Whew. My Dad just left after spending 10 days here and I'm starting to wake up from the fog of daily croissants, indulgent lunches, and dessert every hour and realizing that I'm actually not on vacation. I won't be getting on a plane to go back home because somehow this is my home now. It's an odd feeling to be an in-betweener at this stage of life. Married. Kid. Grad School. Etc. But I guess this is the life many live, and we are so used to our stable, predictable, nice life in sunny DC. Now it's a bit topsy turvy and we are having a little trouble adjusting to be honest!
We had a few crazy days in between all the sight seeing and fun-having (Big Ben to London Eye to Bath to Tower of London to Borough Market (twice!), but those crazy days were rough. Namely, a bank account (took us a week to get it because we needed the piece of paper to prove we moved here permanently from Mark's office), a home, and a cell phone! We spent a full day with a relocation agent to look at 15 houses that ranged from a crack den shoebox in notting hill (but it overlooked that lovely park from the movie!) to a 2 bedroom in West London with an en suite bathroom and even a full size refrigerator! We ended up putting a deposit down on a lovely little flat in Highgate, a stones throw from Hampstead Heath. But from the haze of looking at 15 places in one day, the details of the place sort of escape me, but I do remember it had a gorgeous kitchen, definitely the biggest I've ever had in my married life. And it's also a lot further than we thought we'd be from City of London, but in the end the relaxed and quiet neighborhood was just what we were looking for to get away from our old urban H street house in DC.
Tonight we ate dinner on our beautiful balcony, trying to take advantage of the nice weather while it's here and trying to take advantage of this nice apartment while we have it! But it was the first time I felt at peace with my family here. I've had crazy nerves about this transition and I keep waiting for it to feel like home. It doesn't yet (that might not happen until we actually move into our real place and get all of our stuff back!), but I felt a bit of it. And it was just what I needed to feel good.
And now I'm off to watch Downton Abbey because it comes out earlier in the UK - the biggest plus of moving here! ;)
2 comments:
Welcome to North London! I recall the transition from Australia, some 8 years ago. Just remember to go easy on yourselves and take lots of lovely walks. The Higate Woods are beautiful and there's a great walk from Finsbury Park along a disused (lovely, overgrown) rail track, passing by the HG woods and then following onto Alexandra Palace.
Enjoy Autumn, we do it so well :)
Highgate! :)
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