Day 12: Fall Cleaning (Part 1 of ?)

I haven't taken a photo yet, as I'm waiting for the fridge shelves to dry. Once they do, I'll post up the picture of my shiny, white, no-longer-has-embarrassingly-old-food-in-it fridge. :)

Besides the fridge, I managed to clean out more old clothes, do some laundry, clean out the bathroom a bit, and do dishes. :)

Definitely a productive evening. Here's hoping for similar results tomorrow...gotta get the house in shape to get it rented!

Day 11: Friendly Faces

These are the faces that greeted me when I got home. :)

Ruby, who's been begging for attention since he decided to come back inside after a night out in the neighborhood.

Caoilfhionn (aka Keelin), who's always suspicious of cameras.

Also, highly enamored of luggage. She slept on it before I left and as soon as I came back she resumed her spot on the suitcase. Go figure.

Ace, who's been moping all afternoon since he got back from his vacation with friends, where he had an acre of land to run on, kids to play with, another dog to keep him company, and plenty of spoiling. ;-)





It's good to see them again.

Day 10: Heading Home

So I'm in Charlotte for a 5-hour layover waiting to get back to Raleigh. (Ironically I could drive to Raleigh in 2 1/2 hours, but this was the cheapest flight option, so there you go.)

Good things for the day, though: Still had a crying baby on this flight, but no neighbor in the seat next to me, so I was able to stretch out a bit. Got a ride to the airport so that was much easier than the trip from Gatwick into London. Google's providing free wifi for the Charlotte airport, so I can stay entertained during my wait.

I love suitcase sets. My one (large) suitcase now holds my garment bag and my smaller suitcase (which, in turn, holds some dirty clothes, shoes, and a few other possessions). Everything weighs about 25lbs (compared to 75 on the way in when both bags were full), and the rest of my stuff is safely tucked away in my great-aunt's study awaiting my return. :)

Sight out the plane window in Gatwick.

Another view of the same plane.











My TV worked on the plane this time, so I watched a documentary on Sandra Bulluck (fairly interesting), a documentary on First Daughters (kind of interesting), half of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (painfully lacking in both content and amusement value), and half of The Proposal (which looked really dumb but sadly also looked better than HP&THBP).

At any rate, that's about all of interest to report from today. Here's hoping the kitties are alive and well when I return, and I don't pass out before I get home (as it's now almost 10pm according to my body, and I have another 4 hours until I get to my car).

Day 9: Last day in London :(

So I go back to NC tomorrow. :( I've greatly enjoyed my visit, and it's been nice to spend some more time with my relatives here (whom I haven't really gotten to know prior to this).

Since I've been meaning to do this all week, and was waiting for nice weather and/or my feet to stop hurting (got the former, not the latter, today), I went out to Hampstead Heath, which is just across the street (and down the block a bit) to wander around.

Can I just say I'm in love with it? Wow, it's huge, and gorgeous. And I saw about 10 dogs, all off-leash, having a blast wandering around.

This is where I entered (the Heath, for those who don't know, is about a bajillion acres big...sorry, wikipedia claims only 320 hectares/790 acres). There were some people playing football to my right, but also the sun in the way over there, so I opted to go for a non-action shot instead.

This was one of the ponds that apparently dot the Heath. An enterprising cocker spaniel jumped right in and splashed around a bit, though I quickly got out of the way so as not to be accidentally splashed when s/he emerged again.

I wandered in through a rather circuitous (and private, oops) route, so I snapped a photo once I found an official sign announcing the Heath.

Parliament Hill is also a nearby school (secondary, I think, full of teenagers anyway). I know this because on one of my first outings I encountered said teenagers storming onto the street, squealing and screaming in teenage angst, or something. (There were also boy-teeangers emerging from the other school, but there was very limited shouting and no squealing or screaming from them.) Apparently at least one of my 2nd cousins attended said school (William Ellis, I believe), and said he enjoyed the proximity to the Heath because he could play hooky.

I originally thought this might have been a cricket field (pitch?), but I think it's too small. Anyway, the sign said that it's a Bowling Green, and down the street there was a sign for a Bowling Club to match.

It was interesitng to see the difference between the semi-wild Heath and this little section of OCD manicured lawn.



I was only out for about 45 minutes...I would've liked to stay out longer, but I will need to acquire more comfortable shoes before coming back for more trekking. These ones are quite comfortable at home, but apparently not for extended use during a week.

Day 8: Happy Thanksgiving!

I considered heading down to St. Paul's Cathedral to attend the service they had there for Thanksgiving, but I got to bed late, overslept, and thus missed out. Maybe next year?

I also apparently slept through an attempt (which I believe to have been feeble) to deliver the debit card for my new bank account. They're going to re-deliver tomorrow, but as a result, may have to stay in most of the day waiting for the delivery to arrive. :(

This is, at a guess, part of the Tower Bridge. It's right next to the Tower of London, anyway (which is more of a castle, see pics below).

Apologies for my finger being in the way, it was cold/windy and I was in a hurry to get to the play.

This is the Tower of London. It looked pretty impressive all lit up, and I can only imagine what prisoners/visiting dignitaries thought when being sent there.

More Tower of London...

And another one (this was post-play, so I had a bit more time to take pictures, though it was even colder/windier!)

Last one of the Tower of London...

This is the stage at Wilton's Music Hall, which is apparently one of the few original music halls still in its original states (wikipedia FTW).


I love the pillars supporting the balcony.

More pillars, plus a bit of the balcony.

I'm sure this is impossible to see (knew there was a reason I wanted to bring my actual camera...though I wouldn't have lugged it to the theater anyway).

At any rate, this was a black cat who besieged me at the main door to my great-aunt's building and demanded entry. I reluctantly let him in, and then was reassured by another tenant that he lives there. Bit reassuring for Ruby, anyway, as this cat seemed to have no qualms about wandering around central London and finding his way home again. (Though s/he did try to go into the wrong flat, and then followed me all the way upstairs to my great-aunt's flat before - presumably - meandering back to his own.)

All in all, another good day. :) I'm wishing I didn't have to go back the day after tomorrow (which is probably a good sign).

Day 7: Not so much productivity

So today I managed to go pick up my suit (freshly pressed, though I won't be needing it after all...better safe than sorry, I guess), and went in search of salad dressing. Bought caesar dressing, forgetting that it has anchovies in it. Oops.

This is the change I've accumulated so far (not all of it, since I've spent quite a bit as well). I love all the shapes of the coins, though learning to figure out which is which may take a while. (I've already frustrated a few clerks with my slowness in selecting money!)

The collection is quite heavy, though, especially with £1 and £2 coins in there. I've been taking a sampling each day when I go out so that my pockets aren't too laden down.

In other news, spoke with a recruiter today about job prospects. He wasn't exactly hugely optimistic, but he also wasn't discouraging, either. I'll call a few more tomorrow as well. I also bought tickets to a play, Mixed Up North, for tomorrow night at Wilton's Music Hall. I've heard Wilton's is quite a nice/interesting venue, so hopefully it will be a good time, even if the play happens to be subpar (though one would hope not).

Also went to dinner at my relative's house, where I helped cook (and eat) very yummy curries, as well as bread/cheese and ice cream. Quite a pleasant evening, all told.

Day 6: Productivity!

Managed to take quite a few photos today...probably looked like an idiot while doing it, but that's okay.

I wandered up the street from my great-aunt's flat. This is the view heading towards the tube station.


(I've seen tons of bicyclists around, which is neat. Given the traffic I've seen, I'm not sure how they stay alive, but at least people expect to see them on the road.)

This was just a pretty church across the street.

I've noticed there are tons of churches here, and so far every one I've seen has been gorgeous. Wish the churches in NC were this pretty, I might be tempted to go. ;-)

(Side note: I'm quite impressed with the iPhone's camera abilities...this car was whizzing past, and the photo isn't a blurry mess.)

Took this to illustrate the housing prices...this 1-bedroom flat costs more than my 3-bedroom house in NC, and that's before exchanging currency!

Also, the concept of square footage seems foreign here, I'm not really sure how you gauge what's a tiny apartment vs a large one (before seeing it, anyway). More things to investigate once I get to the hunt-for-a-place-to-live stage.

I was quite pleased to see this dog in Barclay's as I waited in line. He did seem a bit confused with what was going on, but no one glanced his way or appeared disturbed that he was there. Ace will be so happy if he can go on my errands with me.

Barclay's told me that it takes 3 weeks to get a bank account, so I walked across the street to Lloyd's and got one (with overdraft) in about 30 minutes. :) No savings account, thanks to computer malfunctions, but apparently I can call up and get a savings account at any time.

This was my haul from the grocery store. Cost £12.42. I'm not sure I could've gotten so much for $20.64 in the states. (Esp. the carrots, only 54p!)

All in all, a successful day, though I did get a bit lost on the way back from Sainsbury's.

Day 5: Getting settled in, learning new things

This was my nemesis for the day (this has been an unfortunate trend for this trip so far, one I hope to end immediately).

Apparently deadbolts on doors in London auto-lock for you when you close the door. Not knowing this, I closed the door (to which I had no key) and headed out for some food. Upon returning from the outing, I discovered that there was no way to get back in.

Luckily, family turned up within 5-10 minutes and let me in, and now I've been given a full set of keys while I'm here.

Other notable things from the day: bagels really aren't very good here (not a huge surprise, but still sad), there are more coins than I know what to do with (5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, 1 pound, 2 pound, and probably a few others I haven't yet encountered), I was pleasantly surprised by how little I minded the weather (grey and drizzly most of the day, with short periods of heavier rain), and "salad" has some interesting interpretations (in this case, a carefully arranged selection of vegetable-like things...cole slaw, then cut tomatoes, then corn, then something else that I couldn't recognize...all carefully separated, with no condiment of any kind).

Good day, overall. :)

Day 4: More adventures

This photo was taken on the Millennium Bridge over the Thames. (Went to the Tate Modern museum and then wandered around town a bit, which was quite fun.)

No "real" picture from Nov 21, as during my travels from the airport to central London, I misplaced my backpack in a tube station and didn't get it back until midday Nov 22. (It had my computer, iPhone - which is acting as my camera this trip, and both passports in it, so I'm very happy to have it back!)

Anyway, fairly typical grey London sky (from what I've been told ;)), but a nice sight nonetheless! I also saw a seagull flying over the river, which I thought was unusual.

Day 3: Successful Arrival! (Sort of...)

This is the shower in my great-aunt's bathroom, and apparently it is possessed. So far I've used it twice - the first time it was lovely, but the second time, regardless of what heat setting I chose for it, it would switch between all cold or all hot...neither of which was very pleasant.

The water pressure, though, is very nice. :) And when it's being nice, it's quite a good shower.

More exciting news to report tomorrow, I promise, including the tracking down of luggage and sightseeing.

Day 2: No travel, after all...

This is a week's worth of food for my kitties. (Actually, about a week and a half, so that they can pig out and not go hungry the last couple of days.)

I was hoping to provide a much more exciting photo chronicling my route to London, but the travel gods had other plans. Thanks to a mixture of computer failures at the FAA, and bad weather, my flight out was delayed by over 4 hours, so I wasn't able to catch the connection to London.

My kitties were happy to see me back, at least (until I wouldn't let Ruby back outside to go have fun). And sleeping in my own bed is preferable to trying to sleep in airport chairs (though I would've done that if there'd been hope of it getting me to London earlier than Saturday).

Wish me luck on travel day, take 2!

Day 1: Birthday!

So today, among other things, I turned 28 years old.

Yay! (I guess.)

No major birthday celebrations, but my birthday did end with me finishing up packing/preparations to travel to London for a visit tomorrow. :) It's part fun, part research (to see if I could envision living there for a while/forever), and part present to myself.

Bon voyage!