My Move to London

I'm in the cafe of the Ritzy cinema with Stew about to see a film and connected to wireless. God, it's wonderful having the internet!!!

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April 5th, 2008

I left New York Thursday evening on Virgin Atlantic. I packed up all my things, had a car ready for me downstairs but the driver took one look at the 2 suitcases, 2 boxes, backpack and guitar and said "no way, that's not going to fit!." After a little pushing and shoving the boxes fit in the trunk (the boot - Britishism) and he caved and let me put the suitcases in the back seat. After shooting me a few stink eyes (hairy eyeball - Britishism) he finally went silent and after an hour we arrived at the airport. Checking my things in was no problem, even with the extra luggage. One of the attendants told me i couldn't take my guitar as a carry on but someone later told me to try and take it on, might as well give it a go. So after paying my $240 for the extra bags (might seem like a lot but it was nothing comparing to shipping them!!) I was off to the gate and boarded shortly thereafter. My flight was okay, couldn't really sleep much as every time I started to get comfortable I felt a twinge or pressure from my knees or legs pressing against the seat in front of me. No fun. But soon I arrived and was ready to move-in!

After a bit of hassle at the letting agent's office and needing to run to the nearest NatWest branch (my UK bank) for a bankers draft to pay my deposit, I got the keys to my flat and off I went! I arrived at my flat, walked up to the front door and my key wasn't unlocking the front door. I had a jangle of keys to try before I started to worry but none of them fit. One slipped in and turned but it didn't open the door. Fortunately, someone else was moving in at the same time and they opened the front door for me. I was relieved and walked in to my flat, #8. I tried the key in the door and it was the same deal...it slipped in but didn't unlock the door. Crap!! Was my immediate reaction and i tried a few more times but nothing worked. At the time I was definitely tired and not thinking straight and hungry which didn't make anything better, especially since i can't think straight on an empty stomach! I called letting agents and someone came down with a master pair of keys which worked on the first time! The guy shot me a "you're an idiot" look that made me feel completely stupid. It turned out my keys were right but I needed to turn them the other way and push the door to get it open! ahhhhhh, such a silly move on my part but then again I had somewhat of an excuse as my mind was definitely not working properly.

So I moved all my things in, did a bit of shopping and sorted things out then had a nap on the sofa as I ran through a list of things I needed to do. Sleeping seemed to be the best thing to do when I had a tangled head of todo's that I couldn't get done. That list included calling and setting up the utilities in my name, topping up my O2 mobile phone (it didn't like my credit card for over the phone payment), calling BT to setup a phone and internet, getting my train pass for work on Monday and various other tid bits. I went out later for dinner at a nice japanese noodle house that had AMAZING fried chicken for appetizers. It really reminded me of bon chon and had a delicious dipping sauce.

So here I am, Saturday night in my new flat and just trying to get my mind around living and being here. I tried to tackle some items on my shopping list today at Curry's (like Circuit City or Best Buy), the super market and Woolworths (target) but there was a fire in one of the buildings in the city centre and Woolworths was completely blocked off and closed. I was able to picked up an iron (but not an ironing board) and some new speakers (I tried plugging mine in even with an adapter and they were blown out almost instantly...yikes!). I also walked around the police line, did a bit of shopping at Marks and Spencers (clothing and food) and picked up some items to make for dinner. I made a pasta with penne and added in some sausage and made ciabatta bread on the side. It was very yummy and it gave me some more items to add to my list as I started cooking and was missing certain items.

One thing that was resolved after today's shopping trip was the doors. They have a chain built into them that pulls them closed so each door needs a stop underneath it to keep it open. I constantly hear doors slamming outside in the hallway and it's because they're all built this way, very silly and a bit annoying but I'm sure I'll get use to it. The bathroom door is a little tricky but i suppose always having it closed it okay however there is no vent (edit: I found the vent so I'm all sorted!) so any dampness collects inside unless the door is open. The shower and water pressure is REALLY nice and the reason i mention this is the Living and Working in London book I have explicitly said to check for dodgy water pressure and faucets as it's common. There's not a lot of storage in the bathroom so I will need to pick up shelf at some point but for now it's stacked around a little shelf under the sink. I'll need to pick up a proper telly (television) at some point but I've got a small one to hold me over for the time being. It looks like an IKEA run would knock out a lot of things on my ever growing list and it will probably get bigger as I've stupidly brought a lot of American appliances that I'm afraid to plugin because I don't want the speaker incident to be repeated.

I've been complaining mostly so far but they are very minor things, the flat is FANTASTIC! This place is so nice and I love that it's furnished, the space is great, I love having a separate bedroom from the lounge area and there's a big storage closet for my suitcases. The closet is massive and will definitely fit all my clothes and with enough room on the bottom to fit a small chest of drawers. I was very productive today and after a nice sleep, I was able to get out and pick up my train pass and photocard, top up my mobile at Superdrug and get groceries. There are so many others thing that happened but there's just too much to write about and I'll need to stop somewhere. I was looking forward to watching Dr. Who tonight which was the first episode of the season but for some reason this telly doesn't pick up the station which is BBC 1 and is definitely broadcasted. So maybe the antenna just isn't powerful enough or it's being blocked.

Anyways, I'm off to unpack a few more things and then crash in bed. Thank god tomorrow is Sunday as I really need another day before I start work. Stew just gave me a ring and we're going to meet up tomorrow for lunch. Awesome!