Whirlwind London Trip

Well I've just arrived back in Houston from a whirlwind trip to London. I left Saturday afternoon and arrived back Thursday afternoon. It was a really fun and productive trip. Sunday we just drove around getting me acquainted with the area we will be living with as well as a quick drive by the new school. Brian also let me get behind the wheel so I could start getting used to driving on the opposite side of the car and road. The last thing we did that Sunday was to go see The Hunger Games. Man, movies are crazy expensive in the UK, even the matinee. I imagine it will be a special occasion for the family to see a movie in the theater.

Monday we visited 6 houses which was plenty enough for me. We had 9 or 10 scheduled but some we couldn't arrange a visit or they had already leased or sold. There were four houses that would work for our family and 2 that were just too small for us. Of the four, one wasn't available until May because they had tenants that required 30 days notice. So alas, that one was marked off the list. Then there was another house that had BEAUTIFUL grounds. I'm talking a HUGE yard. The main downside there was that the majority of the yard was down a hill and thus you had to take stairs to reach it. It might have been okay if there was just one set of stairs but I counted four. I just couldn't imagine trying to police four sets of stairs every day while Jude and Jonah played outside. So alas, that house was marked off the list. So we really narrowed down our selection to two houses. Once was big and bright and beautiful inside but had a large price tag. The second was a semi-detached house (think duplex) with four bedrooms. While we could fit in this house, it would have been a little too close for comfort in my opinion. Plus I'd be constantly worried that the neighbors would complain about how loud the boys were being.

Because of the abbreviated list, we were able to get into Reading to buy the boys' uniforms from Jacksons. It was definitely an experience. We went up to the floor where they sell the boys uniforms and the sales person took out the binder and found our school. Then we just worked down the list and got the boys all outfitted for Summer Term. I can't wait to see them all dressed up!!! We still have a few things to get - tie for James, hat for John and black school shoes - when we get there.

After heading back home, we debated and gave it some deep thought before deciding on which house to get. We decided to go with the large, more expensive house. There's just so much space for us to spread out in. Plus the yard is nice and fenced and there's no real "garden" to maintain. I also like that it's out in the country just not far at all from all the things you need like a grocery store. It's definitely going to be a longer drive for both Brian and me but the trip is on fairly large roads (in UK terms) so it should be a fairly smooth ride.

Tuesday was rather relaxing. We had originally planned to go see more houses but the area we were looking in that day was really too far away from the school. So we decided to cancel those viewings and focus on our two top picks. Unfortunately real estate transactions go at a snails pace over there. We put in the offer around 9 am Tuesday morning and then just kept hearing, we should get a response later this morning, later this afternoon and then tomorrow morning for sure. It was rather nerve wracking (especially for Brian) since we had lost out on another really wonderful house not two weeks before. We didn't want the negotiating process to take so long that we missed out on our back up choice. We tried our best to keep busy. We visited the bank to get me added to Brian's account. That visit ended with us needing to fill out three forms and get a letter form HR stating that I am married to Brian and that we live at said address. What a pain in the rear. We spent the rest of the morning touring the new area we hope to call home. We ate at a local restaurant called The Bull Inn. Yummy food but more expensive than we had thought it would be. We found the grocery store and a few other important places.

Tuesday afternoon we took a tour of the boys' new school. I give Brian oodles of credit for picking such and AWESOME school for our kids. They are going to LOVE this school. There is so much to do outside I worry that they will never want to come in. We got to see John's classroom and found that they are all set for his arrival on the 18th. Then when we got to James' class room, his teacher was there preparing for the upcoming term. The headmaster introduced us and she immediately knew we were James' parents. We talked to her about some of our concerns and she reassured us that all the kids are at different levels and not to worry. She seems really wonderful and we can't wait for the boys to start school.

Wednesday was somewhat stressful as it was my last day there and we still hadn't received a definite yes from the landlord. Thankfully we had other tasks to keep our mind off things. We met up with a friend of mine from Houston whose family moved to a nearby area last summer. She was a wealth of information about school and food and places to take the kids. It was so nice to pick her brain about things we were worried about. We had been chatting on Facebook for a while and it was finally nice to see her in person again. After that we headed back to the bank to turn in our paperwork and get the ball rolling toward getting a joint account. We were sorely disappointed in the number of staff they had working at the bank that day. They seem to want everyone to use the machines and thus the need for less workers. Well we had to pick the day when the machines weren't cooperating and so almost everyone had to talk to a person. Thankfully once it was our turn, it was super fast. Hopefully I will have a debit and credit card with my name on it when we arrive. Wednesday was John's 6th birthday so we hung around the apartment until we knew he would be awake and then called him using FaceTime. We got to wish him a happy birthday and see him open his presents. He also showed us the cupcakes my mom and sister baked for his class. You have to love technology these days. We got to see him on his special day in real time and for free!

Wednesday afternoon we did a second tour of the house. This time we really walked around and did a preliminary inventory (walk through). We noted the burnt out light bulbs and checked to see that all the toilets flushed and showers were in working order. We did find that what we thought was a dryer was actually a combo washer dryer unit. Thankfully there is power in the garage so we can purchase and use our own dryer. I don't know if any of you know anything about those combo units but they really suck. They take FOREVER to do a single load and those loads are about 1/4 to 1/3 of a normal load in an American machine. Needless to say a combo unit isn't going to work for a family of 6. After we were all done walking around, we headed back to the apartment and just relaxed for the rest of the day. The negotiating process went fairly well. It was mainly a list of things that needed replacing/maintenance as opposed to price and move in date.

Thursday morning we got up early and headed to the airport so I could catch my flight home. I guess I really have to get used to Heathrow airport since we will primarily be flying in and out of that airport. Shopping was quite nice but they definitely had a different style of checking people in. They definitely had an abundance of people working whereas the staff in Houston is now quite sparse. The flight home was definitely a long one. I napped a bit but I find it hard to really sleep when you are sitting next to strangers. Thankfully the movies were free so I had plenty of entertainment on the flight home.

All in all, it was a really great trip. We got a lot accomplished and had a nice visit just the two of us.