Week 1

One week in the green and pleasant land...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of emails etc over the last week, it's been hectic and internet access has been patchy. So here's a long-ish summary of what we've been up to.

flight over was good, excellent food, comfortable chairs, slept a fair amount, did some shopping (booze, cigars, after shave). Had some nice port and blue cheese...

Arrived last Sat and breezed through customs, apparently 2pm on a Sat is quiet time in Heathrow terminal 1. And it's still horribly scungy and involves lots of walking everywhere. Met S and headed to the tube where I discovered my Oyster had about 10 quid left on it so we rocked down and caught the train into Kings Cross/St Pancras (I'm throwing all the names in, not for any trainspottery reasons, but for those of you playing at home can follow along....), where we caught a train to Loughborough.

I was, by this time, rather fragrant. A quick stop in the trains WC led to a superman like clothing change (well t-shirt anyway), and a deep and meaningful exploration of deoderant and aftershave. Huzzah.

Loughborough is, depending on the train one catches, between 80-110 minutes from London. This was the 80 minute version. Caught a taxi to the hotel in Quorn. A lovely wee village about 4 miles out of Loughborough city. After showering and getting changed, I found a pub. With good beer. And the Ashes on. Great start to the week.

Speaking of the Ashes, OMG how much feckin coverage do you need? anyone would think this was the best English team ever (it's not), and that the Aussies were a superb team (they ain't). It went on for days...

Sunday, not much to report, mooched around, went for a walk, relaxed. Found beer.

Monday, headed into Lougborough. This was an experience, and not necessarily a good one. In retrospect it appears Monday may be benefit day, the bus was full of the aged and infirm. Nearest point of comparison would be League of Gentlemen or Village of the Damned. Not pleasant.

Since Monday I've changed my mind, the city is far more city of the teenage mother. Everywhere. Judging by their appearance, this place has a drink problem.

As I was suffering coffee withdrawl by this point, we wandered around but could only find (insert appropriate bad words here), Costa's. Having been scared at that concept, I should say their double-espresso was ok. Not great, but quite drinkable. Wandered around estate agents and made appointments to see places on Tues and Wednesday.

For those of you who pointed out that Loughborough, size-wise, was similar to Palmerston North and then laughed - yeah it is, even feels like it. I'm consoling myself that L'b has better beer, and is near London. Coffee/brunch-wise, we've found nothing. I have a plunger now, but it's not good. I'll be looking at getting beans sent up from Monmouth I think. Will look into that soonish, next time I'm in london, or on the web. Whichever comes first.

Drank more beer.

Tuesday found us wandering around flats. Yawn. Saw four in the morning. First was a moderately dire flat in the student area. Scratch that one. Second looked like owners grandmother had died there and they'd let it out as is. Very very ugly wallpaper, carpet, decorations. Cut that one. Third was nicer, and a strong possibility. Fourth had a lovely wooden floor but absolutely crap access. Scratch that one.

Afternoon saw us in Shepshed (hopefully I've put in links here), which is above loughborough (Quorn is below it). One of the places was a converted 19th C. mill - into apartments, really nice airy, clean, dry, warm. And the other was a lovely 17th C cottage which had been nicely renovated. Not a lot of room in the lounge for movies, but awesome kitchen. Filled in application for form the mill one - and to pre-empt the story, have moved in. Moved in seems a bit of a misnomer, given all of my stuff is on a boat. But meh.

Beer to celebrate.

Wednesday: wandering around looking for essentials (bed, frypan, saucepan, some crockery...). Drank beer, cos it was there.

Thursday: headed down to Leicester to continue the shopping expeditions, nothing very exciting down there either. But they do at least have a CD shop. L'b seems to be lacking one. Oh well, online ordering for me then.

Got decidedly pissed off with the British service industry. it appears even I may be more service orientated than them. No really. It's shocking. I stormed out of a bed shop when they said it would take 10-12 days to get it, tried another one and got the same story. I mean WTF? It's a feckin' bed, it's hardly going to be a surprise for a country of 61 million that people will need a bed ! FFS.

Then opening a bank account, HSBC wanted types of ID, yeah ok, then a copy of bill with my physical address. They didn't seem to be able to cope with with "but i never used the physical address, all bills which weren't online went to the pobox". got pissy with them too. I ended with "Well I'll take my salary, XXXXX pounds, and find someone else who wants it". Went to the next bank down the road, told them I was in a grumpy mood thanks to HSBC but that I'd like to open an account. Ten minutes later, all done. Admittedly I can't get a credit card for three months. Oh well.

Drank beer to cheer up.

Friday: sorted out a phone number. It may change unless this one can get internet...looking into that soonish. signed various bits of paper, spent money on bed sheets n pillows. Woohoo, party on. Came down with a cold. Choice. Had good food at the Quorndon Fox, and beer. Drank whisky to clear throat.

Saturday: moved into flat. Stinking headcold. Bought frypan, saucepan, coffee plunger and a shedload of stuff for groceries. For those of you playing at home, go forth and convert UKP 180 ... that does include the s'pan and coffee plunger and stuff tho'. Not sure if I drank beer, suspect I did.

Sunday: threw S onto the train, tidied up papers and stuff in the flat and decided to organise emails to people. And a blog. Had a beer over lunch. Am thinking about cooking dinner soon (it's 7pm) but not hungry. There is beer in the fridge too.