a glitch; I tried in Waswood, my base-camp, reflection of my laboratory, and even my laboratory . . . in the end, I had to go right back to London to use any item on my inventory (annoyingly I didn’t have enough to up-convert, making it a wasted journey). I’m sure you used to be able to use items in those places, outside of storylets before? Or am I misremembering?