Living an unpacked life

Thurs.
This may have been the most uneventful day of our married lives, like the lull of indulgence after a flurry of projects; well for me anyway. Bree still had to go to work.

Friday
Today I went wireless in a café, briefly, until I realized that I'd left the adapter at home and the laptop has short battery life. Other small chores like turning in our tenancy applications filled my day until the weekend began. I can't decide whether a telephone repairman showing up in the kitchen while I was eating lunch or seeing a mouse in the Underground was the most thrilling moment of the day prior to Bree getting home. I did however ride on a double-decker bus for the first time since we've been here.

Saturday
Bree was quite happy to sleep late. This afternoon we went to Wandsworh to explore our future community. We timed the walk from Clapham Junction to be 16 minutes. CJ is a large station with trains headed every direction. We'll typically be using Wandsworth Town station, whose two platforms are only a seven minute walk away. We decided we better forget about conversion rates or else we'd never pay 6.5 pounds, the equivalent of 13 dollars, to go see a movie. We ate dinner at a quiet pub so we could watch the Six Nations rugby match between England and Wales. Rugby is my new favorite sport to watch. It's constantly moving and there's nowhere near the number of commercials. It was a nailbiter, with England falling on a late penalty kick. We're thrilled about settling down and spreading out very soon.

Sunday
Alas, it took most of the morning to cram our stuff back into the suitcases. The interns graciously allowed us to store some of our stuff at their house- which necessitated hauling it all over there. We then moved out to Weybridge to stay with family friends from over a decade ago. Of course the one day we're moving out there is the one day the tracks were being serviced. The replacement bus service allowed limited baggage. Despite this slight inconvenience, getting to drive through each of the small towns was a blessing in disguise, giving us a very different perspective of the outskirts of London. Bree calls this Jane Austen London. Our hosts - the first adults we've spent time with in our married lives - treated us like royalty, starting with a wonderful salmon dinne . They have a beautiful home and also a backyard. We might get spoiled being here.

Home is where you can afford it.

Wednesday
We cleaned out the fridge eating breakfast; we actually made it from Saturday night without going to the store. The first flat of the morning I knew was the one. After breezing through two more just to be sure, I put in an offer for 20 quid less than it was being offered for. The landlord accepted! We think that we actually found something livable within our budget. Granted, we paid the same number of dollars for a month of rent while in college as we'll be paying pounds for a WEEK of rent here, but now we have a view of a Presbyterian cemetery from a second story flat. Here they call it first story and the first floor is the ground level. Despite all my jokes, I'm quite excited about the first place we'll call home. For one, we'll be glad to stop living out of suitcases. First, we have two weeks living with a family friend while our credit checks go through.
Our borough will be Wandsworth, a wonderful little town packed with things to do. Just to the east of us are the edges of Wandsworth common, a gigantic park. It's a huge open green space that takes at least 30 minutes to walk through. Closest to us are the rugby goalposts. Out our door to the west is the beginning of Wandsworth high street. This begs a small history lesson. London is actually composed of hundreds of small villages that were gradually swallowed by the capital as it emerged as an international center of trade and commerce. The high street then is equivalent to the main streets through most US cities. However, unlike the US, the British generally do not have the blessings of loops and freeways. So as certain population centers grow and thrive, modern retailers take their place among the traditional shops and service providers that have existed for centuries without glamorous marketing. Ten minutes down the high street - a very pleasant walk - is a supermarket and an indoor mall which boasts a 14-screen movie theater. And, satisying one of the most important criterion established by Bree, the library is only five minutes away. It seems though that no matter where you are you're not far from one - there's a network of 14 or 15 in Wandsworth, and other communities seemed to have the same. I spent much of the day checking out the community to make sure Bree would be satisfied. It was quite trusting for her to give the green light without having seen the place where we're obligated to reside for at least six months. But we were both weary of the appointments and you have to move quickly or the place can be booked out from underneath you. In fact, someone else was scheduled to see the place that afternoon.
We celebrated by relaxing and doing nothing.