To be perfectly honest, my heart just isn’t into this. I’ve been working on this entry for two or three days now. I am totally jet-lagged and have not been finding a good source of caffeine in the morning, which is how I usually recover from this. Today I found a Starbucks near where we’re staying, so there is hope.
Anyway, back to Friday, our first real day here. On Friday we decided to head to Hampstead. I had to pay the rent and the kids had to go to Sports Day for their school, which is still in session for a few more days this year. So we got off the bus walked up High street past our soon-to-be street, and I told the kids, “OK, this is going to be your walk to school!” Madeline’s response was, “We have to walk up hill to get to school!?” Boy did she have no idea how much walking was in her immediate future. Neither did I.
But that’s what happens when you get lost on the way to an 800+ acre park pretty much surrounding your new community. So, yeah, we found the Heath but it was the wrong part of the Heath. The problem, I now realize in retrospect, was that Sue and I didn’t bother to read the directions the school’s receptist emailed us.
Anyway, we were walking in exactly the wrong direction when Sue decided to ask a nice woman for help. She pretty much knew we were in the wrong place and that where we needed to go was a long way away, but didn’t have the heart to come right out and say it. While Sue was talking with her I saw a woman walking by with her son who had a tee-shirt with the school’s name on it. I said, “We’re new to this school, can we follow you?” and she said, “I’m lost, but sure!”
Sue chatted her up for the next 30 minutes of walking mostly down hill, then up hill, then down hill and then we were there. So, yeah, Madeline was complaining about the 5 minute walk to her school that involved some uphill components and then we went on a tour of the Heath for 30 more minutes. By the time we had got there I had done more walking than I did all last month. Little did I know that I was going to do that about 4 more times today. I feel like such a walking stud but when I got back home I didn’t think my muscles were any bigger or my flab any smaller, so I am really confused and disappointed, and re-evaluating whether I should get a car or not.
Anyway, I left Sue and the kids at the race track and park and then walked back up the hill to see the apartment we’re renting. I went to find Hugo, the guy who showed me the apartment in the first place, and we got in touch with Mr. D’Arcy to find out why he hadn’t ever signed the rental agreement and sent it back like he said he would. Between shots on the golf course he was able to FAX the copy to us, which made me feel better about the stupidly large check I was about to write him for a year’s rent. It’s good Hugo pointed out that I should get a bankers check which for some reason I hadn’t thought of myself.
But before I went to the bank I had to walk back down the hill to bring Sue and the kids some food for lunch, since we hadn’t thought that far ahead. Took me 20 minutes of brisk walking each way. By now my legs are bursting from the seams of my formerly loose Levis, what with my new found muscles.
So when I went to my bank, which is just around the corner from where we will be living, I asked this very nice young lady if I could get a bankers check and she said sure, and then when I showed her the amount she said to come back in 30 minutes and she will have it signed. I went to investigate cell phones during that time, and when I got back she made me answer a few more security questions on my account. I was unsure of one of them until she said that it may have been my mother’s maiden name, which lately I have been having trouble remembering - or is it my own name I can’t remember these days? Anyway, she handed me a piece of paper and asked me to write down the answers to three questions, and she looked them up on the computer as I was writing them down, and I swear she was rooting for me, holding her breath as I filled out the form, because when I handed it back to her she said, “Yes! You’ll be approved!” and she tried to high five me through the glass. Then she said, “Are you buying a house?” When I told her it was for rent she nearly fell off her stool.
Meanwhile, Sue is with the seriously jet-lagged kids, who are maybe running in races with their soon to be new classmates. I had to walk back down the hill with more bottles of water to replenish them, and then we walked back up the hill so they could see their future home for the first time. Only then did I remember that this is the first time I have found a house for Sue (and now the kids) to live in without her first seeing it. (Hugo said I’m a brave man.) The only other time I did this was in 1991 when I found the house we were renting when we got married, and back then Sue’s sister came along to give me moral support.
Anyway, the apartment looked smaller than I remembered. Clearly those pictures I snarfed for the blog were taken with a wide WIDE angle lens. Still, smaller is perhaps easier and cheaper to furnish. The place is not in perfect condition like I remembered, far from it actually, which makes me feel better since my kids will probably trash it. Smaller … is easier to furnish. The kids rooms are quite small, super small, but I think big enough for a bed and a couple other things. Our room is fine. Frankly the guest bedroom is the nicest but don’t get all excited about that. We’re not feeling very social at the moment ;-)
While I was running around, Sue met just about everyone in Madeline’s future class, memorized their names, their children’s names, etc. Typical.
That evening we at at that place I thought would be my kids’ future favorite restaurant. Jason didn’t like the pasta and Madeline didn’t like the hotdog. The guy serving us apologized and tried a second time with Jason, this time with pasta and just cheese. When it came back I knew there’d be trouble because the cheese was a little clumpy. Ok, just get this - at the end of the day we were not charged for Jason’s multiple attempts, and since Madeline clearly did not like her hotdog the guy didn’t charge us for Sue’s latte. What is up with that? People like us could put a restaurant like his out of business! Luckily the world is full of kids not as picky as ours.
I was never this picky growing up, right Mom?
There’s more to say but I think I better start taking pictures since clearly all this text bores the hell out of you Americans.
Dear JP - I think you will be able to settle in much more effectively if you walk to the nearest bakery and get some rich chocolate cake WITH CREAM. They don’t do that in the USA and it’ll make you feel much better.
Shannon and I found that we walked a tremendous amount while traveling. Now that we’re settling in back home we miss it terribly.