January 30, 2002

Just felt like writing a bit (Tom). Toby's section below mine (click here to jump there).

For better or worse, we took the apartment that is a bit further out. The other one wasn't available until March 31, and we didn't want to wait that long. There were others coming on the market, but at added cost and in areas we didn't want to be. A little bit of a compromise, but we're very excited to be moving forward with settling in. They are checking our references; could take a week or so.

Work is good, although I will admit it is strange being 36 yrs old, the oldest in my group (next oldest is 30, then younger and younger), and being the new guy. Not used to that - in Boston I had peers my age, and there were younger ones too. That's okay, I'll adjust. Everyone is really nice, so that helps.

Last night all of my group and a few miscellaneous others went out to the pub for beer and then out for dinner. It was fun - Toby and I lost consistently at pool - eight ball - their rules are a bit different but it is the same game. No stripes and solids though, there are 7 red and 7 yellow ball and the eight ball. The table and the balls are smaller too. We went to Pizza Express for dinner, which Kevin, my British brother-in-law thinks is the best pizza in the world. Indeed it is good - I'd say it was pretty similar to Bertucci's; a nice thin crust.

We haven't been disappointed by the food yet as everyone said we would. We did go out for Indian, and were not overly impressed, but given that there are so many Indian restaurants around, some will be better than others. And, our dinner out last weekend with Kevin, Lisa and Lawrence was great fun and great food (italian). The supermarket nearby has proved to be well stocked. We are cooking regularly in our small kitchen - no need to go out every night. They didn't have paper napkins (serviettes) and looked at Toby like she was from a different planet when she asked about them, but I've been assured this was a reasonable request and we did end up finding them at a different store.

We swapped our automatic car, a Vauxhall minivan of sorts

(ours was red), for a Nissan Primera manual shift

. Toby has already adjusted, I haven't tried (mainly because I just walk to work and back). It has 56,000 miles, and is due to be retired in about 6 months or so. Hopefully, we'll get a new car then - you get to pick your car (within some cost limit).

The weather is interesting as it almost every day has seemed to rain some. This morning the sun was out, but by 2 p.m., it had clouded up, and by 5 p.m. it was pouring pretty hard. Go figure. At least it isn't below freezing here!

Here's the weather forecast on Jan 31 for Aylesbury:
weather

Typical, at least so far!

Well, it's dinnertime now, so I'll sign off.

Now it is after dinner - so I'm (Toby) gonna add some of my thoughts.

I love it here, and already feel very at home. I do though, still feel a little like a foreigner when I speak. I always think that someone is going to hear my American accent and start speaking American to me (instead of whatever language they speak here). But the never do. Doesn't phase them a bit. We are picking up the vernacular as fast as we can. "Lovely" is really big here.

Other big things are air fresheners. They are everywhere. And fruit. Folks here are crazy about fruit. Well, maybe it's just the folks at ESRI, but there always seems to be some around. Asian pears are cheap here!

Driving here is great. The Brits are a little crazy in terms of driving though small spaces and such, but car to car they are very civilized. The roundabouts here make total sense. They are great. Nobody blocks intersections or crosswalks. And they actually stop for pedestrians (you have to at zebra, pelican and puffin crossings, of course). And the road signage is amazing. Puts the U.S. to shame. Everything is so well marked. It's very impressive (really Amy, it's true!).

Now that we've had a week at the 'stay left, look right' thing, adjusting to the shift on the left doesn't seem so bad. The hard part is the city driving with all the slow downs at corners and roundabouts and narrow passageways, etc... I think the term 'riding the clutch' will be used frequently. The seats in the new car are a lot lower than in our 1st car. That'll take some getting used to. And there's no cd player. Bummer.

I went to the Bucks County Museum today (we are presently living in Buckinghamshire County) and I actually heard someone say 'spit spot' to a kid! How very Mary Poppins! I had to laugh. The children's part of the museum is the Roald Dahl Museum (he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach among other things). He lived in Bucks County. Small museums, but good - and very interactive which is always nice.

As Tom said, it has rained at some point almost every day. But it has been relatively warm. We've actually spent a good deal of time out in the rain, and it doesn't bother me at all. My take on it is that in the States, we are always disappointed by the rain (and it is usually colder). But here, it is a way of life - it is expected. Just the way it is. I'm sure I'll start complaining eventually, but for now it is ok. Of course driving at night in the rain on narrow roads is a little stressful....

Hopefully we will move into our new flat in Oxford on Feb. 9th. It'll be great to settle into our new neighborhood and get to know the area better. Some good friends of Rich's (the guy Tom is replacing) said they would show us around. It'll also be nice to have better phone rates to the States and maybe better internet access.

My next task is to find a job. Exciting because of all the opportunities, and scary at the same time. Hopefully something will catch my eye and we'll be done with it. I am looking forward to having more routine in my day.

Oh yeah - one more thing. Whoever said the Brits were prudes was wrong. Way wrong. It's amazing what you find on tv here. That's all I'm gonna say. Except the comedy/variety shows on tv are a riot. Much bolder than at home. Gotta see some of it to believe it.

That's it for now. Keep in touch - we miss you all.

email us:

On to next journal entry (Feb 06).
Back to previous journal entry (Jan 26).
Back to England page.
Back to homepage.