Those of you might know that soccer is big in the UK. They have multiple divisions and the top division is the Premier league with Russian Oligarchs buying teams and lavishing tons of money on them (and still only getting second place). I’m not sure how it compares to the prices spent on professional sports in the US, but it’s damn close.

Anyhoo, with these crazy prices paid for players and 80,000 seat stadiums, come crazy ticket prices. And yet somehow, the demand is still absurd. The point is, it’s hard to get tickets to these games and, if you have the opportunity, it’ll cost you. Now, I live about 15 minutes from one of the top teams in the Premier League, Arsenal (they’re in 4th in the league at the moment). They recently moved into a gigantic new stadium which is very imposing when you stumble upon it. Now, I had no illusions that I would ever see a Premier league match. But luck threw me a very generous bone. One of the employees from the company I’m migrated got to talking to me and, when he found out I lived in Highbury (home of Arsenal), he commented on how that’s the home of the best team in the world and that he had season tickets. And he said that if he had a match he couldn’t attend, he would happily give me a ticket. I thought that was very generous but, with the season almost over, wasn’t expecting too much.

Well, this week he comes by and says ‘are you free this weekend’? I say sure and he offers me a ticket for the match this Sunday! Pretty cool. Alas, he was supposed to bring the ticket to work today and forgot, so we’re hopgully going to meet up sometime on Sunday and make a ticket exchange. So hopefully I’ll have an Arsenal ticket pretty soon. If so, expect pictures and stories. I plan on head-butting some hooligans (Mom, I swear I won’t). If not, I’ll bitch and moan about not being able to see a football match this season. 🙂

So my first month in London could be easily summed up as a tad stressful. But there have been some wonderful moments. And, due to the lack of free time and internet access at home, here’s my first chance to give you a nicer view of life in London. I have many entries to catch up on, and I’m putting them in a completely random order.

After a week living in an flat in London, I had my first visitors. Dave and Melissa had a trip to Barcelona planned and decided to spend the weekend prior to that in merry ol’ England. Now, my initial plan had been to have had a nice long weekend and then some in my apartment before my arrival. Instead, I moved in on the that long weekend and then spent a couple of days in Brighton (more on that next entry!) . So I was not really moved in in any meaningful way. I had a bed, a couch and enough to cook for a single person and that was all. Yes, it’s not much different from life in Chicago where I never cooked, but I’m trying to turn over a new leaf.

Anyhoo, my preparation for my visitors required a trip Argos. It’s a department store without the store. You either go online and choose what you with to purchase or you go to the store and look through a catalog. when you see what you want, you just select the item number, pay for it and a few minutes later, you pick it up at a counter. I believe things like these used to exist in the US, but I’ve not seen them. My first trip there involved picking up a nice comfy air mattress for my guests.

Dave and Melissa live in Chicago, so they knew they’d see me again when I left for good a month ago. But, this was my last chance to see them for a while (which is sad). They had done a lot of the touristy stuff, so they were happy to be dragged along to see some of ‘real’ London. This mostly consisted of wandering my neighborhood (which includes a very very large Football stadium. In the end, the big events of that part of their trip involved checking out nice cafes nearby and seeing about the local pubs. We checked out three pubs, all within 5 minutes of my flat, and they were all nice in their own ways. I think, if I had to pick my ‘local’, it would be The Nobody Inn. Good choice of beers and they even have decent burgers (not easy to find in England).

Aside from that, we checked out some of the things that London has to offer. We wandered the Saturday market in Notting Hill, we did a quick tour of the National Gallery and we looked around Covent Garden. They did tons of other things without me (what with my having a job and needing to do my US taxes 🙂 ), but they can comment in this entry with all of that fun. In the meantime, here are a select few pictures for a visual reference taken from a pub called The Cock (no fooling!):

I told you it was called the Cock!!

Dave and Matt enjoying a pint

Dave and Melissa looking happy on vacation

I had my first commute today. If I’d only been going to my actual office, it would have taken 10 minutes. But then I wouldn’t have seen the following from the top of my double-decker bus :

1. A double eecker bus (duh!)
2. London Bridge (the new one)
3. St. Pauls Cathedral
4. The London Monument
5. Tower Bridge (the cool one)
6. The Thames River
7. The Tube

I have a bunch of entries to write with pictures. It’ll have to wait until I have more solid internet access

So I have an apartment. I got the keys this afternoon and, when I got there, there were two people just finishing up cleaning. it’s pretty much empty, but it’s mine!!! It feels a little odd. But the neighborhood is already growing on me. I’m at the office for a brief stop over so I can pick up my stuff (a suitcase and a very large duffel bag) and then i’m off to, ummm, ‘unpack’. then i’ll try picking up some basics so i can do laundry and whatnot. I took some quick shots, but it’s very similar to the original photos I took. woo hoo!!

I like public transport. Mass transit systems, like the El in Chicago, fascinate me. I figure on day I’ll end up doing some sort of work for them (and then going insane with the horrible management of it). So, part of the appeal of moving to London was being able to experience the Tube up close and personal. This will be the first of what might be too many posts about it.

Today I wanted to focus on the Tube during rush hour. Now, from what I’ve seen, London has their trains running at full tilt during rush hour. there is maybe 1-2 minutes between each train. And yet it still doesn’t matter. People constantly stream down to the platform. I tried to get on the Tube the day I arrived to go back to my hotel from the office and it took 10 minutes to get through the turnstyle (imagine 200 people trying to get through 3 gates).

This morning it dawned on me that the London Underground is about one step away from becoming the Tokyo during rush hour. Right now,there are not people with white gloves. But there are 2 or 3 people standing along the platform to signal that the trains are as full as they can get. A train arrives at the station and there is NO room. Two people get off and somehow, 10 people squeeze their way on the train. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced in the US. And, having a blog and all that, I thought I’d share. Soon I’ll secretly snap a photo of it so you can really get an idea of how crowded it is. Once I’m moved (tomorrow, I hope!), I’ll be taking the bus! 🙂

I just posted some graphical representations of my new home (well exteriors), but I wanted to write a little bit as well. Since arriving on Monday, I really haven’t done much more than work and commute. I was pretty jetlagged the first few days so, after I went to work, all I wanted to do was sleep. Finally, I hit the weekend.

While I’m still living in hotels (4 more days!), I decided that it would be a smart idea to check out the surrounding area near my apartment. This is not the first time I’ve moved to a new place and, in the past, my first home in a new location might not always be the most ideal location (whether it be crime ridden or far from the necessities like groceries). I have been very nervous that this new place might be another one of those places. I hopped on a bus outside my office and was there in under 20 minutes (first plus!). When I got off the bus, I started looking around the high street (that’d be a commercial strip for those of you living in the US. They tend to have many of these so as to provide plenty of services for all the residents). While there were plenty of off license places (stores where you can buy beer), the shops around my street looked a little bleak (OTB and things that appeared shuttered). I trudged on, talking to Dina on the phone and suddenly hit upon the swanky part of Highbury (that’s my neighborhood. it’s also home to the Arsenal Football Club). Big ass houses and lots of green. Very pretty.

Once I made a loop back around to where I live, I found my initial concerns were unfounded. Within 5 minutes of my place, there are 4 or 5 smaller grocery stores (which is a normal size in England), a fish shop and a vegetable and fruit shop (that one is about half a block from me!). Here’s the vegetable shop:

I also managed to get a library card and just had a nice time soaking in the reality that this will soon be my home! I can’t wait until Wednesday.

I can’t move into my place until Wednesday, but they can’t stop me from wandering around and taking some pics! 🙂

That’s my street!

That’s the exterior of my apartment. I’m the second floor (here it’s the first floor)

Looking down Beresford Rd

Looking down Beresford Rd again

Hello all.

I’ve made it to London. I now officially live here, even if I’m stuck doing the hotel/couch surfing thing for about 9 days. I’m very very tired, but it was a smooth trip, even when lugging around 50 pounds of crap. And with a good night’s sleep, i’ll be raring to hit the ground running tomorrow.

Anyways, just a quick hello from London! Those of you I’ve left behind in the US, I miss you all.

Ok, it’s official. In the beginning of April, I will be the proud tenant of an apartment that is NOT a cardboard box or a hotel room. It was a bit of an ordeal but, in the end, I have a signed lease and I’ve put down a crapload of money. I’ll get into the details later. For the moment, I’ll just post some pics from the listing. Enjoy!

Here’s the layout (yes, that’s 400 sq ft!)

Bathroom

Kitchen (part of the living room)

Living room

And here’s a link to a sort of panaroma . And if you wanna see where it is, here’s a google maps link.

Anyway, my latest jaunt to the UK is over. Time to pack and head back to Heathrow for a final trip to the US.

So you know how I said I’d be posting again shortly? Yeah, that didn’t happen. It’s been a busy, educational week. Until this afternoon, I hadn’t been more than one mile from my hotel since arriving there in the first place. I have tons of fun things to share and observations to make. Some of it I can’t actually disclose (woah!), but I’ll put together a hopefully(!) entertaining post tomorrow.

And a congrats to my dad on his declaring his retirement today! Sounds like it might only be a partial retirement, but he’s earned it and I’m excited for my mom and dad to begin their life of leisure together. 🙂

Well, my time for my first trip to England is over. I hoped to come back massively in debt, but with a nice apartment lined up. However, I had an offer in on a place and it fell through. So, when I make the move for good in March, I’ll have a temporary period of homelessness whist I look for an apartment. Interestingly, it seems as though a lot of places turn over in a week or two, so the pickings weren’t great since there wasn’t a whole lot of places that wanted to wait until March to fill the place. At least a couple of people in my office experienced this too. It all depends on if you get lucky. Anyway, it’s been a fun trip, but I’m excited to come home and see people and get myself ready to make the big move!

In most places I’ve lived, people jaywalk, be it crossing against a light or in between intersections. While I’ve heard stories on weird places like Seattle where people actually obey crossing signals, I want nothing to do with that. London, I’m finding is no exception. However, there’s a slight difference. Unlike cities in the US, the pedestrian has no rights. Try crossing the street anywhere when you don’t have the light or a zebra crossing and the cars will try to run you down. Add to the fact that there’s no such thing as a straight road or a non-blind crossing (there’s always some sort of obstruction) and lots of small cars, and it’s a stressful experience. So it’s amusing to see people crossing the street here as it’s more like running for their lives in the hope that a car doesn’t come out of nowhere. Even having a crossing light doesn’t always help since they last about 5 seconds and there’s no flashing sign. It goes from green to red and 2 seconds later, the traffic signal goes red-yellow and the cars are revving their engines.

On a similar note, I’ve found an answer my previous question about which side of the pavement people walk on. Yes. They walk on whatever part of the sidewalk they want to. And they’ll walk into you (or play the game where you both hit the same spot and then sort of move side to side until you each pick an opposing direction). I’ve decided that, since I need to get used to cars driving on the left side of the road, I’m walking on the left side of the pavement and I’ll be the aggressive one when it comes to confrontations with the people who are just plain confused.

And a final, unrelated note: my work permit has been approved which means I will be able to legally work in the UK. Exciting! When I get back to the US, all I have to do is go to the consulate and get a work entry thing in my passport and I’m completely legal.

The brits didn’t devour me whole. I’m just in househunting/finance freaking out mode in the moment and not exactly motivated to write about it. It’ll be a very tight first few months in London. 🙁

The last time I was in London, Carolyn and I met up with Dina and Adrian. It was only for a night, and we failed miserably in finding some good pubs as, by the time we finished dinner, everything was shutting down. This time, around, Adrian came up and we got a good and early start. Adrian had researched some pubs that had that classy, uniquely British look in the Westminster area, so I met up with him for fun and games.

We hit maybe 6 pubs, all but one being winners. Some great old glasswork and lighting that had a nice cozy feel to it. And of course, lots of tasty beer. Now, being the responsible people that we are, after pub #2, we realized we needed food to line our stomachs, lest we regret it in the morning. Unfortunately, we were in the Oxford/Piccadilly Circus area. As we found, aside from a number of old school pubs, it’s basically shopping and lunch. As we were really looking for pubs and not food, we just wanted something simple to eat and move on. Alas, this “something” became Burger King. Everything else was closed and pubs apparently don’t serve food on Friday nights (heaven forbid people might wanna have some food whilst drinking!). So here I am, admitting to eating American fast food AND in Piccadilly Circus of all places!!

But I’m not ashamed because it was in the purpose of drinking good English beer in cool pubs. So I hereby claim no guilt for my eating shitty English food! 🙂

The evening ended remembering that England shuts down early. We got back to my hotel’s area around 11:30 and all the nice pubs were locking their doors! Yikes. So we ended up at a more standard bar type place which announced last call 2 minutes later. And finally, we finished the night at the hotel bar drinking highly over-priced cider.

Burger King and things shutting down early aside, twas a fun night for all. Today, Dina comes into town and I hopefully find some more estate agents. The apartment looking on Friday was a good start, but I need to see a whole lot more. I’ll be seeing more with that estate agent on Monday. But I need more more more! 🙂