9 Feb 06 In the neighbourhood
First off, we just got news our shipment from New York has arrived in London and cleared UK customs! Delivery is set for Tuesday morning 14 Feb, the same day as BT is scheduled to hook up our landline. All other connectivity is dependent on having that landline working… It will be really fun to unpack those personal things here on the other side of the Atlantic, and to be able to change up the wardrobe I’ve been wearing for nearly 2 months!
Exploring our neighbourhood has been great, though a decent-sized grocery store (Waitrose) is a bit further away than we’d like. Closer by we have a Sainsbury Local and a Tesco Metro, both of which offer a couple of cold cases more than your average convenience store. Finding other home basics nearby is also a challenge. In one direction is the City, where shops and restaurants close down early in the evening and at weekends altogether. Really the best direction to go is underground to the tube and into a different neighbourhood for that stuff.
We are located very near to three particular markets: Petticoat Lane Market, selling lots of clothing, shoes, baggage and bedding; Spitalfields Market has plenty of art, crafts, kitschy stuff and some food; Brick Lane Market, which I’ve mentioned before, is a mish-mash of all things.
There’s no shortage of wonderful arty cafes around to have coffee, lunch and relax. There’s Coffee @ Brick Lane, Rhythm (on Whitechapel) and my favourite, Root, which is just off Brick Lane at Truman Brewery. They’ve got lots of comfy couches, great (loud) music and use candlelight during the day. Perfect place to write or curl up with a book.
Also we can almost see the Whitechapel Art Gallery from our window which we plan to visit this coming weekend. I forgot to mention previously that most galleries and museums here have free admission, but have several boxes where you can make a donation. Those boxes are often stuffed with currency from all over zees great big world :O)
So I’m on the hunt now for a stick-vac which is the perfect way to clear dustbunnies off hardwood floors, but I’ve got no idea where to begin…
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GET FED:
You all have been gone almost two months already! Damn, time flies!
Comment by Dave — February 14, 2006 #
Unbelievable isn’t it! Definitely missing some of the serenity Ithaca offers, the gorges the waterfalls! Traded it in for heavy traffic, both vehicular and human ;)
Comment by Tiffany — February 14, 2006 #