Jeff and Pete rockin' the back seat
Annie drivin' the company van
turns out that two of the three bags i decided to check were over the weight limit, so anne and i scrambled to pull out 9 lbs worth of crap from one bag and 3 lbs from another. i still had to pay the following fees:
$50 to check a second bag
$50 to check a third bag
$300 in weight overages (which i'm still pondering)
meanwhile, the van got a ticket for being parked out front! crap, crap, crap. i said goodbye to my cincinnati friends before any more fees could be doled out and off i went through security to wait for my plane. all through the day people were asking "are you excited????" and they seemed to be hoping for a squealy, chipper response, which i wasn't really able to deliver. excited? yes of course. but add "overwhelmed", "stressed", and "homesick already" on top of that and i just wanted to curl up in a ball. which i did, in my chair at the airport and on the plane. i sniffled as we flew away from the 'nati, then managed to pull my head out of my ass and buck it up. enough's enough already. i really hope i don't keep breaking into tears in public. :-P
the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the five minutes i managed to lose my passport in my garbage can with handles, i mean, my shoulder bag. luckily i found it without incident and spent a relatively sleepless nine hours over the mid atlantic.
passport control here was easy, a few questions from the border patrol (why is passport control - in any country - always so HOT?), and i was on my way to baggage claim where i scored a cart (push DOWN on the handle to release the brake, you silly American), piled my three suitcases onto it, strapped on my backpack, slung my bag over my shoulder, and went to find my driver.
we had a nice ride into london, with him giving me a general tour and me asking dumb questions like "why do so many Tube stops have the word 'circus' in them?". he didn't know the answer and refused to make one up. :-)
an hour later we pulled up in front of the office, and i saw all of our familiar brand equity elements, right down to our signature trophies on the front desk. home at last! sad but the office is the closest thing i have to a comfort zone right now! christine came down to meet me and help wrestle the five bags back to her flat, which was right around the corner. the bags take up the entire living room and then some...oy.
back to the office then to meet with my new banking advisor, who helped me open a FREE account that offers a penalty-free cash forward until i can fund the thing. woohoo...i got some money, honey! i then met my new boss, her boss, and the receptionist who were all really, really nice. i'm excited to start work on monday. i need a routine asap if i want to preserve any sort of sanity.
as far as the city goes, i haven't seen much except for what was out the car window. a few notes to date:
- it gets dark here at 5 pm. i want to hibernate.
- the trees are sort of changed but not really. and they look like ohio trees.
- the buildings aren't that tall, which is cool because it makes the city feel more approachable.
- the traffic circle with big ben and parliament is pretty fun to drive around.
- there are a lot of red phone booths. i really want to climb into one of these bad boys and put on a super hero cape.
- the couch seems to be made of clay (hey, hey we're adobe!) so Christine has offered that I can camp in the bed.
- Christine's flat is very nice, although everything in the kitchen LOOKS like a cabinet but surprise! it isn't! door #1 is a fridge. door #2 is a...washing machine??
- my computer still thinks it is on ET time.
- the kitchen chairs are made of wicker and crackle when i move. hee hee.
- it's 60 degrees and sunny here today...booyah!
since I need to control my spending (woman, you are so NOT on vacation) and Christine is getting over a respiratory infection, we decided to make homemade pizza and drink red wine for supper. We also took a quick walk around the 'hood so I could get the lay of the land (read: spot the nearest pub) as well as do a store check. So much new packaging for me to see!
regardless of how surreal this is, i'm glad to finally be here. hello, London!
1 comment:
A "circus" is a "traffic circle"...you will find a million of them in London which is why all the stops are named after them. Also, it almost never snows in London and is pretty temperate. Lucky you! Hope everything is going well!!!
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