Sunny and Cold

Today is the second day of living in my new home. I am cooking myself a real meal. I am having chicken, potatoes and carrots. Funny how such simple things can mean so much. I just wanted some warm, regular, plain food.

I had no luck finding a screwdriver, but I did find little wastebins. I was very tempted by the Indian food at the store and picked up some Chicken Tikka Masala and Pilau rice. That’s for tomorrow.

Most of the leaves have fallen from the little tree in my garden. It’s still windy. The clouds are zooming across the sky. The rain has stopped, for the moment.

When I returned from the store, I met my neighbor, Clive, half of Clive and Monica. Clive has a beautiful red Bentley in the driveway. He asked where I was from. I told him NY, but not the city. He thought that meant I lived in the outskirts of NYC. I said, no, much further north, almost Canada. Oh, he said, that far. He confirmed that this is a very quiet neighborhood. Very pleasant guy.

I tried drying 2 pairs of trousers in my washer/dryer. It was not a success. The trousers were in there for over a half hour, turning just like it does when it is in wash mode. At the end of the “drying” cycle, it spinned, like it does to extract water. I took the clothes out and they were very steamy, but not dry. I guess the plan will have to be to wash clothes several days before I need them so that I have several days to air dry on the drying racks.

November 5

Big day at home

My shipment arrived today, or should I say, tonight. It was about 3 hours late, but it’s here and that’s what counts. The poor driver - he came from London - and his “sat nav” led him astray. He called me about 10 times for help in locating my house. It was really like the blind leading the blind. And it was dark. I have had more trouble getting around after dark here, even with the satnav. All those roundabouts!

I also received the promised advance on my salary, as did all the US recruits who managed to get a bank account open. I went to a bedding store and purchased a bed - a lovely double divan with 4 large drawers in the platform. The mattress has memory foam. I like my aero bed, but I really really REALLY want a real bed. As my little house has limited storage, I thought the big drawers in the platform was a great idea. It’s coming in 3 weeks.

I also put in my order for SKY - broadband, digital tv and LAN telephone. Crazy cheap. Gotta love it.

I have a new “dryer” situation that is working very well. I bought an inexpensive oscillating fan. I put it on a small table next to the space heater and point it toward the clothes on the rack. Things dry in a matter of 2 hours or so. My daughter and I used to use fans to dry our yarn that we dyed, back in the old ThankEwe Hand Dyed Yarn shop days.

In my travels around Chelmsford, I had spotted a used furniture store on Springfield Road, across from the prison. The website for the shop was largely displayed on the outside of the shop, so I went browsing online. I found a chair I wanted, so I called the shop to see about buying it. Then I drove over there. I also found a small table with 2 sturdy chairs and picked that up too. To go with it, I bought a pair of small “pebble” lamps - red ones. One for the table and one for upstairs next to the bed. Very cute. I decided to wait before I buy a couch so I don’t run out of money before bills are due again. Perhaps that will be my Christmas present to myself.

Its starting to feel like home. I’m happy to have my things. I’m glad I didn’t send over too much. There’s not much room here, so I could not have managed more anyway.

Have I raved about tea here? If not, I should. You can get a good cup of tea anywhere here. I love tea. I grew up drinking tea with my parents in the evenings as a child. Mom would make a pot of tea and we all had some. We drank it sitting around the old pedestal table in the dining room of our old farm house on Lime Lake-Elton Road. Getting tea here is a pleasure. Back in the states, if you ordered tea from McDonalds, they gave you hot water and a bag. If you asked for milk, they poured the milk into the hot water, rendering it useless for brewing tea. Tim Horton’s started serving steeped tea, but at some of their stores, you would have to wait for them to brew it because they didn’t keep it going throughout the day. Here, you barely have to ask for milk. It’s understood that you want milk for tea. I like this place. And it likes me.

I wish I had all the time in the world to write. I have seen so many lovely things as I drive around the countryside. I want to do more of that, the driving around, taking is all in. Then coming back at the end of the day to write about what I have seen. Little things catch my attention and make me wonder. Houses are taller and narrower. Most have a third story. I am sure this is to create maximum living space on finite surface area of the island. Houses are close together, but there are hedges and brick or stone walls separating properties, one assumes, for privacy. Except for large motorways, streets are narrow. People park on the side of streets, so you have to cross the center to get around them. Oncoming cars will accommodate that, or you stop and wait for them to pass before you try to get around them. I can’t imagine that ever being common in the US. I can just hear all the muttering and sputtering about the “stupid a***ole who parked on the street” or some other expletive. There are no shoulders on most of the streets. There is a curb at the edge of the street. It’s not uncommon for me to bump up against the curb now and then. Not a good thing for the “tyres”.

One of the things I find charming and a bit amusing are signs warning drivers of “elderly crossings”. It’s a triangle with a silhouette of an old man with a cane, with an old woman behind him, both hunched forward from osteoporosis. I know someone, who shall remain nameless (my son-not-in-law, with initials RLM) who would get a kick out of that. He would probably buy one for me as a gift and offer to post it outside my house for me. I would photograph the sign to display here, but there’s no shoulder to park on to take the photo. And there’s not one sign like this, but many. It’s pretty common. What sort of reaction would that get in the States?

Something must have happened today. I asked the driver who brought my things. He said something about something happening in Parliament today, but I didn’t quite catch it. There are fireworks going off all around me. When I was in Aldi today, there was a lady buying fireworks. somewhere in my packed things I have a radio. I’ll go dig it out so I can hear some news. I haven’t any tv or radio and the only internet access I have is when I go to McDonalds parking lot.


November 7

It is the weekend! I have a bit of a cold, but I'm sure I will be fine. It's cold and sunny today. My belongings from the US did finally turn up the other night - only 3 1/2 hours late. Essex has several Christmas parties planned - luncheons, actually. They fall on days when I am in training. I have written to Human Resources about it. One is specifically for overseas recruits. Not very well planned that they are planning these for days when we have training. Hopefully, something can be done to change the training schedule.