Keep to the right... I mean left!!

So we went on our first road trip the other day. We had quite a busy Saturday! First we went and signed the papers and lease and so on for the new flat, then went and met the landlord there. We went through the inventory of the flat, conditions of things, and so on. Also he showed us how to work certain things like the boiler that we haven't had to deal with before. We're quite excited about our flat, we lucked out by getting somewhere with a decent amount of space. The bedrooms are quite big by London standards, and there's a little private garden at the back which extends the living space quite a bit on nice days. It's what they call the "lower garden flat", which we could actually call the basement flat. The entrance is down a set of steps at the front, but the windows in the front are full-size, and by being in the basement we have sole use of the garden at the back. Both bedrooms are at the back and have full doors that open onto the garden. There's a lovely shed in the garden which will be fantastic for storing golf clubs, and so on. We think there's more storage space in the closets than we had at home in our walk-in closet! And the ensuite bathroom and shower are a big plus as well. We were lucky to get two bathrooms. The kitchen is a typical London flat kitchen, small but with lots of storage space and quite new and attractive. The only hitch is that we worked a deal to have a new washer/dryer installed instead of the washer only that was in place, and it was installed before we moved in. The hitch is that we tried it out yesterday and there's a leak in the plumbing under the counter where they attached the washer which is also connected to the kitchen sink, so we currently can't use either the washer or the kitchen sink! But we've been in touch with our landlord and the problem should hopefully be resolved today. One of the conditions of us moving in was that they would paint the bathroom which was looking pretty ratty (ok, the paint in most of the flat could use a touch up) and there is someone here today doing the painting.

In the living room (called the reception room here) there is a lovely futon, which I think we may move into the second bedroom as our spare bed and buy a couch to put in the reception room. The spare room isn't big enough to keep a double bed in at all time as it would obstruct the door to the garden, but a futon would allow for use of the room on a daily basis, but then could become a bed for guests. We'll see how things go. I've set up the spare room as my "dressing room" and created a little vanity from a small table and mirror to use my hair dryer and so on, as the bathrooms here don't have outlets for anything other than shavers which use a different type of plug. And I used the closet in the spare room for my clothes, so it's my little space.

We rented a car on Saturday, so while we had the use of it we gathered up all our luggage from our temporary flat and carted it over to the new place. Noise did all the driving, and it was exciting! He very quickly got the hang of driving on the left and shifting gears with his left hand. As I knew he would, he quite enjoyed it! The trouble was that we needed to get out from Central London and it took hours! But finally we got down into the countryside in Surrey and were reunited with our Buggy! He seems none the worse for having flown to another continent and spending almost a week in a kennel. Although he did need a bath immediately as he was not smelling his freshest. ;) He has settled in to the new place quite easily and seems quite comfortable and relaxed. We've been for lots of walks over the last couple of days, which I'm sure also helps him to sleep the rest of the time. One of my worries was that he would relapse into his days of separation anxiety, but yesterday we went out a couple of times and left him alone and he didn't seem to be bothered. When we came back we could see him sleeping on the rug in the reception room. So I think he will be fine. Those of you who know Buggy will know that he is badly behaved when he sees another dog while on his leash, but with the use of his remote-control citronella collar he is doing very well, we have seen lots of other dogs, even at very close quarters (the sidewalks here, called pavements, are narrow!) and he has barely blinked. I've only had to spray him once.

Just to liven things up, we discovered after we had gotten him home, and Noise had taken the car to stock up on some groceries, and then returned the rental car by dropping the keys in the night slot, that we had left Buggy's papers in the car! We thought they must have gotten underneath the seat or tucked in beside it and then when Noise dropped off the car and looked around to make sure we hadn't left anything, he didn't see them. So the next morning we walked over to where the rental car was parked to look in the windows to see if they were in there (the office was closed until today) and there they were! While I was contemplating the best way to make sure we got them back as soon as the office opened, Noise had the bright idea to try the door and lo and behold, he hadn't locked it! So we grabbed his papers and all is well!

So much to write about... what else has happened? Since we moved in to the new flat we haven't had an internet connection, which is why I haven't been updating the blog. But I've got one for the moment so I am using my time wisely!

I guess my last news is that I got the job! I can't remember what I had written about the clinic, but it's a lovely clinic in Wimbledon, which will mean a 20-minute tube ride for me on a direct line, with an 8-10 minute walk at each end. The clinic has 4 vets, the owner/partner who is a specialized surgeon and runs a referral orthopedic practice, 2 younger associates (one who is my age and another who I think is a little bit older), and a 3rd associate whose place I will be taking. They seem to put value on practising a high quality of medicine, no cutting corners and so on. They had been talking about starting at the end of July but I indicated that I didn't want to wait that long to start work, so in fact I think they are going to have me start next week to cover some holidays. So it looks like I will be employed again soon! One thing I like about the English -they take their holidays seriously. I get 4 weeks holidays to start. The clinic is open on bank holidays, though, but not on Christmas, Boxing Day, or New Year's Day. So I will have to work some of the bank holidays. Anyway, we'll see how it works out, I am hopeful that this will be a good fit for me.

One of the reasons that I started this blog was to be able to share some of the interesting things about living in England, the small things as well. But right now I have so much big news to share that it doesn't leave time for the small things. But they will come!

Right now I must run as hopefully they are going to fix the leak under the sink. Until later!