Can I get new feet?

We've been here 3.5 days. What have we done? We have WALKED!!! Mostly looking for a place to live. It seems that the area where we want to live is the area EVERYONE wants to live! Rental properties (or properties "to let") go quicker than they can be posted on internet real estate sites! We even walked through neighborhoods and called when we saw "to let" signs in yards, and they were already gone... So, it was either slim pickins where we wanted to live, or broaden our search. We broadened our search a bit, and didn't find anyting any more attractive, so we picked from the first two houses we saw the first day. One house was HUGE! Bigger than our house in Overland Park. 5 bedrooms, a HUGE living room, HUGE kitchen, 3 car garage with a game room attached. The landlord even came down 350 pounds on the price. It was a great deal, but way more house than we need, higher than we wanted to pay, and we could only assume that it would be more expensive to heat. It would have been great for guests, but....

So, we went with a "normal size" 3 bedroom, semi-detached house:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=10%20Lorne%20Gardens%20Wanstead&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7TSHB&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

Or, you can go to Google maps and search for 10 Lorne Gardens, Redbridge, London E11 2BZ, and then click the "A" balloon, and click "Street View."

It drops you onto Burnham Crescent. Go down that street (Click on the picture, and use your arrow keys to "walk the street.") to Lorne Gardens, and turn right. "Walk" down to number 10 (you will see the address displayed at the top of the picture as you stroll down the street.)

It has 3 bedrooms-- one is smaller than Zane's room, another about the size of our room with built in wardrobes (pretty unusual to have closets-- most people buy a wardrobe to store clothes in), and the third is a little larger, again with built in wardrobes. The kitchen is "galley style," narrow, but it actually has more cabinet and counter space than my former kitchen. The "reception," is a living room/dining room all in one long room. There is a "garden," a small back yard with some grass and a small paved patio. There is a garage as well.

I don't have photos of the actual house, but there is a similar one on this site: http://www.pettyson.co.uk/Property/Residential/for-sale/Wanstead/-/PSP110022

The layout is the same, though the furniture is different. There is some furniture with the place, and the family moving out is moving to Australia, and have indicated that much of their furniture is for sale, so we will be chatting with them about that.

The lady who lives there has lived there 2.5 years, and says "neighborhood is great, neighbors are great, landlord is great." There is a primary school just down the road. Hopefully, Zane will be able to attend that one. There are two secondary schools (where Gray will attend) less than a mile from the house. Again, hopefully he can get into one of them. (remember earlier post where I explained that kids get into the school which is less over crowded and closest to home.)

Because our priority has been to find a home, we haven't done much site seeing. However, we have ridden the double decker bus-- top and bottom, the train and the "tube." We rode (via taxi) through central London en route from the airport to my friend's house and got to see lots of things there- the most noteworthy was Harrod's Department Store. It's a pretty famous and posh store in London. The funny thing was, they had Wizard of Oz in their window displays! Drove through Trafalgar Square, Picadilly Circus, Oxford Street, Kensington (one residence of the royal family).

We did go to a fireworks display on Guy Fawkes Day. (He was some sort of government protestor from a long time ago.) They celebrate the day like we do July 4th-- LOTS of fireworks. It was a better display than most I've seen in the US.

The friend we are staying with lives on a hill in a borough south of central London. You can see the city from here! It's a fantastic view! Great workout for the tush getting up here from the bus stop...

Things we've noticed:

* Whey you say, "Thank you," people respond with "No worries."

* Instead of saying "Excuse me," people say, "Sorry."

* No electrical outlets in bathrooms-- they don't have the GCFI circuit breaker to protect wiring from water. That means no light switch either. It's OUTSIDE the bathroom door.

* Walk on the left, not on the right (just like you drive). Well, most of the time. Hard to tell when to break that "rule."

* We have been in 3 pubs that don't serve food. (And then 3 that do serve food.)

* At rush hour, the tube is like a herd of sardines.

* The banking system is wierd: You have to have a job to get a bank account, but you need a bank account to get paid from your job. You also have to have a UK address to get an account. And, you need a bank account and a job to get an address. (Fortunately, we have job letters and a friend's address.)

* LOTS of walking. (We knew that before, but now we feel it!)

* If you stand around looking lost in the tube station, someone will actually offer to help you.

* The A to Z map is the best 10 quid you'll ever spend!

* A latte is only 25 to 50 pence more than a regular drip coffee.

* Fresh produce and meat markets are everywhere! Don't know how reputable they are, though.

* Everyone is from somewhere else. So many languages spoken in the street and on the Tube.

* No tax on food and beverage. HUGE tax on almost everything else.

* Every car we have been in has been a manual and has been from Germany.

* Cars are generally smaller and "roundish." Similar to VW bug.

* We did see a 1960's Dodge parked on a residential street.

There are other observations, but it's too late and too early to remember!