Wednesday evening, 28 October 2010 - we got the bed all set up and then tried to conquer the heating problem. The way boilers work here is that the boiler for hot water is the same boiler as the one used for heat. Each room has a radiator that is activated by the boiler. If you run the hot water, the heat turns off. Well, to make a very long story short - we tried everything imaginable to get the heat to come on to no avail. Without a mobile phone number and no Internet access, we had to wait till morning to ask Natalie the Landlord how to make it warm in the house. So, we decided to go out to dinner at the pub.
Turns out the two pubs closest to our flat do not serve food, only booze (how very English of them). On the heels of that discovery, we found our local Italian restaurant, That's Amore. We met one of the owners, Gianni the Musician (the other owner, Bruno the Cook, was in the kitchen), who plays piano and sings on the weekends and waits tables and tends bar during the week. The dinner was delicious, with Debbie especially enjoying her plate of Calve's Liver sauteed in butter and sage. Jon tried it and didn't immediately vomit, so it was a good sign that it was good liver. Debbie absolutely loved it. Jon the daring ordered Spaghetti. Upon departure, Debbie received kisses on both cheeks from Gianni and we promised to return.
Back to the flat, which was quickly becoming known as 12B Freeze-your-ass-off Road. We tried for another hour to get the heat to work to no avail. After a bit more unpacking, Debbie donned her flannel pajamas and Jon dressed like Nanuk of the North 2 layers deep (apparently you can take the Colorado out of the boy). A new anecdote surfaced - Jon's hands were very very cold, so he tried to tuck them into Debbie's flannel pajamas. This was not a good plan. Debbie jumped and said "Don't touch me on the inside!". We laughed for a while at that one as we drifted off into sleep. We slept quite warmly in our new bedding. In fact, we slept for 10 hours straight - our first night in an actual bed in 10 days.
Day 2 started with a trip into the center of London to meet Jon's bosses for a welcome-to-England lunch. We ate at Daphne's, a great Greek restaurant, in Camden, where Jon's office is located. Debbie took Amos the Boss's recommendation and order the Knuckle of Lamb. According to Debbie, it was the most tender and delicious lamb ever served. Adventurous Jon had the Chicken.
The next several hours were filled with two critical activities - getting a phone number and a bank account. We had been told that you can't just walk into a bank in England and open an account. We, in disbelief, set out to prove everyone wrong. Success! We have a bank account now. It has a balance of £0 while we wait for a wire transfer to make it across the pond...we also have a phone number. The way it works is tricky: to get a bank account you have to have a phone number, to get a phone number you have to have a bank account. Catch 22, eh? So, we slept with the Bank Manager.
We got our appointment to get Broadband and Television in the flat - first available installation date is 23 November! So, we can only blog and check e-mails when we find a WiFi hot spot (just noting this so you don't think we are unresponsive). During all of the banking, phone, and broadband activities, we learned from Natalie the Landlord that we were doing everything right for the heat, but you sometimes have to try it a couple of times to get it to kick on. We were inspired and hopeful that night 2 would be heat filled. We stopped off at the store on the way home and got some yummy 3-bean spicy soup and rolls and had our first dinner at home.
Turning in for the night, Jon suited up in the Nanuk outfit again (that's right, the heat was still not working and it was down to about 50 degrees [Fahrenheit] in the flat). With Jon being sure not to touch Debbie on the inside, we put on a CD and shivered off to sleep.
The first 38 hours in England have been different, unusual, amusing, and sometimes frustrating (mostly the heater), but worth the wait!
Hoping to blog from a heated point of view soon,
Deb & Jon in South London
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Stanley, Nigel, and Sudha - The First 8 Hours
First and foremost, we made it safely to England. We hope to update this blog regularly now, starting with this entry, our second installment. Upon arrival at Heathrow, step 1 was the UK Border Agent. He started quite stoic with "What is the purpose of your visit?". We said excitedly "We are moving here." He answered with "Oh why?" (in a very sarcastic "what the hell are you thinking" kind of voice). We told him about the job transfer and that we would be living in Sydenham. He said "Sydenham! You mean where they post all the yellow street signs to announce the daily murders?". We decided he was basing his opinion on Sydenham of 10 years ago (when it was more like a den of iniquity) as opposed to the charming and safe area it is now. We never caught his name, so we decided to call him Stanley Penderfoldhamshire, the Border Agent.
After a problem with Jon's fingerprints (right thumb...fidn't dit...right index finger...fidn't dit...left index finger...fid dit!), we were on our way to baggage claim to collect our life stored in 6 very heavy checked bags. All 6 bags arrived safely and fit snugly onto two rolling carts after we borrowed a crane to lift them off the baggage carousel. Then out to the arrivals area to meet our car service. While waiting for the car (problems because the flight was three hours late arriving), we grabbed some coffees and tried to maneuver the carts and coffees. This did not go well as we were on an apparent double-sided incline where Debbie's cart rolled out into one street and I couldn't stop it because I was chasing my cart down as it rolled the other direction towards the other street. Coffee went all over the bags but we met a nice English chap (who we now call Nigel the Helpful) as he maneuvered Debbie's cart back onto the sidewalk.
Sudha the Driver (this is an actual name, not one we made up) managed to pack all 6 bags + 4 carry-ons into his small minivan with room for us too. This was no small feat as he was a smaller man, probably weighing less than at least two of the bags. A quick stop at the letting agent to get the keys and we were at the flat. Sudha unpacked the car and saw the tiny stairwell up which the bags needed to be moved. He refused to let us do it alone, so he helped carry the bags all the way into the flat. We love the British sense of propriety when it comes to opportunities to be helpful.
So, there we were in the flat. We had officially become UK Residents. Congratulations to us for making it through the 4-month process of getting here. Then, it appeared we had no sheets or pillows so a trip to the store was in order. Bus #356 was the answer. The bus stop is about 200 yards from the flat and the bus drops you at the front door of possibly the biggest Sainsbury's in all of London. We were golden! Armed with our Trader Joe's and Conduct Happiness canvas and reusable bags, the first shopping trip began.
Leaving Sainsbury's, we were loaded with bags and had to figure out how to get it all on the bus - 4 pillows, complete bed set, a wok, groceries, and a duvet; 3 bags each + the backpack filled with milk and soda jugs. we made it on the #356 and got back to the flat, tired but with the prospect of a sheeted and pillowed bed. We noticed that it was rather cold in the flat...more on that in our next posting...
Till then,
Deb & Jon in South London
After a problem with Jon's fingerprints (right thumb...fidn't dit...right index finger...fidn't dit...left index finger...fid dit!), we were on our way to baggage claim to collect our life stored in 6 very heavy checked bags. All 6 bags arrived safely and fit snugly onto two rolling carts after we borrowed a crane to lift them off the baggage carousel. Then out to the arrivals area to meet our car service. While waiting for the car (problems because the flight was three hours late arriving), we grabbed some coffees and tried to maneuver the carts and coffees. This did not go well as we were on an apparent double-sided incline where Debbie's cart rolled out into one street and I couldn't stop it because I was chasing my cart down as it rolled the other direction towards the other street. Coffee went all over the bags but we met a nice English chap (who we now call Nigel the Helpful) as he maneuvered Debbie's cart back onto the sidewalk.
Sudha the Driver (this is an actual name, not one we made up) managed to pack all 6 bags + 4 carry-ons into his small minivan with room for us too. This was no small feat as he was a smaller man, probably weighing less than at least two of the bags. A quick stop at the letting agent to get the keys and we were at the flat. Sudha unpacked the car and saw the tiny stairwell up which the bags needed to be moved. He refused to let us do it alone, so he helped carry the bags all the way into the flat. We love the British sense of propriety when it comes to opportunities to be helpful.
So, there we were in the flat. We had officially become UK Residents. Congratulations to us for making it through the 4-month process of getting here. Then, it appeared we had no sheets or pillows so a trip to the store was in order. Bus #356 was the answer. The bus stop is about 200 yards from the flat and the bus drops you at the front door of possibly the biggest Sainsbury's in all of London. We were golden! Armed with our Trader Joe's and Conduct Happiness canvas and reusable bags, the first shopping trip began.
Leaving Sainsbury's, we were loaded with bags and had to figure out how to get it all on the bus - 4 pillows, complete bed set, a wok, groceries, and a duvet; 3 bags each + the backpack filled with milk and soda jugs. we made it on the #356 and got back to the flat, tired but with the prospect of a sheeted and pillowed bed. We noticed that it was rather cold in the flat...more on that in our next posting...
Till then,
Deb & Jon in South London
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