New Flat

We are finally in our long term place! We can start putting down, albeit temporary, roots. Our place is great! It has regular-sized rooms, meaning you can get by the table without turning sideways and you can push back your chair without hitting the wall. The girls can even do laps around the dining table and our barren living room makes a great dance floor. The bathroom is big enough that we can set up the drying rack in there instead of the living room. And I can even buy multiple boxes of our staple foods because there is plenty of cupboard space. The only sacrifice we made was that it is only two bedroom, but at least the master bedroom is big enough for a desk – so Ryan can have some peace.

Kissed a lot of frogs to find this place. The way they do real estate here is insane. The agents will only show you the places that are listed with them. And even then, if the listing across the street is with a different office – too bad, you have to go with an agent from that office. I went out with no less than 10 rental agents. I have to admit it was kind of fun seeing the old buildings around here, but it got a little old and tedious trying to manage all those contacts. My criteria got pretty specific after a while, walking distance to the kids’ schools and access to either a park or communal gardens being the big ones. Our kids are just not used to being cooped up.

Notting Hill is famous for its “Secret Gardens”. They are basically private parks that are only accessible to the residents whose homes are adjacent to it. I had the kids with me one day when we saw our first one and they took off running in sheer joy. I thought to myself, this is what we need. We aquired the key to the gate today with the help of our new neighbor whose wife is from Texas and their twin eight year old girls. We were thrilled to find a “climbing frame” (jungle gym) and a “Wendy house” (playhouse) as well as a tire swing. Our agent had told us that our gardens did not have a playground – so glad she was wrong. I think I was more excited than the kids. For them it is just another park. For me, it means we don’t have to make a major excursion of it each time they need to get their sillys out.

The flat is on the 3rd floor (no lift). The way they slice up these old Victorian places, you are either going to have the ground and lower ground (dark and dank) or the top two. So it’s stairs and sunlight versis no stairs and mold. Or you might find a flat on just one floor that has a mini fridge or only a shower –no bath. Or you could get all five floors if you don’t plan on sending your kids to college.

It was unfurnished. I’ve found beds and tables and chairs, but on the lookout for a futon couch for the dance floor. Doing my best to find things second hand, both to lessen our environmental impact and because we will just be selling it all when we leave. Lots of options there, but it’s really time consuming. There’s a UK equivalent to Craig’s List and I always keep an eye out as I walk up and down Portobello road for the school run (Portobello Road is famous for its antique market, and attracts all kinds of garage sale type vendors). I even discovered a really cool auction house that sells decent furniture in addition to antiques.

The kids got an early Christmas gift from Nana and Papa. Their first morning here they got to “scooter” to school. They LOVE that. Now instead of prodding them along, it’s all I can do to keep up! We had a big talk about safety and they have been very good about stopping at every corner. Also, sadly, we saw an elderly woman who was hit by a bus being attended by paramedics. I think that put some fear into them.

Looking forward to discovering all the new amenities within walking distance. I’ll be visiting the local internet café a lot, because typical of English inefficiency, it looks like we will be without internet for a week!