What we’ve been up to

In case you’re wondering what we’ve been up to around the house, I thought I’d share a few pictures from the last two weeks. If you’re not wondering, go ahead & stop reading now because I’m going to share anyway.

If you go back a couple of posts, you’ll remember me talking about all the people who were supposed to help us move. There were three main contacts; the short-term housing group, the long-term housing group, and the group to move our (for lack of a better word) stuff. Though the location that the short-term housing people selected for us was great, but many of the other aspects we weren’t too impressed with. We all know the problems we had with the long-term housing. I really should tell you someday how Adam found this house. It’s a pretty amazing story.

So, my last hope of good service was our moving team. Our experience in Texas had gone really well. The team we had there were extremely polite and protective of our house. They took great care of our items in packing which is evidenced by no items being broken at the end of the move. We were also impressed by our Move Coordinator’s level of service and communications. She was very clear in her instructions as to what the timing of the move would be, the responsibilities that we had and what services she was going to (and did!) provide. So I had pretty high expectations for them when they scheduled our delivery for between noon and 2pm on July 12th. I went to work as usual and Adam stayed home to await the arrival of the moving lorry (we’re in England now, trucks have become lorries). About 2:15, Adam called me. The lorry hadn’t arrived. Nobody had called. Great. I called our coordinator who was also not aware of the delay. She said she would contact the crew and determine the status. She returned my call about 30 minutes later stating that there had been a delay at the first delivery of the day and the crew would arrive at our house between 4:30 and 5:00 that evening.

I need to interject a few more non-day of details here. I can drive over here. I’m not great at it and I’m pretty nervous about the whole ordeal. Adam loves driving and isn’t nearly as bothered by the whole left side of the road thing plus traffic plus bikers and walkers on their daily commute. So until September when he starts school, he has agreed to drive me to (and pick me up from!) work. I’m taking some driving lessons soon and he says I’m going to start driving with him in the car in August so I can get comfortable. But, at the moment, I’m quite happy with my personal chauffeur. Secondly, our office hours are 9am to 5:30pm. If I get to work at 8:45 it’s a ghost town. Maybe by 8:55 you’ll see people file in. And at about 5:20 you’ll start to hear the closing of laptops and at 5:40 it’s crickets all over again. It’s really quite amazing (and awesome!).

So, because I had no car and Adam couldn’t come pick me up at 5:30 if the movers were unloading or unpacking after having just arrived at 5, I decided to leave work early and work from home until they showed up. We got back to the house about 4pm. And waited. And waited. About 5:30, I received a call from the delivery driver that there had been further delays and they would be at our home in about 30 minutes. The crew finally arrived at 6:15. Not quite between noon & 2 or 4:30 & 5, but they were here! I was so excited. I grabbed my camera to take pictures of the process. Managed to get one of the opening of the crate then the battery died. Ug. So, enjoy the photo below, and imagine our new house from the pictures in the earlier house post, just with boxes in every room.


We’ve also purchased some IKEA furniture. For those not hip to the IKEA way of life, you have to assemble everything you purchase and there are no words on any of the instructions, just pictures. So you have to pay pretty close attention to what you’re doing. You might laugh at this next statement, because I would too if I hadn’t seen it myself. Adam is pretty good at this process. I love my husband so much and he is amazing at so many things. The following of detailed instructions and small inanimate objects are usually not his strengths. However, please see below for the meticulous nature of which he has undertaken his responsibility to assemble the furniture.



And nothing has fallen apart after I sat on it.

The one piece of furniture that we did bring made it too. I’d like to say we brought it over for purely sentimental reasons. I do love this piece, don’t get me wrong. It was made for me by Adam’s grandfather and I treasure his woodworking skills. But I also kinda wanted to see if the Earth’s axis would shift by bringing our coffee table across the ocean. I don’t think it did. I’m not sure. Does anything feel lighter over there?


The afore mentioned tardy moving company was most excited when I stated that the table was to be unloaded on the ground floor and not upstairs.

We’ve started unpacking and we have more paper than I will ever know what to do with. The picture below is just from 4 of the 6 kitchen boxes. None of the other rooms. I didn’t get a picture of the entire stack paper as Adam managed to take care of it all before I had a major nervous breakdown about the “unfinished” state of the house.


I posted this next picture on Facebook earlier this week with the note “We’ve hung some pictures on the walls”. To which I was quickly told that none of the items in the photo are pictures. Okay, point Deborah. I don’t know why I keep score anymore, you win every time. Like EVERY TIME. So I’d like to correct the statement. We’ve hung things on the wall with a very motivational placeholder for future things to be hung on the walls.


So that’s our last few weeks. More excitement to come!

My Day Alone in London

While Amanda was off learning how to not be a loud and obnoxious American I spent my day alone in London wondering the corridors of the Imperial War Museum. I love military history! Not the death and destruction associated with the actual event, but rather how the nature of an individual is revealed during times of peril and more over how humanity deals with conflict on a vast scale. I read a book a few years back concerning Napoleon’s Russian campaign. It described in vivid detail the struggle his soldiers faced as they battled both the opposing Russian defenders and the brutal effects a winter campaign has on a soldier far from home. The emotions those soldiers felt centuries ago are transcendent with those who have experienced conflict throughout history which is one of the reasons I believe places like the Imperial War Museum are so vital.

During my visit, I was surprised to learn that the exhibits only date back to the years leading up to WWI to present. I must admit I was hoping to see exhibits from early English history however the exhibits that were on display were very impressive.

As you approach the Museum you are greeted by two 15” naval guns which are pictured above. The guns were taken from two different battleships, the Ramillies and the Resolution, and saw service from 1915 until they were scheduled to be scrapped prior to 1968.

Upon entering, I was greeted by an array of military equipment of the WWI, WWII and Cold War Vintage. A few of my favorite pieces are pictured below. The first is a portable bomb shelter employed during the Blitz. Civil Servants who were responsible for ushering citizens to the bunkers around London could take cover in these tiny metal shells to protect themselves from shrapnel and falling debris. The second photo is of a U.S. M4 Sherman. While not as big as its German or Russian counterparts, it was by far the most reliable and versatile tank of the war. The last photo is of the P-51 Mustang. A long range fighter this aircraft essentially won the air over Europe.

While the equipment on hand was interesting, especially when the museum took the time to track down were each piece was during key moments of the respective wars they still weren’t as interesting as the actual exhibits depicting WWI, WWII, the Holocaust and 1946 to present.

After spending the first hour rambling through the military equipment, I headed towards the WWI and WWII exhibits. A lot of the information within the exhibit is covered in grade school history books. What I didn’t recall hearing about during my time in school were the battles that occurred in places like the Ottoman Empire, Siberia and across Africa during WWI. It took me about two and a half hours to work my way through both exhibits and still felt like I rushed through it a little bit. Telling Amanda this I think made her glad she’d gone to work and left me alone at the museum. Hours of military strategy are just not her style.

At this point I was beginning to feel a little peckish, so I left the Museum and walked across to The Grand Union Pub for a burger and chips. I still haven’t gotten used to English beef yet but it was one of the better burgers I have had over here.

Satisfied with my dining choice I returned to the Museum to check out the MI-5 exhibit and the Holocaust exhibit. I began with the Holocaust exhibit mainly because Amanda and I had visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. a few years ago and found it fascinating and moving and I knew that once I got into the exhibit I knew I would be there for awhile. It turns out I was right. It was around 1:30 when I entered the exhibit and three hours later it was time for me to leave so I could meet up with Amanda for dinner.

As it was the 4th of July, Amanda had found us a place that would realize what an important day it was for us. So we went to the Texas Embassy. We met quite a few people who were doing the exact same thing. Many from Oklahoma, a few from Chicago and even couple wearing SMU t-shirts. Some fajitas were just what I needed to cap off my exciting day.

And we're back

We're online again!

Lots of things to tell you about. Here's a few tid-bits to keep you entertained.

We have (some) furniture. A combination of a couple trips to IKEA, a few co-workers leaving the UK at the end of their tours and an amazing website called Freecycle has helped us get the basics at fairly reasonable prices. A note on Freecycle - it's like Craigs List (but everything is given away). People post what they want to get rid of & their post code and if you want it, you can email them & arrange a time to pick up. I'm a huge fan so far. We'll continue to look for stuff to round out furnishings as we go.

Credit cards over here have gone to "chip & pin". Every card has a microchip in it, so you put it in a machine (like a hotel room key) then type in your pin number instead of sliding it. Most places look at our US card funny, then we explain that they have to swipe it. If it's someone new, they often have to go find a manager to explain to them how to swipe a credit card. A bit annoying, but not that big of a deal. We went to Asda (Walmart) last weekend -- the sign outfront actually says ASDA / Walmart -- they refused our card. They said it's their policy not to take swipe cards. I pointed out to the cashier and both managers who came to discuss the situation with me that they had a swipe port on the key pad and they could take my card. They were undetered. We are eventually going to get a UK card, but decided to wait until we had some UK cashflow to make sure we could pay it first. I just couldn't believe that Walmart wouldn't take my US credit card! I wrote them a letter on their customer service website. They wrote back today & said that it is their policy to take both chip & pin and swipe cards. I'm going to print it out & take it with me next time we go. I'm pretty sure throwing a fit in Walmart is what gives American's bad names over here!

The weather over here has been really mild. Those of you in the 100+ record summer in Texas should come visit! Here's our 10 day forecast:



Adam has finished & submitted his scholarship application, but has gotten a bit distracted this evening by planning our vacation. I got a note at work the other day that I had to take 6 days of vacation (err...holiday) before September 30. How have I already accrued that much vacation? I've been here just over a month!

First weekend in London

I’m on a train, heading home from London. And I can get on the internet and blog here, but not at my house. Odd the way technology works sometimes.

Anyway, this is actually my second return trip from London this week. It’s tough being such a high powered executive as I am. <--That was a joke, really - I’m not that big of a deal.

Today’s trip was just there and back all in one day. Not too terribly bad really, it’s about 1:45 train ride from Bristol into London Paddington. Comparatively, it’s like driving from Fort Worth to north Plano in rush hour for work...which I have also done. The difference being that you can do things (like type a blog) while you ride which I’m sure TxDot or DPD would frown upon if I’d done on I-635.

Monday’s trip was much more entertaining, so I want to talk about it. Monday, as many of you in the US might remember, was the 4th of July. It is not really a big deal over here. I didn’t find any true Brit saying, ‘thank you for not wanting to be part of our country anymore and declaring your independence from our rules.’ Nope. Didn’t happen. There wasn’t even a story on the 10pm news about US Independence day or fireworks or hot dogs or baseball, oh I missed those things a bit on the 4th. So what did we do on the 4th? Well, PwC required me to go a training class entitled ‘Living and Working in the UK/UK Business Skills’. I renamed it. It will for now forward be called ‘How not to offend the Brits.’ Come to think of it, renaming their classes might be on the list. The irony of them sending me to a class on how to be British on American Independence Day was not lost on me. It was on many of my co-workers when I tried to explain it. Since I had to be in class all day Monday, Adam & I decided to go to London on Saturday and spend the weekend visiting the city. We knew this would be one of many trips, so we didn’t try to do too much. So the highlights. We took the train in and then the tube to our hotel. Both bits of transportation we managed to handle without getting lost or getting on the wrong train. This is a personal victory, I believe, because especially on their trains, they are not great at labelling which train is which. We stayed at the Club Quarters – Trafalgar Square. The hotel was okay. We were on a corporate rate, which made the price great especially for the location, but the trade off was this made the view from the room not so spectacular...
  
After checking in, we went to eat at St. Martins in the Fields church. They have a cafe in their crypt (incidentally called The Cáfe in the Crypt) that serves full hot meals for very reasonable prices. We had a roasted chicken thigh & leg, squash, potatoes, rice, a roll, and a coke for £7 each. Once we were fully sustained again, we headed to our walking tour. I’d read about in one of Rick Steve’s travel guides, but then also saw an advert for them at St. Martins. We took the ‘This is London!’ tour. It was billed as the highlights of the city tour which we thought was a great one to start off with. We walked along the Tower of London (which is more of a fortress than just a tower!) and saw Tower Bridge then we got to take a boat tour down the Thames and walk around the house of parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and it ended back at Trafalgar Square. It was really interesting. Definitely worth the £8. They have about 100 different tours. I could see us doing another one sometime. A barrage of photos of the sights from the walk below.

We then attempted to go to Evensong at St.Pauls Cathedral. As we walked up to the church, there were hundreds of people coming out of the church. Many dressed in much nicer clothing than Adam & I. We stood there for probably 10 minutes just waiting for some sort of interpretation as to what was going on; guessing maybe a wedding or graduation ceremony. Then we saw someone with a program and were able to ascertain that it was the ordination ceremony for new deacons in the church. Because of the ceremony, they cancelled Evensong so we didn’t get to go into the church and enjoy. We opted instead for dinner...

Sunday, we had a scone, jam & hot chocolate breakfast. It’s become our new weekend morning routine. I think it could be one of my favourites :) Then we headed for some cultural learning at the National Gallery. I’m pretty sure you could spend a week in this place and still not see everything. After about 6 hours, however, our feet were tired & we’d gotten hungry so we took a break for lunch. In the afternoon we decided to go to the National Portrait Gallery (see a theme in our tours?). A couple of interesting differences. The National Gallery pieces are there because they are painted well or are ‘classic’ pieces of art where as the National Portrait Gallery pieces are included because of who they’re of or who painted them. We took a guided tour of both museums and interestingly, the NG tour focused on how the works were created (oil paint vs tempura; canvas vs wood; fan brush vs round brush, etc) and the NPG focused more on who the people were in the painting or photograph and how they were important to British history. Even more interesting -- to me...probably not to you...you know you really can stop reading at any point when you get tired of my rambling. I digress. Even more interesting was that Adam enjoyed the NG museum better but the NPG tour whereas I was exactly the opposite. I loved hearing about the art in the NG – they talked about things that I’d never heard of & probably never would have noticed. For instance, there is a piece with some trees on the left side of the painting; a few leaves of one tree are a slightly lighter shade of green than the other leaves in the tree. Why? Because the frame that was on it for the first couple hundred years of the painting’s life covered that area. When it got reframed about 80 years ago, they could see more of the tree. First of all, I never would have noticed that there were different shades along one side of the trees and secondly, I never would have figured that out! But believe me, when you come visit, I’m going to point it out to you!

After we decided we were thoroughly cultured, we decided to go to Harrods. I referred to the store, when Adam asked what to expect, as Nordstrom’s on steroids. I still don’t think he fully comprehended what was about to occur. We walked through the £1,500 men’s dress shirts before he gained some insight as to how expensive this place actually was and why we weren’t actually going to buy anything there but I kept saying I wanted to go.

When he got tired of my window shopping (from inside the windows), I told him I wanted a picture out front of the building then we could go eat dinner. Please note the extreme excitement that he is displaying in these photos.


Monday rolled around and I went to my 'Don’t be an Ugly American' training. Things like, stand in the queue; mind the gap; don’t talk too loudly; say please and thank you alot were just a few bits of wisdom I’ve taken away from this day. Adam had a much more exciting day at the Imperial War Museum. After he’s completed his scholarship application for his MBA program, he’s allowed to tell you about it. Sorry, but the task master has commanded that he has to complete that by Monday so he’s got a few more days until he can have fun again.

Radio Silent

We are moving into our new house officially tomorrow.  Though we’ve signed up for internet, phone, and television, the ever speedy folks at Virgin Media have assigned our “turn on” date as:

July 8 between 8am – 1pm

So, if you don’t hear from us for awhile, don’t worry.  We’re fine!

Our temporary apartment

Not to completely overload you on housing posts, but I wanted to show you the temporary apartment we stayed in before we get too far into being “settled” in our new home. For four glorious weeks, the Primer Apartments on St. Thomas Street was our home.


So a few things. First, it was an easy walk, by Bristol standards (meaning there was only one major hill & two minor ones to climb), from the apartment to my office. It was about a 20 minute walk. I did enjoy this. Adam walked me most days. I’m pretty sure the receptionist thinks I’m a 10 year old child who has to be escorted everywhere. Oh well! It was also rather larger for a one bedroom apartment in the UK. It had a full “American-style” refrigerator. They get very excited when they have large fridges because most of theirs are the size of the one I took to ACU. It also had a washer/dryer combo unit and a dishwasher. Both of these appliances gave Adam some trouble from time to time, but he eventually figured out how to work them.

The bed, though hard as a rock, was a queen size. They don’t so much believe in sheets and a comforter – Lenae your employer with the sheet fascination would not have been impressed! They opted for the flat sheet on bottom and a comforter for covers. If you get warm, just go coverless or open the windows.

I think we were supposed to have a dining area; however we used it more as Adam’s “find a real house / get into the MBA program command center”. As he completed both of these tasks successfully, I think it was a good use of the table.

I would usually say something like ‘just off the dining room was the sitting area,’ but in reality, it wasn’t just off as much as it was right up against. A nice two-seater sofa, coffee table and a television to the side made up the space. The television, I might add was used to find a channel that runs nearly 24-hour a day programming of Top Gear repeats.

Into the kitchen. We did use it several nights. Those who know me, know that I extremely dislike eating out alot. Not, I dislike it alot, I dislike doing it repeatedly. About 2 weeks into busy season every year, I’ve exhausted every meal I like from every restaurant we order from & I just start eating desert every night. So after about 10 nights of trying places in Bristol – which we did find some we really do enjoy, I started getting fussy. This is about the time that we were having major house scouting problems, so Adam would probably tell you that I was just cranky in general, but I’m going to maintain that part of it was due to the lack of ability to eat at home (in my pj’s...on the sofa). Adam picking up on this issue, made a couple of trips to Tessco and came up with some meals that you can cook with minimal ingredients and one pot and one oven pan. It was a constant source of entertainment and I was so happy to eat “at home.”

Oh, the washing machine. I feel like Adam should tell this story as it really is him who did the laundry during this time and struggled so with the appliance, but he says this is my narrative, not his. On our walk to my office in the morning, I would ask (nearly) every day, ‘so what are your plans?’. He would usually respond with something to the effect of ‘go for a jog, touch base with the relocation team to see if there are more houses to go visit .’ One day, about a week and half into our stay he said ‘I think I’ll do laundry. We might need some clean socks soon.’ I agreed, so he said he’d get some detergent at the store & try to do a few loads of laundry. That evening, when he picked me up, I asked how the laundry went. His whole face dropped, ‘I did a load, but now I can’t get the door open to get the clothes out.’ After laughing (probably longer than I should have to still be considered a loving, considerate, supportive wife), I told him that I would open it when we got home. That night, I tried. I couldn’t open it. Adam then took his turn at laughing. The next day, Adam called the maintenance department for help who said they’d send someone right up.

This was often their response when we asked a question.

‘Our shower is flooding our bathroom everytime we shower.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ - 6 day wait

‘Our telephone has no dial tone.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – Noone ever showed – Adam eventually fixed it

‘There is an awful electrical smell when the vent fan and dishwasher run at the same time.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – only 2 days (electrical fires are taken very seriously around here!)

‘We can’t get the door to the washer open.’
‘We’ll send someone right up.’ – EIGHT DAYS! (believe me, we tried to open it daily, if not hourly, during this time to no avail)

According to Adam, I wasn’t home at the time, he walked in, and first try popped it open. So defeating for the Americans. We did more laundry after this first foray – I would say we never had mastery of the elusive door, but usually could get it open within an hour or so of the end of the load. As a side note, the washing machine at the new house has a clearly labelled button for opening and we are able to work it much easier.

I’ve mentioned that the shower goes everywhere. Well, they didn’t exactly fix it, but they did add a rubber piece to the bottom of the enclosure door which slowed the leakage. We took it as a win. I think the main problem was that this was never meant to be a shower. It was originally built as only a tub that they then added a vertical pipe to make a shower. Water containment...something I’d taken for granted all these years.

I don’t usually take pictures of toilets, but I’d like to point out a trend I’ve noticed. Toilets aren’t exactly tied down around here. Not that I’m really expecting them to fly off the ground, but I’m sure at some point in the last 28 years, my father has told me the importance of the ring bolts (yes, Daddy, I listen to everything you tell me!), and I find it odd that I haven’t found any actually secured.

I mentioned in one of my first posts about moving here about the hot water tank. You have to “wake” it up every morning so that it will heat water. So every morning, my alarm would go off at 6:15, I’d get up, press the little button on the tank, climb back to bed and sleep another 45 minutes.

Except that I wouldn’t really sleep another 45 minutes. You see, the building across the street from our apartment is under construction. And because it is the summer (and we’re so far north), the sun rises at 5 or so am. And because construction workers around the world (apparently) are morning people, they liked to start work at about 6am...weekdays and weekends. So instead of getting an extra mini nap, I listened to hammering and moving of large dumpsters for 45 minutes a morning. We’ll come back when they finish the renovations on that building and take a tour. I really hope it’s beautiful inside.

I was standing on the balcony of the apartment to take the photo above, so it’s only fitting that I stand in the construction site and take a photo of the balcony. Two bits of disclosure. Yes, I did take this picture while there were mass tools above my head and yes, Adam did scold me for doing so. But, isn’t it a lovely little balcony?

Okay. Now you’ve seen more on our living spaces than you’ll ever care to, but Grandma Teresa told me one time that she really likes seeing where and how people live because it helps her imagine what they do on a daily basis. So, Grandma, I’ve taken your words to heart...even if it is a week after we moved out of the apartment.

House Pictures

Wanted to post a few pics of the house - Will post more as we get furniture :) We're going bachelor style for awhile until we can find some "charity shops" AKA Goodwill to purchase some basics.


The woman who lived here had to move into a nursing home. Her daughter is our landlord. From what we can tell, it's a delicate situation that has been needing to happen for a few years now and the daughter finally overruled her Mom's wishes to be at home and moved her to keep her safe. Mom was an amazing gardener in her time, but most is now pretty overgrown and in need of some love. There is an apple tree and several berry bushes that I haven't quite figured out yet. I only hope my limited green thumb skills are able to honor all the work that has been put in over the years.


The house has 4 (yes, four!) bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and two living rooms. It's big, but keep in mind that a UK bedroom is big enough for a bed & not much else and none of them have closets. All that being said, we will have plenty of room for guests (you know...when we get some beds).

So, on to the official house tour:

The back garden taken from the far back corner

The back garden from the back of the house

The dining room

The kitchen
note the refrigerator on the right that doesn't quite go all the way up... but a double oven is pretty cool

The utility area just off the kitchen (dishwasher & washing machine on the bottom, dryer up top), I think well add some shelving on the left for extra storage and a curtain rod to hide it all

Living room #1 - with a gas insert fireplace and the sun room off the back - most likely the one we'll primarily use

Living room #2 - a bit smaller than the first and has part of the stairs running through part of it, but it'll make a nice sitting room...if we get a sofa :)

Stairs - Not really that exciting, but Ginger & Daisy are going to love going up & down them! We've never had a house with stairs, but anywhere we've visited with them, all they do is run up & down.

The Master bedroom. You can fit a queen bed & two night stands...we think...at least that's what we bought at IKEA yesterday...we'll let you know on Thursday when it's delivered.

Master bath - it's an ensuite, a really big deal over here! 

The "double" guest bedroom, which just means it's big enough to fit a double bed in it.

The single guest bedroom. Just big enough for a twin bed.

The other single bedroom.
We're going to use this one as the office so Adam has a full space to
study and think about MBA-y type things.

The guest bath. Note, there is no shower. Hope people coming to visit like to take baths (or you can use the one in the ensuite)!

And because I can't leave the last picture of the house being the washroom, here is a picture of the park near the house. It's a beautiful day here (hot by UK standards - the high was 81 F & they have issued heat stroke warnings; when I tell people it's been over 100 for 3 weeks straight they nearly faint). Anyway, people are out in the parks in droves. Most of them sitting or lying in their bikini's, an no, there isn't a beach around... I, however, love the flowers in all the parks!