Weekly Wrap-Up

Well, since I am sitting here on hold with the phone company, I figured now would be as good a time as any to write in my blog!

This was a good week. I got my new car on Tuesday and guess what—it wasn’t a stick shift afterall!! Imagine my surprise and relief when I walked outside and looked in the car and saw P, R, N, D instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5! Figuring out how to drive a stick has been a source of stress for me the past few days, but now all that worry is gone. Woo-hoo! Anyway, I got a cute little funky 2007 car called a Renault Magane and it is electric blue. I like the color because it is something that I wouldn’t normally pick out on my own. Also, the car didn’t come with regular keys. To start the car, you just put this card in a slot and push the start button and the engine comes to life! Neat! I like it a lot, but I will only have this car for a few months and then I will getting one of my co-worker’s cars in February when she moves back to the States since there will still be a year left on her lease. She has a Ford Focus, but it is a 2006 so it won’t be too much of a downgrade. Plus, it’s an automatic so that’s all that really matters!! If you click on the link there are some pictures of my car and the “key”, and I also threw in a picture of our street and the gym that I go to. :)

http://lydiaandvictor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01

I’m serious about running this marathon in April! I worked out 5 times this week and on Wednesday I met with a trainer at the gym and he gave me a workout plan so that I will be rock-solid and in tip-top shape in no time! Anyway, Victor and I had dinner with some of the other Fellows last night and one girl said that she was going to run the marathon with me. This was after a couple of glasses of wine though, so may be she didn’t realize what she was saying. Ha! I told her that she could back out if she wanted to because I have backed out of running marathons too many times to count. I’m really going to do it this time though.

A word about British television…sometimes I giggle when I watch TV because on some shows instead of having closed captioning, they have a little man or woman standing in the corner of the screen doing sign language. I laugh everytime. One day when we first moved here Victor and I were watching TV and the man was in the corner signing away and then all of a sudden he disappeared and Victor was like, “Where did he go?” and I was like, “It must have been time for his break.” Ahahahahaha!! I crack up everytime I think about my funny joke. A lot of the commercials are funny too. I’m going to start posting some of them if I EVER get the INTERNET in my APARTMENT!!!!!! Sorry—touchy subject!

What else…oh yeah, I went to the Civic Office yesterday to pay our Council Tax, and the lady was so rude to me. L Unfortunately, customer service is not one of the UK’s strong suits. For instance, I have been waiting to get my check card from the bank for two weeks now. I called the bank a couple of days ago to let them know I had not gotten my card and they checked at it hadn’t even been sent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was very polite and asked that it be sent rush delivery because I don’t have access to my funds and they said sure. Well, I called back today and I was told that the card was sent rush delivery yesterday but it would still take 4 business days to get to me. ???? Guess how long it takes for them to send it regular delivery? 5 DAYS!!!!! I was not lying when I said that they like to take their time doing stuff here. Oh well…and by the way, it’s been 40 minutes and I’m still on hold with the phone company…

I'm Back!!

It has been 3 weeks since I have officially moved to the UK. I was trying to wait until I had internet access in my apartment to resume my blog entries, but seeing that I still do not have the internet (the British are SO SLOW!!), I figured I had better start writing before I forget everything that I have done so far.

Anyway, so far I have been just settling in and trying to get situated. I am still in the process of getting my home office set up. I have my computer, printer, keyboard, etc., but I still need to buy office furniture, set up my phone and fax lines, and set up the internet. I thought that this would be a quick and easy task, but no! I have been trying to get my phone lines installed for the past 3 weeks. I was finally able to schedule the phone technician to come on November 7. That is still a week and a half from now, but I will take whatever I can get at this point!
What else is going on? I have been learning how to drive on the opposite side of the road. It was so disorienting at first and I was in a constant state of confusion, but now I think I am getting the hang of it! I no longer have the urge to ditch the car on the side of the road and take the bus home. :)

Last week I got caught up in an attempted robbery! Victor and I had gone to the electronics store to buy a TV, and while Victor was checking out I went out to pull the car around and as I was walking to the car I heard all this commotion behind me and I turned around and this man was running out of the store will a box and an undercover security office and a worker were running after him. Anyway, the man was running towards me and I guess I was in his way because he ended up hitting me in the leg with his box and then I fell into a pole and had to pivot around to keep the security officer and worker from running into me too. Anyway, they caught the man and slammed him up on this car and the man was like, "what are you talking about, I didn't steal anything!" when it was so obvious that he did steal it. Then his girlfriend or wife or someone came out of the store and was like, we didn't steal, the receipt is in the store! If you bought something, why would you leave the receipt in the store? Anyway, I ended up with a scratch on my leg where he hit me with the box and I twisted my ankle a little bit when I had to pivot around the pole. Victor was inside the store when all of this happened, so when I went back in the store he was like, "Someone said there was a robbery" and I was like, "I know, the man hit me with his stolen goods!" Then Victor was upset that he was not outside to witness me getting hit because he said he would have beat the man up. My hero! Ha!

Anyway, today is Tuesday and right now I am at the Woking Library trying to do a little work, but there are so many distractions here, plus you can only be on the computer for an hour at time. I will be so glad when I will have everything set up in my apartment and I can work from the comfort of my home.

Last Day Here For Now

Victor didn't get home until a little after 10 pm last night, so we didn't get to go out to dinner. We went to McDonald's instead. We plan to go out tonight. Hopefully he will get home before everything closes, but he has a work gathering that is 6-8:30. He said he was only going to stay until 7, so we'll see.

Here is the flat we picked: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-8966298.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent . It isn't either of the ones I mentioned yesterday, but it is cheaper and we decided that cheaper would probably be the better way to go for right now. It is still nice and it is modern with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, washer/dryer, dishwasher, etc. We will probably move in next week. Oh yeah, it is located in Woking and it is very close to the train station and the town centre, so everything worked out nicely!

Today is my last evening here and then I am headed back home tomorrow until my work permit is ready. I am looking forward to coming home for a little while because I now realize that I really took my space for granted. Things are so much smaller here!

UK Guinea Pig Credit Card Commercial

They have a credit card called Egg here in the UK and I saw this commercial on TV today and it made me think of Buster. I don't know why I just can't let go of him. :) Anyway, in the commerical researchers are trying to figure out how to make the "busy lifestyles" of guinea pigs easier, so they send out a robot with a guinea pig wig on in order to find out. Through their surveillance they find that guinea pigs want a credit card with a low interest rate. I just thought it was funny. :)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I3gzVxDSwCk

Flat Searching

Today I met with the relocation agent to do some flat-searching. The relocation agent was a nice South African lady named Dawn, and she picked me up at 10:15 at the subway station and off we went! She had a nice color brochure printed up with an itinerary, pictures, and descriptions of the places we would be visiting today. First, we went to Clapham, which is within London. The flat in Clapham was the exact opposite of what I had specified on the questionnaire, but whatever. It was not within walking distance of the train station/underground, it wasn't modern, it wasn't really in a quiet area (it was right across the street from an elementary school!) and it was filthy!!!!!!! I forgave the filthy part a little bit because there was still something living in the flat, but my goodness! The carpet was so dirty and there were stains on the walls and so much clutter and the furniture was outdated...I felt like I needed to wash my hands when I left. Needless to say, I was a bit concerned after we left this flat and was afraid that maybe the whole day would go this way, but things definitely got better after we got that one out of the way.

The next area that we visited was Walton-on-Thames, which is a nice little town located in Surrey. The first flat we visited was located right across the street from the train station, which was a definite plus since that meant that Victor would not have to walk far in the mornings and the evenings to and from the station. We arrived to this flat about 10 minutes early and the landlord had not arrived yet, so we waited in the car with the windows down. We were sitting there chatting when out of nowhere a cat tried to jump through my window!!!!!!! I had seen the cat when we first parked but he was so far away that I didn't give him a second thought and then out of nowhere he was in my face trying to scratch my eyes out!!! Well, I'm sure he didn't have malicious intent and he wasn't that close to my face, but it was just strange. He got about halfway in the car but he couldn't get a good grip so he ended up falling back down. Needless to say, we rolled up the windows after that. The bad thing though is that I am very allergic to cats and when he tried to jump through the window some of his fur came off and landed in the car, so for the rest of the day my eyes were watery and my nose was stuffy and I was itchy. Anyway, this flat was much better than the first flat, but not quite what I was looking for.

The next flat we went to was also located in Walton. I just fell in love with this flat as soon as I walked in the door!!! The last person had already moved out, so it was spotless and it smelled good. It was a modern, fully-furnished apartment with stainless steel appliances in the kitchen with a washer/dryer, 2 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and one half bath. It was only about a 4 minute walk to the train station and close to alot of restaurants and shops and the grocery. The only thing was that it didn't have a dishwasher and it was a little more than what we wanted to pay. Doesn't it always work out that way? Here is the link to the website if you want to look: http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-8005851.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=rent . We went to a couple of other flats in Walton, but you know nothing ever measures up when you have already seen what you really want.

After Walton, we stopped for lunch and then we headed to Woking, which is about 20 minutes from Walton. All of the flats that we viewed here were very close to the train station and to the town centre, so that was good. Here is the link to my favorite one in Woking. Too bad you can't see the inside because this picture doesn't really do it justice. This flat was modern and fully-furnished as well, with a washer/dryer, dishwasher, microwave, all silverware and dinnerware, 2 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, and very nice furniture. http://martinco.com/search/property/show/mcp34610?beds=2&distance=4800&page=1&property_type=2&location_id=307&moving_date_month=12&office_type=lettings&let_furnishing=13&moving_date_day=11&let_period=&location=woking&min_price=1000&max_price=1400&order_by=0&moving_date_year=2007

So out of the 10 flats that we viewed today, I have narrowed it down to the two that I highlighted above. I don't know which one to choose because both of them have pros and cons. I will show the properties to Victor once he gets home and then hopefully he will help me choose. They both cost the same...I love the first one, but it doesn't have a dishwasher and the town is a little bit smaller than Woking...I think saying that I love the second one would be a stretch, but I really do like it alot and the furniture is nicer, plus it is within walking distance to the town centre. The town centre has a big shopping centre, 6 cinemas, 2 theatres, the grocery store, etc. Both areas have direct trains that go to both Basingstoke and London. Decisions, decisions. We will definitely be making a decision tonight and then letting them know tomorrow morning because property goes so fast out here and if you hesitate someone else might snatch it up with their grubby little paws (hee hee).

Renting a flat in the UK is similar to buying a house in the US. They have an asking price and then you put an offer on the flat you want and see if they accept your offer. Luckily the relocation agency acts as the mediary between us and the rental property, so they will be doing the negotiating, which is fine by me because I don't like all that back-and-forth mess. So we will be letting them know which one we want tomorrow and once they accept our offer we have put down a deposit (usually one week's rent) to hold the flat. We will then have to complete an application and provide references. Once all of that goes through we will have to pay an "administrative fee" of about 180 GBP, as well as 6 weeks worth of rent PLUS the first month's rent. The 6 weeks of rent is a security deposit, so I think we get that back when we move out. Unfortunately, since I won't be here next week Victor is going to have to do all the paperwork himself.

Anyway, we finished up around 6:30 and I got back to Chelsea about an hour ago. Victor had a 7:00 meeting that was pushed back to 7:30, so hopefully he will be headed home soon. We are supposed to be going somewhere for dinner since we have eaten in the past few nights, which leads me to think about the grocery stores here: Their food is really good and fresh! They don't really have frozen meals here, but they do have refrigerated meals that you can heat up in the microwave and they are really good! Their produce is really good here too, and the food prices really aren't bad at all as long as you don't convert the price to USD in your head. :)

Tomorrow I will try to get things rolling with the flat and then I think I'm going to do some exploring around London. We'll see how it goes!

Recap of the Past Few Days

I finally got the internet to work in our temporary flat, so now I have time to fill everyone in on what we have been up to the past few days!!



Sunday, September 9, 2007


On Sunday morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to our temporary accomodation in Chelsea. Chelsea is one of the "posh" areas of London, similar to Soho or Greenwich Village in NYC. Anyway, we were supposed to meet the housing representative at 11:00 and we got to the apartment a little early so we just sat on the stoop and waited. While we were waiting this old man came walking down the street with the cutest little dog that reminded me of Buster...The housing representative finally showed up at 11:20 (even though in the email he sent earlier stressed the importance of US being there promptly at 11:00) and let us in. The flat is small but nice. It is a one-bedroom with one bathroom, with a sitting room with a nice bay window, and a tiny kitchen. A flat of this size in this area goes for about 750 GBP PER WEEK!! Keep in mind that 1 GBP= 2 USD. Do the math and you will see that it is quite expensive, but believe it or not this is one of the cheaper flats in this area. You can tell these folks can afford it though because the streets are lined with BMWs, Mercedes, Audis, Range Rovers, and the like. I was able to find a picture of our flat online so I have posted it at the top of this post (as you can see, there is a Porsche in the picture).

So we got settled in and took a nap for a few hours since we were still a little jet-lagged. We woke up around 5 pm and walked up the street to where all the shops were located. We ran a few errands and then we rode the underground to Goldman Sachs so that Victor would know how to get there on Monday. We then went to the grocery store and then headed back to our flat. I'd say we walked at least 4-5 miles on Sunday.




Monday, September 10, 2007



Today was Victor's first day on the job! He wore a black suit and looked like a handsome corporate businessman. :) I always tease him that all he needs is a black hat and then he will look like a chauffeur when he wears that suit, but he really does look nice. Anyway, he left here around 7:20 am and got home at 7:15 pm, and that was just the first day!! We expect that he will be working at least 12 hours a day Monday-Friday. One of his co-workers said that he has logged in as many as 115 hours in one week!! That is ridiculous! But I figure that it will be okay since I will be gone several days out of the week on my monitoring trips anyway, so at least Victor won't feel guilty if he has to work late. It seems like Victor will like his job; he said that his co-workers seem nice and alot of them are around his age and the work seems interesting. What a relief, because the last thing we want is another Ernst & Young experience! We are praying that he will continue to enjoy his job.




Tuesday, September 11, 2007



Today I got up early to go to Starbucks so that I could log on to the internet since I was expecting an email from the housing agent regarding some rental properties. I also needed to download some software that we needed in order for the interent to work in our flat. After I left Starbucks I went to the electronics store to exchange an energy adapter and then I went to the grocery store before heading back "home".

I spoke to the rental agent this morning and we will be meeting tomorrow morning at 10:15 to go look at some properties. We will be looking in Battersea/Clapham Junction, Walton-on-Thames, and Woking. We will probably end up moving to Woking because it has direct trains that go both to central London and Basingstoke, so both of us would be able to get to work easily, plus the flats are a little more modern out there and cheaper than what you would find in London. I will more than likely drive to work though. I am looking forward to finding something tomorrow. It is going to be tight for awhile though because they require that you pay 10.5 weeks of rent up front!!! We have alot of money saved up, but since the pound is worth twice as much as the dollar, you can imagine that our money will drain pretty quickly. We will both be getting paid in pounds though, so everything should be okay. Oh yeah, we found out yesterday that we both fall into the highest tax bracket in the the UK, so they can take 40% of our income in taxes. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!! I told Victor that he needs to work his tax-knowledge magic and find a *legal* way around that, because that is ridiculous. I think for the rest of this year we should be okay since I think we will pay our taxes in the US since that is where we lived for the majority of the year, but I don't know about next year. I guess we'll see what happens.

Anyway, I will be sure to post some pictures/links tomorrow of the properties that we view.

We Made It!!!

We made it to London! I arrived to Gatwick Airport at 9 AM and it took me about an hour to get through customs. I then took the train and the subway to our hotel, which is called Courthouse Kempinski. I got to the hotel around noon and Victor wasn't here yet, so I did a little exploring on my own. First, I went across the street to this little restaurant called "LEON", which is supposed to be a "healthy" fast food restaurant. I had the hummus and the roasted sweet potato falafel, both of which were pretty good. After that I walked around to the different shops in the area. My favorite was LUSH, which is an all-natural store that sells facial, hair, and body products. I really liked the store alot; here is the website: http://usa.lush.com/cgi-bin/lushdb/index.html?lang=en_US&dlang=en . I now know what everyone is getting for Christmas. :) Anyway, Victor made it here around 2 pm. We hung out for a little while and then took a nap for a few hours since we were both jet-lagged.

One of Victor's co-workers had a get-together at her flat tonight, so we went. We had a pretty good time and everyone seems really nice! It was mostly black Americans there, so it was sort of nice to know that there are other African-Americans living/working in London. One of Victor's co-workers--whose name is Trina--reminded us of Cousin Jenny in both looks and demeanor. Victor jokingly told her that we were going to call her Jenny from now on and she just sort of looked at us, so needless to say we will be calling her by her given name. There was this other guy there named Randall and he reminded us of Joey. Anyway, now we are back in our hotel and tomorrow morning we will be moving to our temporary housing in Chelsea.