Saturday 10 March 2007 (in the afternoon)

I went flat-hunting this morning… on my first weekend in town, and I got up at 8am to do it :-p I had made the appointment while I was running errands at lunch one day (I love it, I can go outside and run errands during lunch!), and didn’t make appointments with other estate agents to see anything else. But it doesn’t really matter because I decided to take the place I looked at today. It’s the one bedroom (yay, I’ve graduated from a studio apartment!), and it has a washer/dryer combo in addition to a nice deep tub, and wood (laminate?) floors in the living room. The bedroom is a bit small, but really, what else do I do in there except sleep? It’s on the 3rd floor (which is actually the 4th floor in the States, because here they count the level one walks in off the street on as the ground floor), but there is a lift (elevator). It lets in a lot of light in the morning, which is perfect for me. It’s less than a five minute walk to the theatre, and while it *is* on a street with a lot of pubs/clubs, I think that’s great, because I was living in the middle of white-picket-fence-suburbia before. The kitchen has real countertops, and not that cheap-ass stuff that’s glued on. There’s a little half-wall sectioning off the kitchen from the living room, which I might be able to put a stool or two at. The living room and bedroom don’t have a lot of character, but I see it as a plus- like a blank canvas. The only drawback is that the apartment is unfurnished. All I *have* to have right away is something to sleep on, and everything else will come eventually. I’m trying to not get stressed thinking about how I’m going to get what stuff I do have with me over there… it will take all morning if I do it by bus. I’m hoping that maybe someone can drive me over?.. I suppose I’ll worry about that more than I should, though I don’t need to until I know when I’m moving. It won’t be for at least another week. Ok, now I’m stressing out about how I’m going to get stuff to my new place, and where I’m going to buy stuff after I have it. It will work out. I made it from London dragging at least my own weight in luggage; I can make this work too.

Aside from my morning flat hunting (and suit-buying- I needed another one, and possibly one more), today has been quiet. I was tired by the time I got in, and have had rugby and soccer on in the background all afternoon as I made up lists of things to do/buy. I don’t understand rugby at all. It looks extremely violent. It’s like soccer, but you can touch the ball with your hands, and people can pull you to the ground, but you’re not wearing any kneepads or helmets. Anyway, I think tomorrow will probably be a day in… I’ve spent a bunch of money today (on necessary things, but still), and really don’t want to spend any more. If I stay inside, I won’t spend. Yeah, I’ll probably be bored, and I should probably be out looking for something to do, but… does it help if I say that I think someone at work either runs/volunteers with/is otherwise engaged in some kind of community choir? I bet that I’ll be out after work at least once next week, how about that? :-P

More Saturday (in the evening)

I happened to look over at my computer a minute ago, and my picture slideshow screensaver was on, and the picture that was up was of the guy from the San Diego Zoo (will post a picture when I can, so check back for a link!). It got me to thinking “what am I going to do for Memorial Day Weekend *this* year?” 2005 was San Diego, I can’t say what I did for 2006 here in case it should get back to my mother (but I will tell you if you email me)… I’d kind of made a promise to myself that no matter how little money I had, I would do something wild/crazy/special over Memorial Day Weekend, just to remind myself that I‘m still alive, and that I‘m lucky to have the opportunities that I do. Then I thought to myself, there is no Memorial Day weekend in England. So, I need your help- should I do anything even though the British don’t celebrate, and if so, what should I do? I would really like it to not cost more than £ 150 (about 300 U.S. dollars). Anyway, that’s not really what I wanted to share. My mind started out there, and then went on a tangent, and somehow I got to thinking about how I’m not homesick, but that I really, REALLY wish that I could talk to Nana, and tell her what I was up to. But I can’t, because she passed away a year ago April. And right now, I’m having a very hard time dealing with that, because I can so vividly imagine her reaction, I can hear her voice, see her eyes light up as I’m telling my story… I wish I could tell her, she’d be so proud and excited for me…


Sunday 11 March 2007

Today was about adventures in washing my clothes. First thing I had to do was buy detergent and fabric softener (though I wasn’t sure the machine I was to use could even *do* liquid softener). So I’m standing in the mini-grocery store around the corner from where I’m staying (almost like a super bodega) looking on the shelves- there’s no Tide, there’s no Snuggle, I don’t recognize anything. So I grab a box of powder detergent (they didn’t have any liquid) that said it was “sensitive” and some liquid fabric softener that mercifully had something I recognized in it- Febreze. As I was walking back up the aisle, I saw the funniest thing, and I almost got a box just for the hell of it. I was looking at tissues, and they have “mansize” tissues. I’m not kidding, they really do! The box for one brand specifically said “man size”, and the other- it was Kleenex- said “Kleenex tissues for men.” and these boxes were gigantic! At least 50% larger than regular. It was really funny. If any of you want a box of man tissues, I’d be happy to send some over :-P
The washing machine itself was kind of funky. First of all, it held about half the size of a washer in the States, so now I have more laundry to do, but I don’t want to do more than a load a week because I’m not paying extra for it. Then, while I knew where to load the powder (I guessed on the fabric softener), and to turn the knob to the right letter (for temperature), I had no idea how to actually start it! So I’m poking and prodding, and eventually I get the machine to start after I pulled something hard enough that I was afraid I would pull it off. Then the machine took FOREVER to finish. I went down after half an hour, and again five minutes later, figuring that it would take as long as it normally does in the States. Wrong answer. It wound up taking an hour. And that was just for a wash (there’s no dryer, so I currently have three pairs of pants, two shirts, and some socks and underwear strewn about my room, which is already a mess because there are no drawers for me to put my stuff in). Anyway, when I tried to open the washing machine door after it stopped (the last time I went to check, I decided I was better off waiting for it to finish than go up and down two flights of stairs AGAIN), it wouldn’t budge. The door appeared to be stuck. I have to mention it was a front load washer, and not a top load. Again, I’m afraid that I’m going to break the handle off if I pull too hard, but I eventually get it open. I think my fear of breaking things if I pull too hard stems from the fact that I’m living in a very old house, and there are a lot of old, ornate doorknobs that aren’t all that secure.
So far, I’ve seen two ironing boards, but no iron. I would be happy if I could iron some of my clothes. I’m just about at the end of things that don’t need to be ironed. Maybe I’ll go out and buy an iron (I’ll need one soon anyway) and sneak one of the boards into my room. Have I mentioned that I can’t wait until I’m out of temp housing? :-)