Sunday in Hampstead Heath

On Sunday, Jim had to work and it was a beautiful sunny day (for once) so I decided to go take a walk in the Heath. Lucky for me, Dan and Meg were around and wanted to go, so we all went out to slog through the mud and enjoy the sunshine.

But first, here is a picture of brussel sprouts, which were growing in a garden on the last country hike I took. I never know that brussel sprouts grew like this...I actually never really considered how brussel sprouts do grow and now I know...and so do you.


Hampstead Heath is about a 20 minute run from our new house. In fact, we are right between two great parks, both of which are about a 20 minute run from us...so I'm looking into how to take the bus, so that I can spend more time running in the parks instead of weaving in and out of traffic trying to get to the parks. The Heath has several swimming ponds, which I plan to use during the summer, and lots of trails that run through it. There is also the Kenwood house, the picture of which I forgot to put on my memory stick, so I'll have to include the picture in another blog (ahhh blogging from the internet cafe!) Anyway, during the summer, they have concerts from a stage in the middle of one of the ponds and people can sit on their blankets with their picnic baskets in the evening and listen for free from the hill below Kenwood House. That will be a lot of fun. There is a lot to look forward to in summer (maybe less rain!).

Dogs were even happy about the sunshine. If you look closely you can see that one of the dogs is carrying a stick twice his size!


D.H. Lawrence spent some time in Hampstead Heath and lived in this house during the year 1915. I would think that the Heath would be an inspiring place to write.


There is a cute little neighborhood (and I'm sure very expensives) tucked within the park, close to the ponds.


And here you can see the muddy trail that we trudged up. Meg and I were in our Wellies, so our feet stayed dry, but Dan got a little wet.


Jim wasn't able to join us due to engineering work on the tube, which prevented him from getting to us, but we were able to meet later and have some fun in our neighborhood at the Chech bar down the street, where we pondered intestinal soup and snacked on some vaguely peanut flavored chip type things that were actually pretty good!

I love LOndon!

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!