It’s been way too long since I gave an update, but I’m going to blame that on packing, travel, and sleeping on an air mattress with no pillows or blankets.
Wife and I arrived safely last Wednesday despite departing on 6 June 2006, which, if you were watching CNN, was sure to have been the apocalypse. At least they were prepared to cover it if it had happened and even more prepared to say “We told you so”.
After an uneventful flight we came down to my office to pick up the keys to our flat. Once we went in Wife was a little shocked at the size. Going from a three bedroom house in the US to a two bedroom flat in the UK is pretty shocking. I was more prepared for it as I had seen how much smaller some of the other places were.
We stayed in a hotel the first three nights hoping that our air shipment would arrive so we would have our air mattress and some other necessities, but as the week went on it became more and more obvious that wasn’t going to happen. A lady at work was nice enough to let us borrow her air mattress so we’ve been in the flat since Saturday. It’s nice being able to have some food around, but we still can’t cook anything and sleeping without sheets and pillows is getting a bit old. I’m hoping we’ll have our air shipment by Friday, which would only be 11 days later than it was supposed to be.
Over the weekend we found a great deal on a couch and we also found some patio furniture. The neighbors are probably thinking we’re the weird Americans who eat on their patio all the time. Having the couch is definitely nice since we have someplace to sit inside. I’m thinking Wife and I may have to trade off for it and the air mattress since it is so much more comfortable.
Last night we got another major hurdle out of the way. We were able to buy a car, or at least put a deposit down to hold a car. It’s a black VW Golf GTi Turbo, so even though it’s small, it’s fast. Now I’ve just got to complete Wife’s manual transmission lessons.
Overall everything is going pretty well. We’re getting settled and have arranged almost everything. We’re within walking distance of shopping, restaurants, pubs, and movie theaters in town. Everyone at work has been very helpful and nice. I don’t know if it actually feels like anything other than a vacation yet, but I’m sure that will change soon enough.
I almost forgot. The craziest thing we’ve seen so far happened the other night while we were on our balcony/patio playing cards after having dinner. The parking people had been called to put a clamp (boot in the US) on an unauthorized car in the parking lot. After the guy had the clamp put on, the person whose car he had clamped started talking to him on one side of his van. While they were talking, the person’s friends pulled a clamp out of their car and clamped the rear tire of the parking guy’s van. We felt so bad for the parking guy. He’s doing his job and ends up getting his van clamped. The irony of it was still amusing, though.
That’s all for now. I hope to have some pictures of the car and the view from the apartment for the next post.
Cheers,
Frog
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