A flat! (at least for now)

Today we moved from our very small and spare hotel room to a very roomy and cool "holiday stay" flat in Greenwich. We'll be in our temporary flat for 3 weeks while we seek permanent digs somewhere in London. Unfortunately, I gave in to my jet lag this afternoon and did not wake up from my long nap in time to take pictures of the flat in the daylight, but we will do that tomorrow and, until then, I'll describe it.

We were picked up yesterday evening by Patrick, the guy who represents the owner of the flat (The owner, apparently, is an artist...and not a very skilled one, unfortunately for those of us who are staying in the flat and are faced with her art for sale at every turn). Jim promptly tried to hop into the drivers seat of Patrick's car. We are getting better at not getting run over, but the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car phenomenon is still baffling us. We careened through the streets of London and invaded the privacy of a Nigerian lawyer who was staying in the flat while we poked through all of the rooms. The flat is three stories--tall and narrow--with a garden/patio in the back (too cold for that now, though) and a big, modern looking kitchen on the bottom floor, along with a sitting room which has a twin bed/chest built into the wall. Patrick decorated the room with lillies. In the kitchen, there is the smallest washing machine I have ever seen and there is no dryer, but, in the bathroom there are drying racks suspended from the ceiling, where we can dry our clothes. British flat design doesn't really leave room for washers AND dryers...or closets.

The second floor is where the main entrance is. There is a small living room with a TV and pull out couch. Down the hall is a spare bedroom and up some steep stairs is the third floor, where the master bedroom and a huge bathroom are. We have lots of beds here, in the event that anyone comes to visit us in the next few weeks. Can't say that for sure about where we'll end up permenantly.

The flats are in long rows down the street, with alleyways that lead to the Greenwich park, shopping areas, etc. We can hear the people next door walking around, babies crying, dogs barking. We're not far from the tube or the DRL (some other train system). Jim brought home a baguette and some delicious cheese that he got out in little markets here and there and on Sunday we'll line up at 10am to go to the Blackheath (neighboring village) Farmer's Market, where we can buy fresh local produce, milk, cheese, meats etc.

Tomorrow we are off to explore Hampstead Heath, where our friends Dan and Meg live. It's listed as one of the most beautiful walks in one of my London tour books.

Big ass crows

London is the home of HUGE crows...bigger than chickens (kind of like Texas pigeons)! They are eery and not easily scared unless you move toward them when they have food in their mouths. Those grackels in Texas who sound like squeaky tree branches would definitely lose a brawl with these monsters.

Londoners (or London posers)

I made it and finally we are together again...and in London. To me, it still doesn't feel like this is where we are going to be living.

This city is HUGE. You can see part of it in the background of the picture of me, where we viewed it from the top of Greenwich Park at the Royal Observatory:

We stood on the Prime Meridian, marveled at the home of the astronomer who's name I can't remember, and then spent the rest of the day Greenwich and Blackheath, walking through miles of green parks and winding through neighborhoods and pub and shop lined streets. We almost got run over several times...I'm especially having a hard time with remembering which way to look for oncoming cars and hope that I will not have to report that I have been run over by a double decker bus. Whoever came up with the idea to write "Look Right" and "Look Left" on the sidewalks has probably saved my life several times today.

We also are both struggling with the accents and do a lot of nodding and smiling, when we don't quite understand what's being said to us.

Jim spent some time practicing saying "Allo" and "Cheers!" on a public phone, while I accidentally asked some people what kind of soup "y'all" have and then made small talk with some people with a dog and then a guy selling purses. I'm not sure if my usual blabbermouth self is going to fly with the British, but we'll see.



"Allo, mate! Cheerio and blimey and all that!"

In between days

Well, one half of us is getting all settled in and acclimated to life in London, whilst the other half of us has entered stage 2 of getting to London in the first place--unpacking and repacking all of her clothes (and some of her husbands) in rural Louisiana. This is not as easy as it sounds, believe me, especially when the goal is not to have to pay anything extra for luggage on the flight over.

The upside of being in rural Louisiana, unpacking and repacking many seasons' worth of clothes, is that I am getting to spend some quality time with family and catch up on much needed sleep. But the countdown has begun and in T minus 4 days, I will be able to post some pictures of our first London adventures together and, instead of hearing about how awesome London is from a different time zone, I will be able to talk about how awesome it is myself! Jim reports that the parks are beautiful and everywhere, the tube is easy to use, the architecture is incredible and old, and that he has walked more in the past couple of weeks than he did in about a year in Texas. Also, that the food isn't bad at all.

I can't wait!

The Queen of U-Haul

If you never need advice on renting U-haul equipment, look no further! I am, officially, a pro. I have also become an expert car saleswoman (with a little help from my friends) and a professional packer.

Moving to London is going good so far. Jim already moved. I, on the other hand, am still in Dallas with our neverending stuff, but at least we are half way there and the other half (me) is getting there thanks to our awesome families.

A word of advice for any who are planning an international move at any point in your life: become a minimalist immediately! We filled a large U-Haul trailer to the breaking point and still have more to go. And that was AFTER getting rid of a large amount of "stuff." Fortunately, my neighbors are more than happy to take any furniture we leave on the curb, so things are working out.

Current house conditions: disaster. State of dust bunnies: Dominant. Current state of mind: frazzled. Current sleeping quarters: air mattress.

I love moving.

The Tale of the Two Dancing Girls

Once upon a time, there were two young girls. The older one was named Claire and the younger one was Kate. They grew up on a farm on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi and happily rode their go-cart, jumped in cotton, climbed in trees, roller skated on the porch, tortured their younger brother, and did all the other care free things that farm girls do.

The girls went to school in a town nearby. The school was small and mean. The girls tried to fit in at the school by wearing large bows in their hair and baggy gap jeans and oversized polo shirts. Claire even cut very small bangs on her forehead in the hopes that she, too, could have pinwheel bangs, like all of the mean girls at school. Kate was more refined and did not consider bangs, but both girls knew that they would fit in if only they could do one thing: DANCE.

So they decided to learn. The girls signed up for a jazz dance class once a week. Their teacher was small and thin and smoked cigarettes during class and complained about her husband and her children. She instructed the girls to do twirls and leaps and jumps and spins, but never paid attention to their form or their positions. Her lack of focus prevented her from noticing that Claire and Kate were consistently twirling in the wrong direction.

Eventually the time came for the girls to have their first recital. They were decked out in their jazz dance finest, with leggings and gloves and frilly collared tank tops. They waited on stage and as the music began they started to twirl and shake and dance, dance, dance...in the wrong direction and without any rythmn. They crashed into their classmates with wreckless abandon. They twirled back and forth, flailing their arms. They were the dancing queens! And then, suddenly, the room went dark and all you could see of the girls were their glow in the dark outfits, twirling and twirling....

Sadly, the girls never really learned to dance in a sychronized fashion. They did grow up to be quite ravishing and after many nights of dancing to bands in New Orleans clubs, they got rhythm, but not coordination. They also collected fabulous costumes, which they wore throughout the years with wigs and glitter and boas and platform boots. But none could hold a candle to the glow in the dark costumes of their youth.

Claire's Anxieties

Today I woke up at 4:30 am, with two cats walking on me and lots of thoughts in my head. So, naturally, I went running. The moon was out, so it was actually lighter than my usual running time (6am) and I was surprised to find that there were several other people out and about (running, riding bikes) that early in the morning--psychos!! Maybe they are having trouble sleeping, too.

While I was running I had my first feeling of real remorse about leaving Dallas and everything that we are so comfortable with. I don't know how long it will be before I have a job again or where to even look for a job once we get to London. I won't even have a work permit for a couple of months, so I just have to get used to the idea of being unemployed and trying to be productive and adventurous in the meantime. We are also moving with no furniture. A furnished apartment seems like the most rational and easiest way to deal with this problem, but what if that is not where we decide to land? How will we get furniture to an apartment when we have no car? Will we take our mattress on the tube? Does Ikea deliver?

I didn't figure any of this out on my run, but I did remind myself that I've moved to a new city before (that's how I'm trying to think of it) and that it always has worked out in the past. And I heard a screech owl, which was cool (and appropriate since it is October, after all).