"It'll be done by Tuesday" and Other Amusing Stories

...and we're back.

Sorry about the lag in postings, we've only just tonight gotten our broadband working. More on this shortly. But first, a little Q&A to catch you all up.

Q. Have you moved in to your house?
A. Yes. We oficially moved in, furniture and everything, last Wednesday. Our air shipment arrived on Friday, which contained clothes, some linens and pillows, some pots and pans and a few surprises (like books) which we hadn't expected to get in this shipment, but which were welcome nonetheless.

Q. Has Caroline started school?
A. Yes. She went for a few hours last Friday, and began her schooling in earnest yesterday. She looks so cute in her uniform! She like school, and has made friends with the "two Sophies" and the "girl with the Barbie glasses". She's still at a bit of a loss as to what to do when she arrives at school, but she'll soon adjust, I think.

Q. How do the kids and Michele like living there?
A. I think it's safe to say that they're adjusting well. It's easier for me because I go to work now, but they're stuck here. We had tea with some neighbors a few days ago. They live a few doors down and have kids the same ages as ours (though their boy is the eldest). Really nice folks. As it happens, we met them through our landlord, Roddy, who lives in South Africa. His cousin and our neighbor Nick grew up across the street from each other, and Nick and Roddy met at the cousin's wedding a few years ago. I'd emailed Roddy to introduce myself a few weeks before we moved and he kindly passed my email on to our neighbors Nick and Sophie. They've been very kind to us.

Q. Have you started your job?
A. As alluded to above, yes, I have, yesterday. Still adjusting to the commute, which is about an hour. The time isn't as much of an issue as is the lack of air conditioning. Now, you wouldn't think that you need AC in a place that's normally as cool as London, but the problem, you see, is the humidity. It's so damp here that I start sweating the instant I walk out the door and don't stop until I get to the office. I'm going to have to keep a change of clothes there. It doesn't help that everyone seems to walk around dressed for winter, either. Just looking at them with their heavy wool coats and scarves gives me heatstroke.

OK, I think that's all the general news. Now for the mad ranting.

There were a number of items to be addressed in the house before our arrival. These were stipulated in the lease, and I'd assumed that they'd been done. Imagine my surprise when I arrived on Tuesday to get the keys, only to find that the oven door was still broken, the carpets were a mess, the back garden was still full of weeds, the front room hadn't been painted, and the toilet looked like an Army latrine.

Fortunately, Michele and the kids remained at the hotel that day, or it would have been chaos. As it was, I split my time on Tuesday and Wednesday between scrubbing the kitchen floor and giving tours of the house to various tradesmen. I must admit, though, that I'm quite pleased with the responsiveness of our management company. They admitted that they'd made a greivous error and worked quickly to correct it. Short of everything being perfect when we arrived, that's about the bease I could ask for.

There are still a few things to be done - the carpet in the front room still needs to be replaced, the oven is still broken (a new one is supposed to be installed on Friday), the carpet is still a disaster and the outside of the window still needs to be repainted, but we're getting there.

Apparently, this "we'll get to it when we get to it" sort of attitude is prevalent here. I am fortunate to work in a place where now means now, but this doesn't seem to be the norm. Come to think of it, I guess it's not the norm anywhere else, either. Getting BT to connect my broadband has been something of an ordeal, too. I was quite impressed when the self-installation kit showed up on the day I got the keys (in fact, I think the man delivering it was the first person to come to the door). But when I finally got around to hooking it up, no joy. Three days and several phone calls later, still nothing.

I happened to mention this experience to someone at work and discovered that we have several people whose job it is to help out with stuff like this. And even better, they sit literally right next to me. It was pretty funny listening to Ryan on the phone with BT pretending to be me. At one point he said "hang on, I have to go ask my wife," and I nearly fell out of my chair. Anyway, my alter ego seems to have come through because tonight, wonder of wonders, I have broadband.

I'm sure that this will make me the envy of the office, because everyone I've talked to so far has said that it took them at least three weeks to get connected. Ha, ha! They haven't met my husband, Ryan.

Apart from having to share it with a Jamaican carpenter, a Czech painter and a bevy of Russian cleaners, our house is actually pretty nice. It's just a few blocks from the main street in Wimbledon (called The Broadway), where we've got three grocery stores, two wine shops and a handful of betting parlors. The train station is a 5 minute walk and there's a YMCA with drop-in classes for Michael. This is especially convenient, since you all know Michele likes to play the ponies :).

Our new UK Kitchenaid and Cuisinart arrived the other day (I just had to have these - you'll laugh, but I consider them absolutely essential), so I made dinner on Sunday night. This required a trip to the market in the rain, but believe it or not, I didn't really mind so much. And the fact that I could make the dinner with rosemary from our garden more than offset the inconvenience of having to wrap the flour in a bag to keep it from getting wet on the way home from the store.

So far, on balance, I like living here, and I think Michele and the kids do, too. We miss everyone back home terribly, of course, but there's a certain satisfaction in carrying out this huge change without killing ourselves. And that, I think, is precisely why we moved here.