Lesson Learned

Good lesson: do not run the washing machine, oven and three out of four burners at the same time.

Also, "minted peas" are exactly what they sound like.

The First Batch

The first batch of London pictures are up on my Flickr stream, from moving in and our walk through Camden Town. Enjoy!

Deliver Me To Swedish Furniture!

New flat. No plates, no glasses, no towels and we needed a new bed. So what are two Euro-savvy Americans to do?

That's right, go to Ikea.

After a great protip in a comment on the newly-found blog "A Singaporean in London" suggested not the Wembley Ikea, but the Tottenham Hale Ikea - which worked out great. It was a tube skip and a quick bus ride away, and the cab back to our flat was less than 20 pounds. The total cost ended up being reasonable, and our bed will be delivered in a couple of days. Not too shabby, that.

We also got a chance to bum around the new neighborhood a little bit more, and found a "good" local pub called Big Red, which was decorated like a TGI Fridays and had a distinctively American twist to the menu. Not a bad fallback when we're looking for a taste of home but I think I need something more English for my regular watering hole. The pints were cheap and it was great to be there when Arsenal was playing even though they lost. Next time, lads.

Now we're back in the hotel, eating store-bought Indian food and relaxing. And on that note, I'm going to go watch the tele.

A Londoner Am I!

My, it's good to be back!

I got in yesterday and spent the better part of today getting my things in order. I have, in no particular order, been to the bank, been to the grocery store, been to the chemist (drugstore for you scrub yanks out there,) ridden the tube several times, walked around Islington, walked around Holloway Road, been to a pub, watched people betting on horseraces, eaten double Gloucester cheese, met our new neighbors, met our new neighbors again in a grocery store, and let (rented for you scrub yanks out there) our flat.

London seems pretty much as I left it, and I didn't expect anything less. It's off to the pub for a pint or two and then back here to pretend I'm not really getting sick.

Also I have a 9 am meeting on Monday. Glad I checked my work email!

Benjamins, British Style

In the second of two encounters with some kind of financial service (a bank and a letting agency specifically), the fact that we have jobs and will be making apparently a good salary in Pounds has opened doors that might previously have been closed. I've been corresponding with a leasing agent trying to find a place in and around Camden Town, and after the initial "Hi, I'm an American!" we got down to business - and they would require six months rent up front. Tell them you're employed and you have a good salary, and suddenly you're taken far more seriously. Same with the bank; when they found out how much Elizabeth would be making each month, our options for bank accounts and credit cards multiplied threefold.

At least our hard work has paid off a little in this regard, because I couldn't imagine fucking around with some of this stuff not knowing about a job or making a pittance.