Learning a New Skill

I told you earlier, faithful readers, that our washer-dryer is behind a cabinet. A small cabinet. Last night I used it for the first time.




This is a single washer-dryer unit. When the washing stops, the machine goes into drying mode. This turns out to be a lengthy process.
Now, back in Charlotte, I have a nifty LG washer and dryer, a stainless behemoth sitting on tall pedestals. Washer on the left, dryer on the right. When we got this set back in 2005, we called it the Starship Enterprise because of all the lights and knobs and dials and noises. It’s pathetic how much I love that washer and dryer.

The detergent - or washing liquid - I'm using is Daz. It's made by Procter and Gamble here in the UK. I love the way they phrase things. On the bottle it says: "For help or a free dosing ball, why not visit our website www.dazwhite.co.uk."
So, since we’ve been here a couple of days, we have dirty clothes. Last night I decided to pop in a load. And the unit is small so I did just a few things.
I pulled out the directions because I have never used anything like this. Good thing we weren’t in a hurry. Washing, rinsing, spinning and drying takes … WAIT FOR IT … nine hours. If there were a stream nearby, I could beat the clothes on rocks, hang them from trees and have them quicker.
But they came out clean and patience is, after all, a virtue. I will wash clothes every night while I sleep!

Iced Tea comes to London!

I achieved my goal of finding a tea pitcher today. It is not exactly what I was looking for, but it works and is the closest thing I could find after hitting lots of stores.
We left the flat around 2 p.m. and headed toward the Old Street tube stop. We’re about halfway between Angel and Old Street so we decided to do something different today. On the way, I took a neat photo of an Old Street street sign on a pretty fence.

We took the tube to Bank, changed to another line and continued to Oxford Circus. Our destination was John Lewis, a department store on Oxford.
On some floors, John Lewis is pretty typical – cosmetics, shoes, clothes, housewares and bedding. But on its six floors, there are some things we don’t see back in Charlotte. There are three restaurants, a furniture shop and an appliance store. And a massive grocery store called Waitrose.
We had tea at one of the restaurants. Not iced - LOL! I had scones with jam and cream and Keith got a fancier tea, with little sandwiches and some tiny desserts. Of course, I tasted – just to tell you about it. One was a shrimp sandwich on very hearty bread, one was chicken with an herbed mayonnaise; the others were smoked salmon, tuna with sweetcorn and a salmon-and-cucumber pate. The desserts were a banana bread with brandy-soaked bananas, a layered tiny tiramisu and a frosted brownie with a rum-soaked cherry on top. Quite a good snack.
Our mission at John Lewis was to find a coffee pot. My mother is coming to visit in a few weeks and she would be one unhappy guest without her coffee. At home, we have a Keurig coffee maker which we love. It was one material possession we were sad to leave behind. We saw plenty of coffee makers at John Lewis – one was a Kitchen Aid espresso maker that was 549 pounds. But we bought the cheapest one in the store and it’s actually pretty decent. It’s a Haden and cost about 12 pounds. I call that a deal and hopefully, a Mom-pleaser.
While I was scoping out the coffee pots, I spied a clearance table with outdoor plates and other summer items. There was our new pitcher! It’s red plastic and it is a lot smaller that I’m used to. But we are drinking tea as I write this. (I brought my Luzianne decaf bags from home.) Give me unsweetened tea and I’m a happy camper!
I also saw a stove I had to take a photo of.

It’s by Britannia and it sells for a mere 5,049 pounds. (That’s around $10,000!) Won’t the Tar Heel fans love this one? (It also comes in pink and white.)
Random observations today:
** It seems funny to see luxury makeup brands such as Lancome, Chanel, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Clarins sold in drug stores, but they are.
** The Tube is jam-packed on Saturdays.
** We saw a lot of ladies dressed to the nines but no guys dressed the same. I wonder if they get together?
** It apparently is hard to find salt and pepper in this city of 8 million, but patience pays off: the long-awaited spices were finally located at Tesco Metro, after five grocery stops.
** Walking down the sidewalk here is like Berlitz in a Blur. You hear just about every language you can imagine. London is a true melting pot.
** There is a cute and scrupulously clean corner restaurant near our flat. It is called the Dixy Chicken.

When were first married and living in Texas, we used to eat at the Dixie Chicken in College Station, Texas. The menus are quite different – in Texas, we had chicken-fried steak sandwiches (doused with Tabasco) and longneck Lone Stars. Here, the menu includes fried chicken and an amazing variety of other foods. Check out the photo!
** Finally, I guess we’re showing our age. We got on the Tube today and I found a seat. Keith was standing and a young woman jumped up and insisted he take her seat. He sat down and said, “I guess she is giving up her seat for a old man.” (His birthday is Friday.)

Out and About, Day 2

Photos today, left to right: Walking up City Road toward Islington High Street; eating lunch at Wagamama; Trying to find IKEA. (Click on any photo to make it bigger.)

Today was an adventure. We woke up about 12:30 p.m. - isn't that terrible? I guess we were pretty tired! We ended up leaving here around 3 with a goal of going out to Wembley to the IKEA store. We decided to do this because our driver from the airport gave us a travelcard for all zones and it expired today.
Let me explain this.
Usually, your London Travelcard - which gets you on the bus and tube - is good for Zones 1 and 2, which takes in a lot of territory. Pretty much everything you want to do in London is in Zones 1 and 2 ... but we had a free all-zones cards and decided to be adventurous. We love IKEA and we figured that we might find something cheap and colorful for our very white apartment.
After leaving here, we walked up to the Islington High Street. (That's what they call the main shopping streets in each area.) We decided to eat some lunch so we stopped at Wagamama. This is a very popular London restaurant - a big room with long tables and mostly noodle dishes. I got Chicken Katsu Curry, which was strips of chicken coated with panko crumbs and fried, covered in sticky rice and curry sauce. I loved it. Keith got Chicken Chili Men, which was stir-fried chicken in a sauce of chiles, ginger, garlic, onions, tomatoes and lemongrass. It was served with noodles and vegetables. It looked like spaghetti to me. He said it was quite spicy.
After lunch, we got on the tube for our trip to IKEA. It was an easy ride but when we got there, we had quite a ways to walk. But no worries - you can't miss that big blue building. We found a fun orange table runner and some colorful napkins and a set of plastic bowls - there were no bowls in this kitchen. I also picked up a red colander because we didn't have one. Now, here's an interesting fact - as I mentioned yesterday, I needed a tea pitcher. IKEA has everything, right? Right - except for tea pitchers. I just wanted a cheap plastic pitcher. I couldn't find anything, so my quest for tea goes unfulfilled. But tomorrow I WILL FIND a pitcher.
After we left IKEA, we hopped on a shuttle to get us to the Stonebridge Park tube station (we did not know about this on the way in!). It was a lively little shuttle with a group of very loud Asian women. We drove about a mile or so, then stopped. There was an accident ahead. We sat and sat and sat. Finally several people got off the shuttle and started walking. We asked the driver how far it was to the station - his answer: "About a 10-minute walk." We got off and started walking.
We walked about five minutes and stopped - there was a police line on the sidewalk where the accident was and we couldn't go forward. We sat on a low wall and waited. Finally, the ambulance was loaded and we were able to walk. It took us at least 20 minutes to get to the station.
Moral of story - When someone tells you it's a 10-minute walk, they're lying.
Our last stop was the grocery store.

Observations today:
** When you have to carry your groceries for a mile, you will definitely cut down on impulse buying. And you will choose the half-pint of milk over the half-gallon. Small sizes of everything look good.
** Treasure your Big Gulp. My Coke with lunch was smaller than anything you'll find in the states (I did get about four ice cubes - hurray!) and it cost 1 pound, 85 pence ... which is about $3.75. Free refills? Rubbish, mate. It ain't happening here.
** There's no such thing as a free trolley. We call them grocery carts back home, and they're free. Here, you "rent" them for a pound. When you return your trolley, you get your pound back. If you leave it in the middle of road, you're out the money. We put ours back. We have good manners and we're cheap too.

We're here!

We made it! We had an easy flight and no charges for overweight luggage! One of our bags seemed to weigh about 54 pounds but then it fluctuated back to 47 and the check-in guy grabbed it off. Hurray! I was able to sleep a little on the flight - I watched three episodes of "Mad Men" on my computer, drank some hot tea and drifted off. Poor Keith listened to his iPod but was not able to get much sleep. He just doesn't sleep on planes!
When we arrived at Gatwick we breezed through immigration and customs. It was almost too good to be true - and it turned out to be. Our driver was not there to meet us, and we were fading fast! Keith called him and he had the wrong day to pick us up. So we had to wait more than an hour for him to arrive. Once he got there, it took about an hour and 45 minutes to get to our flat. We passed through some beautiful residential areas. Our driver, Michael, told us the price ranges of the homes - most all multi-million dollars.
One of the things we noticed was that leaves are already beginning to fall - we've moved right into autumn.
The apartment is nice - very white! We're on the fifth floor. We were excited to learn that we have TWO bathrooms! We weren't expecting that so it's a nice surprise - especially for our visitors.
Our dishwasher is right under the oven, behind a cabinet door. The washer/dryer also hides behind a cabinet door. And the refrigerator looks like a cabinet!
The apartment manager brought us some extra furniture - a desk, a bookshelf, an extra dresser. So we are totally fixed up.
Ate dinner tonight at a place around the corner called Fish Central. What else? Fish and chips! It was good but the fish was HUGE.
I am going to buy a pitcher tomorrow - I really miss my unsweetend cold tea. I must make some! I also plan to hit the grocery store and I am actually cooking dinner tomorrow. Of all things, I need to buy salt and pepper. Should have packed that!
The photos are all of the apartment. The first one is the view from the living room window. The room with twin beds is the guest room. The white room that seems to be an operating room is actually our bedroom!
Then you have the living room and kitchen - which is actually one big open room.
More shots later! We're going to watch the convention on the BBC Parliament Channel. Our cable is decent - another pleasant surprise!

Packed up and waiting

The plane leaves at 7:50 p.m. Everything is packed - and we're praying none of these suitcases weighs more than 50 pounds.
It's a challenge to pack for such a long trip. I ended up taking lots of sweaters and black pants. Versatility, you know. We have laptops and other work-related things. I have makeup - it's the price I pay for youth and natural beauty. They've told us to buy a hair dryer over there - small appliances are the first thing to go with the voltage converters.
When we arrive in the morning we'll be picked up and driven to the flat. I'll post photos tomorrow. Wish us safe travels!

Medical matters

Signs you are middle-aged ... and then some: After a little wrangling with the insurance company, we finally were able to fill all our prescriptions through December. The folks at Target Pharmacy were great and now know us and all about our trip. We dropped about $500 there on all the meds. We get the bottles home and of course, they have to go in a carry-on bag. I put everything in large plastic bags and almost completely filled a whole suitcase. We look like smugglers ... or geezers. Tonight we have done a little more packing. As we were filling the bags, Mocha watched with a very sad expression. I think he knows we're doing something out of the ordinary. In 48 hours, I'll be snoozing across the Atlantic.

Five Days and Counting ...

We decided to start this blog to share our observations and experiences as we spend the fall of 2008 in London. We have known about this trip for almost three years, but up until now, it has been "out there" for us. For the past year, slowly it is become more real to us - and now with just five days left before we actually leave, a sort of panic mixed with excitement and euphoria has set in. Panciteria? That sounds like a disease!
We spent five days in London last fall, checking out our flat and the surrounding neighborhood, including grocery stores, banks, drug stores (chemists!) and of course, the local pubs.
Now,we leave for London in five days. Next Wednesday night, we board the plane and off we go. I don't think I've ever boarded a plane without a plan to come back in a few days or a week. That's the interesting mental adjustment - this is not really a vacation, it's a move, albeit a short-term move.
Packing is a challenge. We're leaving sweltering Charlotte to go to temps about 25 degrees lower. We have limited suitcase space and we'll be there through mid-December, so we're choosing clothing with care. Lots of sweaters. It's 6 a.m. in London now and the temperature is 57 degrees. And for a change, it isn't raining!
One of the biggest hurdles we had to face in pulling off the trip was what to do about Mocha.

We finally found a temporary home for our beloved chocolate Lab. Mocha's living arrangements have been a big source of worry for us since we found out we were going to London. We've waffled between putting him in his favorite kennel and finding a pet-sitter. Our vet recommended that we try to find a trusted friend who could keep him in a home environment. We did! So Mocha is going to be the canine version of Jack Tripper. He is spending the fall with a dear friend who has two female Labs, a black and a gold. What a deal for him, surrounded by two pretty girls. And what a relief for us!
So join us as we begin this adventure. Bookmark us, visit often and please comment!

Jayne & Keith