Well I am officially moved into 9 Herbal Hill. It is a purpose built set of flats, but pretty nice. Of course it is on the spendier side of the budget, but I wanted someplace safe and convenient. Amazingly, finding a new home in a new country with one week’s notice is harder than you might imagine. It was difficult finding a place where I could stay for the interim period of waiting for Michael to come out, especially since we don’t have an exact date in mind yet – could be anywhere from 4-6 weeks at this point. I’m rooting for 4.

EVERYTHING about this morning was hard. I had to move out of the hotel, which has been a nice place to stay, and get everything over to 9 Herbal Hill in one cab trip. I don’t have that much stuff, but carrying 2 large suitcases, a backpack, a laptop pack, and a briefcase from one end of London to the other can be a challenge. Especially when you wait for the lift (!!!) for 15 minutes and it opens one time, and that one time it is crammed with people. I had to drag the bags down 4 sets of stairs by myself. I would drag one down one flight of stairs, go get the next one, then do all the backpack / bags stuff. I finally got checked out, dragged the bags down another set of stairs to get out to the street and hailed a cab. The cabbie was great and delivered me to the doorstep of my new flat. Where I dragged the luggage up 2 more sets of stairs, into a supposed 6 person elevator (I don’t think they have seen the average American – this elevator MIGHT hold 3 people), down the hall, and into my new flat. My flatmate, Isabelle, seems really nice. She is French, and is here working at a new job. I don’t really know much about her yet, because she kindly set up an afternoon / evening date for herself so I could settle in to the new place comfortably. She was very sweet, and is a very “sharing” type person – she’s letting me use pretty much all her stuff, such as the iron and cooking supplies. She even loaned me a duvet for the duration of my stay, which probably saved me about 84 pounds.

I unpacked most of my stuff, attempted to set up the internet (unsuccessfully), and headed out with a list of things to buy. My top priority was to obtain an ethernet cord, so I could call tech support (Michael) later . I knew he would be able to figure out a way to fix my wifi problem, and sure enough, from an ocean away, he did solve it for me late in the afternoon. My hero!!! There is an IKEA here – 2 or 3 actually – so I hopped on the tub and easily found the store. Their website is somewhat deceiving, stating it is just a few blocks from the train station, when in fact it is a good 20 minute walk, but whatever. It was 80 degrees and humid, so what did I care? I had already decided to eat at the Ikea cafeteria for lunch, and did, but was sorely disappointed. Not that you have high hopes for IKEA food, or anything, but it was outright bad. They had no real veggie options, so I ended up having a block of cheese, a croissant, an IKEA brand cola, and the worst salad I have ever eaten. It was lettuce, kidney beans, and cucumbers. That’s it. No dressing, no nothing else. Just that. I was however able to get the things I need, all while hearing Michael’s voice in my head… “only buy what you can carry…” But I needed a lot of stuff!!! I got a bath and hand towel, a duvet cover, 2 pillows, some big cardboard boxes, a blanket, a wastebasket, and 25 hangers. By the way, if you ever move to London, pare your clothes down to the absolute essentials, I mean what you really can’t live without. Then donate half of those essential to charity. And you MIGHT have enough room for it in your wardrobe. Sigh… Anyway, I got my stuff, purchased 2 blue bags at 30p each to carry the stuff home, and took the free shuttle back to the train station. At which point I learned that the entire train line I had to take back was closed down from approximately 3 miles away from where I needed to be. At least I got to take the train most of the way home. I strongly considered walking the three miles for 20 seconds, then hailed a cab and rode home in luxury. George, the Jamaican cab driver offered to take me out and show me around the city, so long as we kept it a secret and didn’t tell Michael. Naturally, I agreed, and we are going out next Friday. Oh I’m such a jester!!! Got the stuff inside and immediately hooked up my new ethernet cord. My humble tech support man was waiting on the other side, and ichatted me literally the moment I plugged in. 2 hours later and a lot of cursing later, I have WIFI in my room! I set everything else up, walked to the grocery store for some essentials (tea, cereal, and soymilk, plus my new favorite thing – yogurt mixed with whipped cream… it comes that way and it is SO good!).

And now here I sit, staring at my bruised legs (see below for evidence) from the suitcase escapade this morning, recording it all for you, my loyal readership.

I’m off to Manchester tomorrow bright and early – 3 hours each way on the train!