Dartmoor fog
Published on February 8th, 2010 Join the conversation »
A shot from our weekend in Cornwall. We handed over some cash to the estate agent, ate amazing ice cream, and explored the coast. It was wonderful! The fog you see above was encountered during our drive back to Maidenhead.
Farewell, Maidenhead
Published on February 4th, 2010 Leave your comment (4 so far) »
Maidenhead. My home of the last five years, my first five years in the UK. I have friends here- new friends made during my adjustment and settling here in this new country, new relationship, new home, new customs and new experiences. I received my British Citizenship in Maidenhead.
I almost know my way around. But it’s time to move on.
To this house…
Hello, house in Cornwall. Prepare to receive my hideously large collection of books. * mwah *
I’d like some of this please
Published on January 31st, 2010 Leave your comment (10 so far) »
Neil and I went on a fairly impromptu adventure down to Cornwall yesterday to look at three new home possibilities. Four hours down, four hours back and a bunch of wandering around the country roads between was worth it. The picture above shows the back garden view of one of the houses we saw – that’s the Atlantic ocean about a mile away. Walking distance to a beach. And cliffs.
The house itself is really something too, and we’ve emailed our interest to the estate agent.
Here’s the crazy bit… For a hundred pounds less in rent per month than what we pay for a fair condition three bedroom 1960’s purpose-built city flat in Maidenhead, we can get a 4/5 bed detached house near the sea. With solar water heating, under-floor heat, and 2.5 baths. And other details that would make this sound like a brochure… the point is that living within easy distance of London (our case is 40 minutes by train) is not worth it for us anymore. We don’t need London for work so it’s time to leave its outskirts and expenses behind.
Hell, I may even learn to surf.
Finding treasure between the books
Published on January 26th, 2010 Leave your comment (1 so far) »
That’s Neil in the middle. 
Been packing up all the books I’m confident I won’t need to reference between now and our move and I found this adorable photo amongst them. I’ll let him scan in the full class picture and post it if he wants, but I just had to show him off.
Wax
Published on January 23rd, 2010 Join the conversation »
We’ve booked a few days in the area where we want to reside and the boxes are filling up. I gotta say, things feel good and positive. Even the pains of opening a new business are easing and although the coming weeks are full to the eyebrows with numerous tasks to complete personally and in business life, we are on top of it all.
We will soon be in a house, rented – but a house, in a beautiful region of the country, making art, doing business, writing, and getting on with the journey. And the house will cost us anywhere between one and two hundred pounds less per month than living this close to London in a so-so flat. That means more money for the Spain fund and to pay a couple things off.
Everything feels right.
My boxes- let me show them to you.
Published on January 18th, 2010 Leave your comment (5 so far) »
All my US life, the ritual leading up to moving was to scavenge and beg for reasonably clean, sturdy cardboard boxes from wherever you could get them. For free. For my last UK move, I was fortunate enough to be employed by a company that received loads of things in nice, clean, sturdy boxes and they let me have tonnes of them for free. (I then gave them away to another needy box-hunter on freecycle.)
Apparently, this generous box situation is not so common here and the norm seems to be paying for new boxes when you need them. I read something about laws that tell companies how to dispose of empty boxes and although I agree with needing to get it done in an eco-friendly way, I don’t understand why people shouldn’t be able to reuse them for moving house. Perhaps it is because the fate of the boxes cannot be guaranteed after the move. I don’t really know. What I do know is that there is a huge market for expensive cardboard boxes on the web, and it takes time and effort to find a company that won’t rip you off. I found an inexpensive box shop after comparing maybe a dozen different moving/removals/office supply/storage companies. They’re perfectly good boxes, but I had no idea that boxes are an expected expense to consider when moving. Tape, yeah, I was prepared to buy some packing tape, maybe some bubblewrap too, but the boxes?
This expat learned something new, even after years of living here. 
Birkenstock shoes- a winter tale
Published on January 17th, 2010 Join the conversation »
I’m reviewing shoes again, and although you may marvel at my uniquely ugly feet, I must tell you that I am not accepting foot modelling gigs at this time. 
My friends at Fitness Footwear have some sort of probe in my brain, I’m sure of it; last summer, I tried on Birkenstocks at a shoe shop in London. They didn’t have a size in stock that seemed to fit me and so I left without having to remember my PIN number. “Hey Dixon”, says the Fitness Footwear mind master, “it’s the coldest winter in ages- wanna try some Birkenstocks?”
OK, that’s not exactly how it was worded, but I’m all like, “Yeah! Snow be damned, send me thy sandals!” Or something like that.
Given that even my EMUs weren’t coping with keeping my feet warm, I thought sure I’d freeze to death in Birkenstocks, so I went super-hippy and adjusted the straps to accommodate giant wooly socks. To my surprise and delight, the socks plus sandals kept my feet warmer than the EMU boots. I can’t explain it, but I wore this combo around for days. It was excellent.
Fast-forward to today and I now remember why I didn’t like an old knock-off brand of similar sandals years ago…
I adjusted the Birkenstock straps back to a snugger fit for sans-sock wear and still feel like I’m swimming in the sandals. I don’t have petite feet, in fact I wore boys trainers as a child because my feet went wide before most little girl feet should, but these still slip around and I haven’t even totally broken them in, and so this makes me walk in a tense, grippy way. I am sure that as the leather loosens up, unfortunately so will the fit. Also, the upturned edge at the toes bugs me something terrible; the lip hooks my toenails randomly when I walk. This likely happens due to how roomy the sandals are and is rather uncomfortable. It doesn’t occur with socks on, and to continue wearing the Birkenstock Arizona sandals, I’ll need socks always.
The good parts? Very well constructed. The company has been making shoes since 1774 and so they’ve got the manufacturing thing down by now. The cork-latex footbed is moulded to fit the contours of the foot and has a little toe ‘lumbar’ area which keeps your feet in a home position and feels supportive and good. They say to order Birkenstocks a size smaller than you normally wear and I agree totally. I did and the smaller footbed fits like a dream.
So really, if the straps could be further adjusted (without me resorting to a leather punch) and the lip of cork in front of the toes could be shorter or not there at all, I think I could almost live in these Birkenstock shoes, even in winter.
–
Birkenstock Arizona sandals provided for the purpose of review by FitnessFootwear.com.
I have not been paid otherwise.
and then he did a Darth Vader impersonation
Published on January 15th, 2010 Leave your comment (1 so far) »
Neil models my new flexi bucket.
I buy here:
