A ramble in the country and plumbing woes

I'll start with the low point: our plumbing is completely screwed up. We got the sink unclogged, but now everything else messed up and leaking into our downstair neighbor's flat. Fortunately, our landlords are on it, so it should be fixed in a few days. In the mean time, I'm sharing my flat with two rather large plumbers, who asked if I could make them some tea. So I put the fixings out for them and left. They can make their own tea, thanks.

Yesterday, I went for a nine mile "ramble" with the hiking group from the American Women's Club. I can't remember where we went, but it wasn't as spectacular as the hike that Jim and I took...or as strenuous. It was fun, though, and very muddy, and a few minutes into it we were in a village where a bank robbery had just occured AND where the movie "The Holiday" was recently filmed. In the future, I think I'm going to help out with planning the hikes, which means that I'll do a pre-hike with a couple of other people to check it out and find the pub where we'll eat lunch, etc.

Our meager belongings that we shipped to ourselves are trickling in, so we're feeling more and more settled every day. And we figured out that the scary sound in the night was not a dying cat...it was a fox.

So much for the frequent blogging

We moved into our new flat two days ago and so far it's pretty good except that our kitchen sink is clogged, our neighbors blare their TVs at all hours, and last night there was some horrible sounding animal dying or in heat on the street outside of our bedroom window. We are trying to get used to this new communal living situation after having lots of quiet and privacy in Dallas.

The biggest adjustment is the problem of not having internet at our house because (sigh) we can't get it without a UK bank account. I am thankful for internet cafes, but, unfortunately, I can't download any pictures to the blog at an internet cafe, so this blog will be pictureless for a while.

I also went to Ikea the other day, which was an experience. Of course, there were issues because of my lack of UK bank account, but I survived it and managed to get furniture for our flat. I also learned, after standing in the rain with two huge Ikea bags full of stuff and being passed by by two speeding buses, that if you want to get a bus to stop around here, you have to signal them. I literally chased down the second bus with all my bags and fortunately he stopped, but he was annoyed with me, because I didn't know that just standing at a bus stop is not enough.

Things are not simple here in London. I guess that's the way it is when you are a foreigner. Off to buy a plunger.

Back in the UK

After two weeks in Texas and Louisiana, we have returned to London and I will return to updating the blog. I even will add some pictures of our good times back home...but I currently have jet lag and lack the patience it takes to upload pictures, so this will be a pictureless, but descriptive blog.

Yesterday we headed to the Houston airport very early, because that is our way. So, with three hours to kill before our flight, we each had a beer and eavesdropped on some people in the Houston airport bar and grill and then made some Happy New Year phone calls.

Unfortunately, our flight was REALLY full. There were about sixteen screaming babies and children, a number of sick, hacking people, some body odor, very little air conditioner, and my seat was broken, so I couldn't lean back for the entire 9 hours. We were VERY happy to get off the plane and then, after a car sickness inducing cab ride to our hotel, were even more happy to be out of moving vehicles completely and get some much needed sleep.

Refreshed after a four hour nap, we picked up the keys to our new flat and headed over to check it out. Our new neighborhood is quiet and quaint. Our flat, which we finally saw for the first time without an estate agent hanging around, is charming, with big windows and lots of natural light. Our new landlord left us a nice note and guide to where things are to who to contact when we need help. We haven't met our neighbors yet, but our landlord said (in his note) that they seem to be nice and have been helpful.

There is a romantic looking restaurant around the corner from our new flat, a coffee shop, a pub, a little market and, with about a fifteen minute walk, we can get to West Hampstead, which has more restaurants, coffee shops, etc. Regents park isn't too far away and Hampstead Heath is also close, so I will have no excuse for not running. Tomorrow I will start "Mission Get Some Furniture" and hopefully we can get into the flat by the weekend.

Stay tuned for pictures from our holiday visit at home. Happy New Year!

Hallelujia!!

Now that we're back in Houston, we got our flat! The wire transfer came through, of course, AFTER we left London, but that's ok because we actually were starting to think that getting a flat was not in our destiny and that we were going to have to keep living out of our suitcases indefinitely. Hooray! Now we just have to figure out how to pay our bills without a bank account!!! Maybe we'll get one of those, too, before we head back.

Our fox

Tonight is our last night in Greenwich and, as we were walking down the sidewalk, back to our house, our fox, who we haven't seen in a few weeks, walked out of the bushes and onto the sidewalk in front of us, where he stood and stared at us for a few seconds, before heading off down the street. I don't know if foxes traditionally are good luck, but I think this one is. We're glad we got to say goodbye to the urban fox before moving on.

Dan and Meg's Christmas Brunch!

And finally, today, I can post some pictures of our dear friends Dan and Meg who are not only letting us store all our stuff at their house while we go home for the holidays, but also cooked us a delicious brunch complete with Christmas Crackers! I got a fabulous eyebrow brush as my prize, which has come in very handy, as Jim's eyebrows tend to get out of control.

Meg slaves in the kitchen. She made potato latkes with salmon, creme fraiche, and caviar. YUM!


Meg and Dan


Everyone enjoys brunch and Christmas cracker prizes, jokes, and, of course, our crowns!


I love my eyebrow brush.


Jack the cat, future friend of Emma and Chowder.


After we left Meg and Dan, we stopped off at Camden market and strolled through the many mohawked and pierced people. The market is full of very funky stuff and lots and lots of food. It was a totally different scene than the quaint markets we had visited before. We loved it!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We might not be blogging so much while we're home for the holidays, but we will try!

Our first British Work Party

Last night, we attended Jim's work party. And what a party! The Brits take their office parties very seriously. Whether or not your office party is a success, is, apparently, a reflection on your business as a whole. So, there was dinner, dancing, and DJ, and lots of booze. I was horrified at the debauchery going on around us. There was groping, inappropriate dancing, make out sessions, and all kinds of stuff that you don't usually see happening at a work party. It was great...almost like being out in a club! One guy, in particular, was making his rounds with the scantily clad younger ladies. This afternoon, we were talking to our cab driver about it and he said that his first three passengers had been still drunk from their office parties the night before and that one of them, who was the boss, had a big bump on his nose and didn't know how he got it. So I guess what happens in the office party, stays in the office party. Being new at this, we were on our best behavior. We placidly ate our Christmas Pudding (SO GROSS) and only danced to songs that were appropriate (not Beyonce..but Scissor Sisters were ok!) We left the party at 11:45 so that we could catch the last train home and it was still going strong.

Jim looking dapper in front of our oh so velvety red curtain (which is in our temporary flat's living room)


And me, dressed up for my first London party.


Christmas pudding is a bread pudding type concoction, except it contains treacle, which is really thick and sweet and all those dried fruits that make up fruit cake. It's served with brandy sauce. Personally, I am not a fan. Nor am I a fan of mince pie, which is a pie with mushed up fruit from fruit cakes inside it (and, in some cases, mince, which is ground meat). In the interest of being diplomatic and not ethnocentric, I will say that these desserts are different than what I am used to. Traditional English Christmas dinner is a lot like our Thanksgiving dinner--turkey, a stuffing type paste, roast potatoes, and vegetables, all smothered in gravy (BROWN gravy, it was pointed out to me, not WHITE like the Americans!)


We didn'tknow many people at the party, but we did know these good people--Jim's new co-workers! They are all very nice and fun and some are Americans and some are Brits. None of them were groping each other or acting inappropriately.


Jim with his Christmas Cracker crown and Christmas Popper graffitti! Christmas Crackers are this fun little packages that pop open when you pull them. They contain a surprise (like a game or, in one case, some fingernail clippers), a crown, and a joke. Christmas poppers shoot confetti strings out with a pop when you pull their strings.


Dancing by myself to some acceptable song...Jim wasn't in the dancing mood. The couple to my left were alternating between groping each other while dancing and lying on top of each other at their table.


Waiting for the tube. Moments later, on the tube, Jim stepped in vomit. Then a very loud, Italian woman(we think), teetered onto the train, slipped in the vomit, and toppled onto an unsuspecting man, seated below her. There's lots of drama on the drunk train.

Waiting for the Docklands Light Rail (DLR), the last leg of our long trip home.


Jim concentrates on the last DLR of the night(which was full of even more drunk people than the tube), as the doors close behind him.