Settling in

Well, two more days down -- including our first day at work! We spent yesterday running a few errands and preparing -- both mentally and the laying out outfits variety -- for the big day. One highlight from yesterday that comes to mind is lunch at Café Rouge: I tried ratatouille for the first time (delicious!) and Tea had a fantastic french onion soup with an amazing selection of breads and olives. (Unfortunately I was so distracted by all the tastiness that I only got one picture from early in the meal -- that Belgian beer in front of me, Früli, was really refreshing, incidentally.)

On the way home we stopped in Waitrose again for our first real grocery shop. Of note was the Arla lactose-free cheese I picked up and the Manchego cheese that Tea picked up: the former was fantastic (even my tough critic agreed wholeheartedly), and so was the latter; it's made from sheep's milk, which I now know I can also eat. Very exciting for me... This is the best cheese I've eaten in years, other than a lactose-free smoked gouda that Tea stumbled upon in Ottawa a few years ago. One final note on my lactose intolerance -- yes, it's all about me today and every day ;-) : they have a different definition of 'high-fibre' over here, so, faced with eating straight-up All Bran again, I decided I had to spice it up, so to speak. My solution was flavoured yogurt, and, odd as it sounds, the Activa stuff doesn't seem to bother my stomach. It's a big relief for me, 'cause breakfast has always been the cornerstone of my day.

A few comments on their embracing the 'net over here: when we got home last night we decided to set up a grocery delivery for later in the week; you have to book your spot a bit in advance, so we figured the timing was good, now that we had food for a few days. The Waitrose site was amazing: you can easily pull up the sale items in any category -- my eyebrows went up at seeing Innis & Gunn Original for £1.66, with an additional pound off when you buy three (which I did, of course) -- pull from your favourites (we've been told), and Tea was most impressed by how easy it was for her to isolate which products in any category were dairy-free (e.g., freshly-made soups). The delivery comes this Thursday evening, so we'll see how that part of the experience goes.

Then there was booking this morning's cab (to ensure we were lookin' our best on our first day): we booked it on-line last night, got the confirmation, and then, just as they described in that note, the cab showed up right on time this morning, immediately followed by an automated telephone call informing us of that. In a word: seamless.

Finally, Tea ordered some power adapters for North American grounded (i.e., three-prong) plugs yesterday at a steal, and they were waiting for us at the Royal Mail office before we got off work today. (Tea was a bit nervous about using them with her precious Powerbook, but all's well, as I assured her it would be.) I'm stretching it with that last example, but truly, the 'net is useful here in ways it simply isn't (yet) back home.

We also came home to a fabulous message from Linda, the lady of our land-couple: Tea's fears about wardrobe space have been assuaged; more furniture is on the way. Those two really are amazing, I have to say. We've heard of a few problems with landlords now -- they have many more rights here than they do in Canada -- and feel all the luckier for it.

Finally, remember that essential equipment I picked up the other day? I have a new appreciation for proper -- read: big and sturdy -- umbrellas after today. We walked for a good hour 'n' a half this evening -- picking up the adapters and then supper at The Everest (Yum! Will I recognize when I've become addicted to Indian food?) -- through a series of downpours and showers, and I hardly noticed. As I mentioned to Tea, that sort of weather normally would've kept us in back home, but, as I understand it, we won't have that luxury over here; 'course Ottawans didn't really have that luxury last month either -- only six days without rain in the whole month or some such -- so it was great prep. for us!

Door lessons

Beautiful weather today: the sun shined throughout. Our initial plan to get out early and try the walk to work was delayed by some problems with the door locks; here's what I wrote just after James left:

As I type this, the pads of my girlie index fingers and thumbs are more sore than I care to admit, thanks to my many failed attempts at locking the back door. Luckily, James was just a phone call away, and by 10:30 a.m. our door lessons were complete. I use the plural because, unbeknownst to us, the front door, while incredibly simple to lock, is tricky to unlock (just the reverse of the back door, in other words). As James pointed out (with a smile), discovering that when we were stuck outside later in the day would've made for a much more entertaining phone call.

Happily, the third door that we were having a problem with -- honestly, it's like we don't have them in Canada -- also stumped James: the wardrobe simply wouldn't open. He kept fiddling with the key as we discussed other things, and then one particular heave worked; he suggested we leave it unlocked, and we heartily agreed.

Then it was out for some breakfast, followed by a walk to work. On the way, we discovered that they do have subways over here: that's their term for the underpasses that pedestrians and cyclists use to cross under roundabouts; they're very handy. We decided to walk back through the neighbourhoods of the St. Mark's area -- I was wrong when I said that our house was in that area; we passed the church of that name (on Church Street; imagine that) on our walk, and we were some distance from our place at that point -- and decided that it might make for a nicer walk or bike ride in the mornings than the main thoroughfare we'd gone out on.

Now, I was walking along, enjoying the tranquil beautiful of the streets -- note the picture to the right where Tea's just blurted out, "It's like Snow White's garden! The dwarves could live here!" -- and their impressive names (e.g., Shelley, Kipling, Tennyson, Shakespeare, etc.), when Tea points out that this could be considered a "dodgy area," given what some have told us. While initially I dismissed this as silliness, and I didn't for one minute feel uneasy, by the time we'd made it back to the train station I had counted half a dozen shirtless lads; many of them were driving around, and one was even being served in the convenience store. We probably won't spend too many evenings wandering those streets, but we both agreed that it'd make for a beautiful morning commute.

Next on our list was picking up some essentials (e.g., laundry detergent) at Waitrose. We walked along the Honeybourne Line again, and, feeling peckish, decided to eat in the store's cafeteria when we arrived. The meal of the day was a combination of a vegetable curry and a chicken jalfrezi with rice that was simply excellent! The bacon sandwiches seemed to be more popular, however, prompting Tea to comment, "Stephen would love it here!" -- We decided to qualify that statement later in the shop, however, noting the perfumed shoppers and utter lack of scent-free products. Be warned, my friend! ;-) -- Oh, and one final note about Waitrose: the cashier guessed we were Canadian -- she said my T-shirt was a give-away :-) -- which Tea was tickled about.

Once we got home -- Tuesday's forecast of heavy rain prompted my purchase to the right -- it was time to start the laundry, which naturally led to abandoning suitcase living. I only point out this minutia because it spurred a bit of a moment as we realized that the rather large house did not have -- well, by North American standards, anyway -- the commensurate closet and wardrobe space. We weathered the storm, however -- stiff upper lip 'n' all that -- and resolved to visit the topic again once our priority shipment arrives.

Note: if you're interested in seeing more of our pictures, I'll be updating my August album throughout the month.