30 Nov 05 Synonymous with Fog

While imagining a possible title for this blog, I typed “London” into the reference.com thesaurus. The results:

1 entry found for london.
Main Entry: fog
Part of Speech: noun 1
Definition: mist
Synonyms: brume, cloud, effluvium, film, fog-eater, gloom, grease, grey-out, ground clouds, haze, London fog, miasma, murk, murkiness, nebula, obscurity, pea soup, pea souper, smaze, smog, smoke, smother, soup, steam, vapor, wisp

I’m thinking this would aggravate Jag at Route 79 who says:

..it always mystified me as to why North Americans in particular always associate London with fog - “London Fog” in fact. Perhaps it’s to do with too many people growing up with a false impression that London is always a really “foggy” place. Perhaps fuelled by too many TV documentaries about Jack the Ripper set in the dark foggy streets of Victorian London?

I’ve been reading Jag’s blog for quite a few months (long before we knew we’d be moving to London), since I went looking for an awesome Mutter Paneer recipe. I can confirm his mutter is fantastic and I plan to cook up more of his recipes in the future - the Indian Style KFC for one!

OH - and I haven’t decided yet what this blog will be called, but at least temporarily it’s Now London… design will morph too, along with the experience.

22 Nov 05 Finding a mover

This is proving to be a bit of a chore. I found various companies that do overseas shipping via Moving Scam and OMNI (Overseas Moving Network), and filled out a schwack of online quote request forms. Only three companies have responded in the past two weeks, but I can’t seem to achieve further communication (by email) with these people.

And we move in four weeks.

I guess I’ll have to resort to picking up the phone - HAHA!

15 Nov 05 Expatriate

1. One who has taken up residence in a foreign country.
2. One who has renounced one’s native land.

The last thing I’ll do is renounce my native land! I’m Canadian through and through, but it’s time now to face reality: I’ll be living as an expatriate for many years to come. The past 18ish months living in the US has been fun and sometimes troubling (politics, ugh) and I’ve even adopted some American ways. For example, I don’t say ‘aboot’ anymore and I chuckle when my family and friends say it over the phone. Prior to moving here last year I firmly believed that Canadians saying ‘aboot’ was an idea not based in fact, that it was just a joke that drove me nuts everytime I heard it. But it is very very… REAL! Also in the US I think I’ve gotten used to having access to more and different ’stuff’. Which means I’m going to miss Target! And I’ll miss the option of taking a last-minute trip into NYC, a city I love.

Then there’s the stuff I won’t miss, like when you say “Thank You” to someone and they respond with a blunt “Uh huh.” It’s an expression that rings ungrateful for my display of gratitude :) I won’t miss seeing cops with machine guns on the street guarding subway stations (in NYC) but then again hmmm, maybe London’s got some of that. I won’t miss not being able to work!

So what’s weird is now that we’re moving to the UK from the US I’m feeling a bit like a double-expatriate, at least in the realm of the world wide web. I’ve been cruising expat websites looking for shipping advice, and the best stuff is available over at the UK Yankee forum: Americans from Florida and California and Wisconsin discussing the best way to get your personal possessions across the sea. It’s been very helpful. I felt a bit left out, being not American, so I surfed on over to the forums at Canuck Abroad and Canadian Expats in the UK. Then I REALLY felt left out since I’m not in Canada…

I’m thankful all these sites exist though, and there’s priceless advice to gather from people who have already moved to the UK. At UK Yankee they’ve created three helpful topics: Things about The UK you wish you had known; Things you wish you had brought with you and Things you SHOULDN’T have brought with you.

Who knew you couldn’t get proper deoderant over there?

Then I saw this quote from Bette Midler and got a bit worried:
“When it’s three o’clock in New York, it’s still 1938 in London.”

11 Nov 05 The Flat Hunt

It’s doubtful we’ll be able to find a good flat in London from way over here in NY state, USA. The good news is that QuantCo will set us up in an apartment/hotel for the month of January, giving us a chance to pick a neighbourhood and find a suitable place. It’s been helpful to peruse classifieds online but when I see something great it sucks because it’s too early and impossible to go view!

So a few flat-hunting things stand out as noteworthy:

1) It’s expensive! We’re hoping to get a 2-bedroom but it looks like we’ll likely have to settle for one. Either way we’ll be spending somewhere around £1000 per month.

2) Rent prices are quoted weekly. Eg. £250/week. Multiply that by 52 and divide that by 12 so you can see how much monthly rent will be (took me awhile to figure that one out ;)

3) Most places come fully furnished.

4) Council tax. Renters are obligated to pay this monthly. Property tax.

The best sites for listings appear to be Find a Property, Foxtons and of course Craigslist.

From what I understand London flats are generally quite small compared to apartments in North America. We’re used to having limited living space, but I hear doorways and stairwells and such are tiny. So yeah, that enormous sleigh bed just won’t fit (not that we’ve got one anyway).

9 Nov 05 London Calling!

Well here’s some very exciting news…

Nearly two months ago Matt received an email from a financial industry recruiter looking for physics PhDs. We found out it’s somewhat common for physicists to crossover into finance to work in various analytical and programming roles since, you know, they have specialized training in these areas (albeit in the vastly different field of academics).

Out of curiousity Matt thought it was worthwhile to learn what possibilities there were for him in finance, so he flew to London and New York for interviews with investment management firms. He looks quite fine in the suit he wore, by the way :O)

After several weeks of learning more about financial applications, exercising some careful consideration, and ultimately receiving an offer of employment, it’s officially decided that Matt’s next gig is to be a ‘Junior Quantitative Analyst’ (that’s ‘Quant’, for short).

And we’re moving to London… !

So a door has now been flung open on an arena of new challenges - receiving a UK work permit, applying for visas, shipping our possessions abroad, finding a flat, etcetera - but this next chapter in our lives is sure to be a thrilling adventure!

Also, as the spouse of a UK work permit holder I’m eligible to work, so that’s a positive thing. Lots of European travel is on the agenda though, as (ridiculously) cheap flights are easy to come by.

And along with this announcement comes the inevitable introduction of a new blog to share the adventure - WELCOME!