Sat, 08 Mar 2003

author Liz	location Cricklewood, Greater London, England
posted 09:27 GMT 16/03/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/UK/England/London/Working in London 1 ( all photos )

Moving Day! ( 2 photos )
Saturday was Moving Day, and we were both so happy to be going to our new home. It took us about an hour to pack up all our possessions and we even managed to cram it all into Percy in one load. And then before we knew it we were on our way to our new place.
Our new home is only about five minutes drive from our old one, but due to major road works and a big construction site across the road from our front door, it took us about half an hour to get there, but you still couldn't have wiped the grins off our faces.
Parking is a problem. You have to have a permit, or you have to park an hours walk away. So we did what any sane person would do and triple parked illegally in the carpark behind our house. Due to the big menacing signs all around saying any cars discovered illegally parked would be clamped, one of us stayed with the car, while the other rushed around the corner to the front door with an armload of stuff.
Having emptied the car, we went and parked it slightly more legally (but still not quite legally), and went inside to meet and greet the rest of the household. Its turns out, that even though there are meant to be about nine people living here, a couple are off traveling, and everyone else is hardly ever here.
And now, about the house:
We live on a very busy and very noisy main road. There is a huge construction site across the street, and the traffic is constantly heavy due to major roadworks going on. Luckily, our bedroom is at the very back of the house, so we don't hear any noise when we are in there. And it's quite pleasant to fall asleep feeling the house rock as the buses roar by!
We are surrounded by shops and fast food and pubs. McDonalds is across the street, Burger King is two doors up, there is a Kebab shop either side of us, and KFC just up a few doors on the other side of the road. As for pubs, there are about five or six within two minutes walk. We have only been to one of the pubs...it is called The Crown, and is just across the road, and its really nice. Big comfy lounges, a roaring fireplace and lots of charm.
We also have a supermarket across the road next to the pub,. and another one just around the corner. There are about five butchers, and loads of stalls selling fresh fruit and veg, so with all that, I don't think we are ever likely to go hungry.
We have mostly resisted all the fast food...one kebab on our first night here (they are made differently over here - not all rolled up, but in an open piece of bread, out of which the contents always fall onto your nice clean clothes), and I had some greasy chicken the other night.
Our bedroom is a bit smaller than our last one, and there is a lot less storage space, so I went out this week and found a bookcase kit Ikea-type thing (only not from Ikea). Tim and I put it together when he got home from work that night, and I am still suprised that it lasted 24 hours, let alone nearly a week. It has a very dangerous lean on it, but I can't work out if thats more because the bedroom floor is a bit uneven or if the bookcase is really that dodgy. But it should last us a few months until we head off again.
This house is quite a bit bigger than the old one (we now have two bathrooms instead of just the one - will come in handy if all nine of us are actually ever home at the same time, and everyone here is really friendly. One of the girls (and also her friend that is currently dossing here) are both nurses, and they have been really helpful suggesting a couple of things I can do to get some more work. Everyone seems much more relaxed here, and we are both very happy to have moved to such a nice household.
Right, so we had made it to our new home, and we had now met a most people in the house - a mix of Aussies and Kiwis, (Carlo and Nicole, who are married, Maddy, who we saw for about five seconds before she ran out the door to go travelling, John, Sarah, and Lucinda, who is dossing), so our next mission was to get our car legally parked. We spent a while locating Carlo (this house really is quite big), and then went with him for a short drive to The Parking Shop, where we payed for a booklet of visitor parking permits. We can't apply for a permanent parking permit until we have signed the lease, and we are still waiting for the landlord to turn up so we can do that.
We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking most of our stuff, realising that our new bed is bigger than the old one, going out and buying a new bottom sheet, and then cooking dinner a bit later on.
After dinner we decided to go and visit the pub across the road (with the comfy lounges), and whiled the evening away chatting and enjoying a couple of drinks.

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