Big Leap. Check.

So, we arrive from the colony to resettle the homeland – in hopes of experiencing the density of cultures Europe has to offer and jetting off to a different country every other weekend. That’s the plan. First, to establish ourselves in London – job search for me while Tom starts his first real / paid teaching assignment.

We bear 42kg in checked backpacks (only 2kg over the max load - mercifully, they did not weigh our carry-ons). We’ve managed to cram a year’s worth of stuff into this small amount, including sleeping bags and camping dishes. Not sure how much outdoor camping we will do, but there’s an unfurnished flat to survive in for now.

London greets us with blue skies and hot, humid weather - we left one heat wave for another. London further welcomes us with 20 pages of fine print on little sleep at our 4.00 (their 9.00). Don’t they have those standard leases available at the depanneur? In fact, we’re still attending to some of that administrative madness. Not less than five different companies are somehow involved with the management of our building - either it’s a make-work project to curb the recession’s job losses or it’s part of the greater, decades old, make-work project that makes it possible for England to employ vast amounts of people without producing any goods... (seriously, the service sector accounts for 73% of their GDP).

As expected, we are not suffering from any severe culture shock. Everything’s the same, except:
- We’re trying harder not to get run over... or walk into pedestrians – they keep left, too.
- There’s cider in the fridge.
- We’ve been immortalized countless times (until rewrite) on London’s extensive CCTV networks. Don’t worry, they’re watching us for our protection.
- ...

I’ve mostly stopped freaking out when, at a Canadian / almost-anywhere-else-in-the-world glance, it appears that either a child or no one is driving...

England is a gambling nation (brokers every couple of blocks – next to the pub!) and I think there must be pretty goods odds against us being able to give directions here any time soon – street names change every few blocks. It seems their slightly (!) longer history leaves them with more people to recognize – it’s either that or they have another make-work project for street signs. These signs are, however, quite elusive and involve some kind of hide-and-seek you probably shouldn’t be making time for while driving.

Almost two weeks in and I am still enchanted by their accents (of course, some are rough, but that’s much less romantic...) And, I think their ‘yeah’ is pretty good competition for our ‘eh’ – “nice day, yeah?” Tom is forcing their expressions into his regular speech and hamming it up with their accent – not sure this is the natural evolution accents are supposed to take...

We celebrated our first anniversary last Sunday. A deserted City (the Sunday factor) is great for touring and the coveted ‘people-less’ photos, but not for attending to those basic needs of food and drink. So, we ate lunch around suppertime at the first place (pub, of course) that we found open where an admittedly “pissed” patron explained to us the importance of winning the Ashes (which happened while we ate) and some cricket basics while trying to remember which sports it is we Canadians play and how he enjoyed Due South. After a long day of walking, we thought better of joining the standing-room-only crowd at the Globe Theatre and opted instead for the more romantic (?!) viewing of Tarantino’s latest flick in Leicester Square.

We have, of course, seen many sights (full tourist report later). We rarely found that grimy, sooty London with black skies and billowing clouds of smoke popularized in film (ok, period films...), so I’ve picked up an Oscar Wilde to fill that void. Really, there’s almost too much to take in. Guidebooks mention only a fraction of the fascinating sights. Thankfully, we have a year to absorb it all. And we’ll likely head to the country soon to some lone castle in a field where we will 1/ catch our breath and 2/ give the artefact our full attention and appreciation which does not always seem possible in the overwhelming, over-stimulating city.

Otherwise, we are managing to settle in. We’ve got our library cards, so that either means we’re official members of the community or just plain geeks (free internet!). And, our steady diet of pints and pub food has tapered off as we acquire cooking paraphernalia...

Signing off for now.