&...of course a few misadvantures along the way.

I rented a car for the first week I was here. Travelocity reservation, easy enough. Advantage car rental. Yet I got to Heathrow and no signs for Advantage. I learned I could get there on the Hertz shuttle. Ok. Not bad.

Until I got to the trailer of a rental car place in the field behind the Hertz lot and they had no reservation for me.

And no cars.

And it started raining. Pouring. 

I called Travelocity and after some ridiculousness they got me a new reservation with Payless. (Thankfully, this time I read the microscopic note at the end of the confirmation email that Payless is Sixt in England. Ok, maybe it is microscopic because I read it on my iPhone.) After pushing my three bags across the rows of rental cars back to the shuttle stop in the downpour, I asked Hertz to just get a rental there. More than four times as much, no thank you. I asked the Hertz shuttle to take me back to the terminal to get on a Sixt shuttle. The nice Hertz man unloaded all my bags and my Sixt driver told me to get in the shuttle and get dry; he would get the bags. 


We drove over to the Sixt rental place a good fifteen minutes away. The driver helped me out and brought me two bags. 


Two.

No third bag.

He didn’t pick up my crammed full carry-on.

It was all by itself on the curb at Heathrow.

All of my books.

All of my jewelry.

Everything else I had jammed into that small bag to make it so very heavy.

I was sick.

The driver was about as freaked out as I was. We quite speedily and so very bumpily drove back. He called a friend of his, another shuttle driver, and miraculously the bag was still there. He picked it up and waited for us to arrive.

Tender mercies. 

Not long after I was driving on the wrong side of a car on the wrong side of the road headed north on the M1 to Leicester and my new adventure.

Until I realized I had no idea how to turn the car lights on...

&...i should take my trash out more often.

so this morning i decided to finally take out the trash.

good call.

i open up the top of the dumpster and threw my bag in...in the second before it shut i saw what i thought might be an old smiths poster. i reopened it and found two shrink-wrapped box sets--the smiths complete--on happy 12 inch vinyl--and the rolling stones' ladies & gentlemen concert film rerelease--dvds, posters, and even a scarf. 
(really? you prove your hardcore rolling stones dedication with a scarf?!?!)

it did require a chair to get them out. as much as i might not be opposed to dumpster diving in theory, jumping in is clearly not my thing. my chair helped me not touch anything else--though admittedly it was pretty empty. thankfully.

ok, so i'm pretty sure i don't love the rolling stones enough to keep it. i certainly don't need a rolling stones scarf though the poster is pretty cool. 


but, the smiths on vinyl makes me happy--the continual irony that the smiths might make me happy. i have most of them digitally, but vinyl is even better. it makes me happy, even if i don't have an actual turntable here. 


(and I happen to know at least a couple people who are already coveting it).

good day to take out the trash.

&…snow sunday.

st. john's church--the church next door. 
(they had church--no snow sunday for them.)

the sunday before last i woke up early to get ready to teach my first sunday school lesson (of course early is relative). i was reading in bed when my phone started beeping....two calls and four texts later and i was well-informed of the fact that church would be cancelled. apparently five inches of snow is enough to cancel church when you live in a place without any snowplows...or even snow shovels in many cases. (this was the day that my neighbor and i shoveled out walk with our dustpans.) 

so after going back to sleep for a bit...i decided that i should explore.

the park was pristine, soon to be mobbed by frenzied giant snowball making children.

 

war memorial in victoria park.

i decided it was a perfect opportunity to head to the cemetery. the wolford avenue cemetery is huge and packed with graves in varying states of care. so far, the oldest headstones i've seen are circa 1860. i put on my uggs and trounced through the snow to explore. the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day.

a few of my favorite shots before my camera began to freak out.

 

more exploration will be required.

&...a flat in England.

 front right corner ground floor.

as my friend ben pointed out, it looks just about like any other flat in england. apparently it was an old folks' home that was gutted and redone a couple years ago. it is perfect for me: good light, wood floors, great kitchen and bathroom. it is small, but definitely could be much smaller and i don't have much stuff (here). if only i could figure out how to regulate the temperature inside. thank you to new year sales, ikea, tK maxx, and a couple lovely second hand shops, i have furnished this empty flat. 

bay window off kitchen, drop leaf kitchen table, black/white kitchen, and daffodils care of my friend lynn. 

& the fabulous walk-in closet that incidentally has a bed in it.

dressing bureau care of british heart charity (great for getting ready since there are no plugs in the bathroom), shoes piled, and ikea dresser with vintage film tin and hardware box for watches and jewelry.

& my desk, where i spend most of my time.

small church chair from rummage sale where it wasn't for sale until i asked and my favorite ikea bookcase ever...i now own two 

(on different continents).

footstool repurposed into an ottoman.

my bathroom may not look like much, but compared to some of the ones i saw, it is magical...albeit cold.

& plenty of room for visitors

...even if you do have to sleep in my kitchen. 

*clicking on the photos will take you to a slide show.

&...adventure beckons.

& i now live in england.


i am trying to figure out just how to write a dissertation.
& in the process finding a few things to stop me and distract me just enough so i can hopefully finish that dissertation with my head still attached.


& apparently, i now have a blog.
as grandpa smitty said, "adventure beckons."