Back to work

So, this week is the first that I've felt that I'm fully back to work in the sense of a "normal" week in the States.  I had meetings in two different offices -- one in Canary Wharf and one in the City -- yesterday in between working from our office that is in neither of those locations, and had my first 12ish hour day today.  For most of the time I've worked in the States, I'd consider this normal, but it's the first I've gotten back to this level of engagement and "wow, I'm mentally exhausted" at the end of the day.  Granted, the difference here:  At about 7:30, a partner walked over on his way out of the office, genuinely concerned about why I was working so late.  Maybe this is an exception here... and if so, that's a great thing!

Whirlwind

Wow, it's been a crazy week. 

Last Wednesday, I left work in time to meet the running club for the normal run.  I've been doing the mid-distance option, at a decent pace, but not going so far as to completely exhaust myself.  For some reason, though, I felt ambitious that night and decided I'd go out with the group that runs the longer option, up through Hampstead Heath.  A group of 10 or so of us ran together at the same pace, up through a wooded park, with some incredible views down into London.  It was great, despite the rain starting about halfway through the run.  Needless to say, after that 12-mile run, I was dragging a bit Thursday morning, but it was worth getting in a good distance run and meeting some new people!

Friday morning, I started my first trip out of town since having arrived in London just about a month ago.  Rather than going to explore Europe or the like, this trip was back to Pennsylvania for a high school friend's wedding.  I was on a 10:25 am flight from Heathrow back to NYC on Friday, which ended up taking off about 90 minutes late.  My parents met the (late) flight in New York and drove me down to Harrisburg, just missing the start of the rehearsal.  We ended up going through the full rehearsal again after that, and then to the bride's parents' place for an incredible barbecue, bonfire, and dinner.

Saturday was a morning at my parents' place to pick up a few things, drop off clothes that I don't have space to keep in the flat here in London, and to enjoy some fresh corn on the cob with lunch... something I definitely haven't experienced here. 

It was an outdoor wedding and reception on Saturday afternoon, at an amazing location headed up the mountains along the Susquehanna River.  I had a great time catching up with friends I hadn't seen in forever, and was even dragged out onto the dance floor for a bit.  It does happen!

The trip back here yesterday was a bit less exciting... I left Harrisburg on a 1:10 pm train, stopped in Newark airport long enough to join the second half of my fantasy football league draft, and then got back to my flat here in London at just after 9am today.  Fortunately, today is the summer bank holiday here in the UK, so all offices are closed.  That makes it infinitely nicer, in that I can catch up on a few things around the apartment and have an early night, rather than having had to go directly from the airport to the office this morning, which I had originally expected when I first booked this trip.

In all, it was a great, if exhausting, weekend and I'm glad I was able to catch up with as many people as I did, despite the amount of travel time involved.  At the same time, though, now that I've arrived back in London, this seems in some ways much more permanent now than it did just a few days ago.  I'm not sure if it's because I've actually talked with more people about living here, or if it's just had more time to sink in that this really is home for at least the time being.  The city itself continues to be great, but I'm becoming less and less excited about the weather... it's mid-60s and cloudy again today -- not bad for autumn, but this is August.  Also, I've met a number of great people here in London, and have been having a lot of fun, but also realize just how far away many of you are, over across the pond.  (note:  yes, you CAN visit for a weekend... as I just demonstrated :p )

Stuff

...and lots of it. I moved into my apartment on Monday night. The apartment is slightly smaller than my last one in NJ, but arranged differently, such that I have less storage space than before. I realized this because I ended up having just about everything from my previous apartment shipped over here and delivered on Tuesday morning. I didn't have much time to stay and organize everything after the movers unpacked it, so the bedroom looked like a disaster for the remainder of the week. There were literally piles of clothes, camping gear, and kitchen stuff all over the floor in my bedroom. Today, though, I finally organized it. After sorting stuff, getting rid of a trash bag worth of extra clothes, and packing one of the two trekking backpacks with extra stuff for a one-way trip back to the States, this looks much more like home. I feel remarkably domestic this weekend, after having baked cookies yesterday, gone to a dinner party, unpacked, hung photos on the walls, and cleaned the apartment. This is weird!

Now that I'm getting more settled in here, I'm starting to consider options for travel. One of my goals while living in London is to travel throughout the UK and Europe. If you want to visit me, either in London or elsewhere, let me know! I'm somewhat limited on vacation time, but certainly can make a full weekend of going to other cities, leaving either Thursday or Friday night, returning late Sunday or early Monday. Also, I'll be getting an air mattress shortly for anyone who wants to visit and have a place to stay here. I honestly haven't done much of the "touristy" stuff in London yet, but have rather tried to get into a normal life and settle in, figuring that I can go to the museums, the Eye, the Tower Bridge, and the like when others come to visit.

My goal at this point is to spend at least one weekend per month somewhere other than London. Next weekend, I'm back in Pennsylvania for a friend's wedding, and October 12, I'm back in Chicago to run the marathon there. I'm not sure that either of those necessarily counts as my at-least-monthly travel, though, as neither of those involves traveling Europe. I'm thinking I want to start by booking something for one or two of the weekends in September. The only one where I have plans so far is September 13, when I'll be staying in town for a concert in Hyde Park.

Now, to start planning... Let me know if and when you want to visit!

Moving

I picked up the keys to my new flat yesterday. One suitcase worth of stuff is now there, and I'm planning to fully move in on Tuesday, before giving up this temporary flat where I've been living. The new place definitely isn't quite as nice, but it's in an area with more happening on the weekends, and should still be reasonably accessible to the rest of the city for work and life and whatnot.

There are a few photos of the inside here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trenshaw/MyNewFlat
I was going to take other shots of the area, but it decided to start raining by the time I bought linens, unpacked, and the like.

Random thoughts and observations

So, this is just a collection of my initial random thoughts and observations after my first full week in London, and after having started work...

Running through the city
Running is a great way to explore a city! I've done a number of runs on my own throughout town over the past week, and it's been a great way to get somewhat lost, find my way around, and also see a few of the sights. I ran down along the Thames to Canary Wharf, through Shad Thames, through Hyde Park, and back and forth across all kinds of bridges. It felt great!

Serpies!
Along those lines, I also did my first run with the Serpentine running club here on Sunday. After four people from Hoboken all recommended that I join this group, I figured it was time to give it a try. We went out in Richmond Park and did two laps around the perimeter, for a rather brisk-paced long run for the week. I've now broken down, signed up for the club, and plan to get out with them once or twice in the next week. It's as much a way to meet new people outside of work as it is a way to get in mileage while training for a race later this fall.

Liveable
London is a remarkably livable city. I still don't believe there are 7.5M people in greater London... it is much more walkable, open, approachable, and less overwhelming than New York City. I think a good portion of this has to do with the lack of the "urban canyon" feeling that you can get in Manhattan at times. I keep hearing that the weather here can be miserable, but so far, I'm liking what I'm experiencing!

The Underground
Despite the city being so livable, there is a very different approach to operation of the Underground. First of all, I have to say, it's been remarkably useful. I've been able to get anywhere I've wanted to, in a mostly reasonable time. However, there are numerous service outages. Last Wednesday, when I was going all over the city searching for a flat, I heard announcements at three different times stating that portions of three different lines were closed due to signal problems. That doesn't seem to be a particularly rare occurrence. Also, it seems that there are major closures each weekend. Once again, I'm not trying to complain, as the system is redundant enough that there always seems to be another line or a bus route that goes toward my destination. It's just a different mindset, where it's not safe to assume everything is open. Everyone takes it in stride here, and it works, but there would be riots in the streets of NYC if the MTA had outages like this.

Drivers
I've mostly gotten used to just looking both ways multiple times before crossing a street. It seems to be safer than trying to remember which way traffic is supposed to approach, and then also determining whether or not it's a one-way road. The only time the left-side driving came as a bit of a shock to me was after the run on Sunday, when one of the other runners offered to drive two of us back to the tube station. He unlocked the car and walked around to the trunk ("boot," if you will) to drop a bag in there. Without particularly thinking about it, I went around to the right side of the car, opened the door, and stood there while talking to him. He looked at me with a weird look, I was confused, and then realized "um, oops, there's a steering wheel on this side."

...home!

So, after looking at a number of flats so far this week, I decided to go for a bit more space at the cost of being a bit further from activity. Granted, I'm by the Holloway Road tube stop, only two tube stops away from Kings Cross, and a late-night bus stops right outside the building.

I'll have a Canadian flatmate in a building built within the past decade, large kitchen, and decent-sized dining/living room.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&q=n7+7ay

It looks like I'll be getting the keys next Saturday and I'll move in over the course of the following week.

There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's no place like home...

Now, the decision: where do I want to live for at least the next few months, and potentially for the full 18 months of my assignment in London? I visited a number of neighborhoods with two friends this weekend, and then spent a good six hours today with a relocation specialist who showed me a few other neighborhoods and flats within each of them.

Now, for background, I'm imposing a somewhat arbitrary limit on what I will spend on housing. It is approximately the midpoint of what my firm's mobility team said I should expect to spend (high end) and what a few other expats who have lived here several years recommended (low end). I would very much prefer to spend less on housing and have more money to travel throughout Europe and explore. However, I will not live in a slum to make that happen.

The biggest decision in my mind is whether or not to do a flatshare. I could no doubt afford to live on my own, and there is something to be said for that independence. Having my own place precludes confrontations with flatmates, late night noise when I want to sleep, issues with guests from out of town spending a few nights crashing there, and other factors. However, to afford my own place, I'm likely going to be in a slightly less central area, with a slightly longer commute. The relocation guy showed me a few places in Bow Quarter, Islington, Camden, and Surrey Quays. Of all the areas we saw, I'd be leaning toward Bow Quarter or Surrey Quays based on commute time, proximity to social life, and other factors. If I decide to live on my own and enter into a lease via an agent, he'll arrange viewings of a number of properties in the area, take care of all lease paperwork, and help to set up utilities in my name before I move into the property. If I follow this path, I'll probably do a day of viewing flats in Bow Quarter and a day in Surrey Quays, select a property, and let him work his magic from there.

For several hundred pounds less per month, I could live in a flatshare. I'd have a less formal lease, one or more flatmates, and potentially live in a slightly more desireable area. It would be a bit more of a challenge for others to crash when visiting from out of the country, as there would be flatmates to take into account. Likewise, I'd have somewhat less privacy, sharing common areas with one or more others -- either in similar situations as me, or as students. It would provide me the opportunity to move to different areas throughout my time in London to experience multiple neighborhoods by living in them, but would also potentially require me to move against my will sometime during my initially agreed-to 18 months, as opposed to having much less of a chance I'd need to move unwillingly from a location I lease on my own.

Yesterday, I viewed a flatshare that's about a 5-minute walk from the Angel tube station. It's in a fun, lively, somewhat crowded part of town, but two streets back from the main street and in a somewhat quiet area. It was newly furnished, and the kitchen was spacious. My flatmate would be the owner -- a 20something real estate insurance broker who had posted the availability of this flat via a running club here in town. However, there was no dining or living area -- just a small table in the kitchen and whatever living area I set up within my bedroom. It'd be a great place to crash for £675 all-inclusive (council tax, utilities, etc.) but far short of a homey feel, a place for dinner parties, or the like.

At the other end of the spectrum, I saw one-bedrooms in Bow Quarter and Surrey Quay today for £230 per week, plus utilities, plus council tax, bringing them to £1200 or so per month all-inclusive. I could somewhat comfortably afford to do this, and the privacy and independence would be nice, but it would mean substantially less money to set aside for travel and other activities while here.

While writing this, I was contacted by another owner looking to sublet a room, via a London Business School bboard posting I'd made via a friend a few days ago. I'm going to try to take a look at it in the next few days, and determine whether or not I want to re-engage the relocation company to seek something on my own.