Exhilarated, Exhausted, Frustrated. Mostly good, a little bad.

Despite the jet lag, which seemed especially debilitating this time, everything went pretty smoothly at first. We got to the flat (apartment) in time to me the person from the estate agent (realtor). The place is probably not quite as big as I recalled, but it is really nice. I love the view and it will eventually be comfortable as we move in. Photos will eventually follow. The sunset the first night was great. The bed was reasonably comfortable and the drunks on the street below were barely audible. And it is a completely different experience living in a building with a glass elevator and African concierges.

First night, we went to Poppy’s (about a block away and an acclaimed fish and chips places in London). Next day we went to Brick Road (another couple blocks away) for a curry lunch at a Bangladeshi place (pretty good, but I’m expecting better as we explore). It really is an amazing neighborhood. Lots of people wandering around and it is incredibly diverse. It is going to be fun to explore. I found a good hardware store today and it turns out that there is a restaurant wholesale place across the street (it will come in handy), right up from Brooklyn Coffee. We went to the Spitalfields Market and the Brick Lane Market (amazing street food) today. Tried the Commercial Tavern tonight in the beginning of the great pub search. So much more exploring to do. And we haven’t even left a five block radius yet!

As we unpack, we realize that we have brought too much clothes (I’m looking at you, Judie), especially since this flat has not much storage. We are going to have to buy some furniture and clothing racks. And we haven’t even gotten the other four suitcases we left at Judie’s law firm in July! But it is fun to uncover bits of art or other things that we did pack. It is a bit like moving into a hotel room that you are going to live in for over a year. We need to make it ours.

Now for the bad: British customer service is so terrible that it would lead to lawsuits in America. While we just walked into a bank in Montclair and opened a bank account last Wednesday in about 20 minutes, when we got here, we found out that banks are not open on Saturdays and that Monday is a “bank holiday” and that, in any event, you can’t open an account with making an appointment, which you cannot get for at least two or three days. If we are lucky, they might deign to give an account by the end of next week. No wonder their empire collapsed. As for getting cable service or an internet connection for an apartment that is already wired up, we have to wait until the 10th and the 15th, respectively, for a person to show up (and pay for the privilege). In the meantime, we are living without technology here. It may seem like a romantic throwback or something, but it is really just a pain. But this shall pass and in a month it will be an amusing anecdote (I guess).

Much more to follow.