Getting Settled In
Breaking the silence! We finally have our phone and internet hooked up in our new home. A week and a half without internet! I actually broke down and paid £1 for a precious half hour of internet (precious, precious, internet!) at the local library yesterday. How many times in the past twelve days have we had a question that would have been answerable in seconds if we had that precious internet. Finding and planning somewhere to go? Train station time tables? What train to take where?
But, we arrived safe and sound! That stomach flu Mark had the three days before we left? Yes, I did catch it, in time for our flight, I made good use of three airsickness bags on the way over and was sick the next couple of days. This included meeting the inventory company rep at the house and meeting the folks we bought a car from... they're probably well into the puking phase by now :)
When we originally met up with the realtor about the property, we were told the land lord would only leave the large furniture behind and take out her personal items. Much to our surprise when we arrived, the house is exactly in the state as she lived in it, photos on walls and all. This is fine for now, as we only have our clothes with us. But we talked with her about it and she'll come and take away the items we don't need. As we have a houseful of our belongings arriving sometime in January.
The past week has been a lot of getting settled in. Getting to know the area. Between being sick and the first couple of days of sensory overload of everything being so new, even a trip to the grocery store was a harrowing experience. That first really big grocery trip of stocking a completely empty kitchen, needing to get all the staples. After this mass shopping trip, It has been a delight to walk to the local grocery store (a Somerfield, fruit stand, baker and butcher every few days to pick up fresh bread, produce and meats. We have a rather small fridge (installed under the counter top).
I love the area and our little home. I went to the community street fair Friday night while Mark was at his company xmas party (no spouses invited, weird). The High Street was closed off and all the shops were open late and serving hot mulled spiced wine and mince pies and other holiday treats. There were carolers and the streets were lined with fairy lights.
I even participated in the library scavenger hunt, of which I only figured out seven of the twelve hidden clues, the ones that were not so British-centric. There were images hidden all over the library that included book covers and you needed to know the author and/or book title, or an image asking, "what panto does this represent?" I later found out that "panto" refers to "pantomime" which is a term for plays/musicals and the answer was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
There are so many details to share. The mail man rides through the neighborhood on bicycle. The garbage collection is complicated, compost materials from the yard and kitchen are collected every other week, regular garbage the weeks in between, and recyclables are taken to a recycling center (which everything is recycled here). There is a rain water collector in the yard for watering in the garden. Pheasants in the front yard, their curiosity bringing them within inches of my open front door.
We went into central London Sunday with a number of Mark's U.S. coworkers who are here for the week for a training session. We took the train in, walked around a bit, chatted, had dinner at a pub across from the Parliament building and rode The London Eye for a spectacular view of the city. Mark and I giggled to ourselves, "We live here," and shared a private joke about all the tourists :)
The past week has been a lot of getting settled in. Getting to know the area. Between being sick and the first couple of days of sensory overload of everything being so new, even a trip to the grocery store was a harrowing experience. That first really big grocery trip of stocking a completely empty kitchen, needing to get all the staples. After this mass shopping trip, It has been a delight to walk to the local grocery store (a Somerfield, fruit stand, baker and butcher every few days to pick up fresh bread, produce and meats. We have a rather small fridge (installed under the counter top).
I love the area and our little home. I went to the community street fair Friday night while Mark was at his company xmas party (no spouses invited, weird). The High Street was closed off and all the shops were open late and serving hot mulled spiced wine and mince pies and other holiday treats. There were carolers and the streets were lined with fairy lights.
I even participated in the library scavenger hunt, of which I only figured out seven of the twelve hidden clues, the ones that were not so British-centric. There were images hidden all over the library that included book covers and you needed to know the author and/or book title, or an image asking, "what panto does this represent?" I later found out that "panto" refers to "pantomime" which is a term for plays/musicals and the answer was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
There are so many details to share. The mail man rides through the neighborhood on bicycle. The garbage collection is complicated, compost materials from the yard and kitchen are collected every other week, regular garbage the weeks in between, and recyclables are taken to a recycling center (which everything is recycled here). There is a rain water collector in the yard for watering in the garden. Pheasants in the front yard, their curiosity bringing them within inches of my open front door.
We went into central London Sunday with a number of Mark's U.S. coworkers who are here for the week for a training session. We took the train in, walked around a bit, chatted, had dinner at a pub across from the Parliament building and rode The London Eye for a spectacular view of the city. Mark and I giggled to ourselves, "We live here," and shared a private joke about all the tourists :)