Thanksgiving Thoughts

I have to admit, I've adjusted relatively well to living in another country. It's now been four months since I moved from New York to London. It'll be interesting spending Thanksgiving here, though, as it's my first time not being home and with family for it. A group of us American expats is getting together at Christine's tomorrow night for a Thanksgiving dinner -- she's cooking the turkey and we're bringing all the trimmings. I have to admit, though reading this (again) this morning, it hit home that yes, this definitely will be different being away from home this year. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122765723215458175.html

More coming in a few days...

Cambridge and rugby

So, walking back from lunch on Friday, I realized I had no particular plans for Saturday. I decided it was a good day for a day trip. After looking at a map and checking train schedules, I decided I'd go to Cambridge for the day. I got there early, had breakfast at the Fountain Inn, then ventured to the colleges. I walked through Trinity College and Kings College, including the cathedral in the photos. It was a great day, and I was home by mid-evening.

Sunday, I met five other American expats for brunch in Chelsea -- not the cheapest brunch, but absolutely amazing! They even understood the concept of breakfast foods beyond the full English breakfast! After that, the rest of the expats went in search of fresh veggies at Whole Foods (yes, the one in London) and I went off to meet a few guys at a pub and to see the Quins v. Wasps rugby match. It took a bit of help from John and Chris until the rules fully came back to me, but it was a great time!

Remembrance Day

I ended up going to Whitehall today to catch the end of Remembrance Day events and walk around the sights at Westminster Abbey. I've run by these areas many times, but had never spent any substantial time there during the day.

http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/RemembranceDay

TfL

So, I think it's safe to say that I'm officially sick of public transit. I try to not whine on here, but, well, this is me whining.

I've been commuting to Canary Wharf from north of Angel -- I've made the trip in 30 minutes off peak times, but it can take an hour or more during peak hours. At peak hours, it's not uncommon to wait for multiple trains to go by before squeezing between three other people and a door to get onto the tube. Oh, and the trip is only five miles. There's nothing quite like getting out of the tube, having been crammed between two fat guys, smelling what they had for breakfast, before even getting to the office.

Also, it'd be SO nice to be able to take a change of clothes with me. I went to a spin class this morning, which meant I had the gym bag and the laptop bag with me on the tube, at rush hour. It was great to get in a workout, but completely not worth the aggravation of trying to get onto the tube at 8:30 afterward. I then ended up coming home to drop off both the gym clothes and the laptop before heading out to an election night party... so I'm at two hours on public transit so far today, and headed off for another 20-minute tube ride each way. I miss having the space and utility of a car -- not necessarily driving one on London's roads, as that would just be stupid, but the ability to leave something in the trunk and get it out after work. At least being in traffic has some amount of solitude, I find it somewhat relaxing, and can even make phone calls, listen to the radio, or the like.

I guess the other option is to figure out, if I move at all while over here, where I could go such that I could walk to work and still have public transit available for evenings and weekends...