The bagel and the meatball

This is not referring to new names for Sadie and Parker (although it's not a bad idea) but rather to our triple mission yesterday: obtain bagels, consume meatballs and buy some flatpack furniture. Achieving this involved a complex set of tasks: a) ride foldable bicycle to where Zipcar is parked; b) drive Zipcar home (with bike in the back); c) pile family into car; d) try not to damage car backing out of driveway (only possible thanks to intervention by Karen); e) brave the narrow, poorly-signed, opposite-side-of-the-road London streets with the help of an iPhone navigator that regularly lost contact; g) drive north through Hampstead Heath and look for bagel store with Italian name. And onward.

It started out badly when we hit a street closure in Hampstead Village and headed into a series of exceptionally narrow two-way streets barely wide enough for a single car, involving several high-stress games of chicken (which we tended to win, because other drivers seemed to sense I can't drive in reverse). But somehow we avoided scratches... and the iPhone always seemed to kick into action when it was truly needed. We finally got to a neighborhood called Golders Green and knew we were in luck when we spotted a few yarmulkas. I can't say that Carmelli's bagels blew us New Yorkers away (no everything bagels? and no cream cheese??), but they certainly weren't bad and they managed to quiet the unruly passengers in the back of the car.

Next stop was a certain Swedish furniture chain. Amazingly, we got there in one piece, and unlike bagel shopping, Ikea shopping truly is identical everywhere on the planet, down to the Swedish meatballs and potatoes. Kids had fun it and we emerged, victorious, with a changing table. Mission accomplished.

The fact that we were able to hop into a car at all and attempt this is thanks to one of two innovations that have swept into London since I lived here, the impact of can't be exaggerated for vagabonds like us. The first is the above-mentioned Zipcar, which more or less eliminates the need to own a car. This is an inexpensive, high tech, very well managed alternative. Admittedly, it would be nice it there were one parked a little closer (although there are several within a 10m bike ride), but we're hoping that will change. The second innovation is the Boris Bike -- the brilliant new cycle hire scheme that I'll write about later.

Holy cr@p we have a lot of stuff

So yesterday our container cheerfully showed up on Eton Avenue, London about 6 weeks after pulling away from our driveway in Maplewood, New Jersey. Six weeks seems a long time to be at sea, and it's interesting to speculate what exotic locales our sofa, bicycles and books may have passed on their journey. The Northwest Passage, perhaps? Or maybe Tahiti, Singapore and Dubai? Or just stacked up in the Port of Newark for a month before shooting over. Anyway its all here now: sofa, bicycles, books, various bits and bobs that might possibly come in handy (squash racquet, teepee) as well as a number of items that definitely won't (110volt waffle iron; spice rack; 4 strainers). It's good this stuff is now here, because that takes us one step closer towards feeling settled.

However settled is something we're definitely not yet... for the time being the house is in full state of chaos, boxes everywhere, kids shoes, cutlery and Financial Times piled in various corners... and for whatever reason -- perhaps she's finally getting overwhelmed by all the changes -- Sadie has chosen this moment to unleash her inner demons and become a fulblown "terrible two" again. We're calling her "Naushon Sadie" because she last acted like this at my summer birthday party on Naushon Island: think the girl in the Exorcist, minus the deep voice, 360 head rotation and pea soup. Not a fun companion. I may be exaggerating a bit, but I've had them both most of the day (Karen was out learning about acupuncture) and am ready to drop. Ok, admittedly we did have some fun walking around our neighborhood in the sunny (but cold!) morning, taking us to the great vista at Primrose Hill looking out over London.

Mind the Gap

For those of you following along, you may remember our last attempt at blogging. It was not a heralded success. http://sedonarosehowell.blogspot.com/ I tried. I really did. But frankly, I'm not the best writer, and I agree with Andrew that waxing poetic about the mundane aspects of our daily life seems a little silly. In retrospect, I wish I had been a little more committed to it. Because as mundane as our day-to-day routine may be, there are some pretty interesting and humorous things that happen from time to time. I don't expect to be the main contributor here. I view my role as being the one to fill in the gaps, and perhaps correct Andrew's sometimes overly optimistic view of things.

We interrupt this blog for some breaking news: The truck with our shipment from the states has broken down. I HAD orchestrated the day such that the kids will return from their morning out with the nanny in time to nap in their cribs for the first time in a month and a half. With the truck delayed, napping will not happen. And for all who had witnessed our July with the terrible 2-year-old Sadie, you'll remember that an underslept child is no fun. TWO underslept children is a disaster.

New digs

So we're here, in northwest London... in a charming, spacious and slightly strange residence that will be our home for the next 12 months. Here's our location: we're near the Swiss Cottage tube stop, about halfway between Regent's Park and Hampstead Heath in a neighborhood known as Belsize Park and close to another called St. John's Wood. Our street is lovely, a long row of old world, red brick Victorian fancy mansions (dotted with the occasional post-war modern ugly structure, in a typical London juxtaposition). Our house, like most of these, was long ago converted into flats -- one for each of the 3 floors -- and we have the "garden flat", in this case an appropriate name because there is in fact a very nice garden in the back: a bit too steep for Sadie & Parker to run around back there, but very nice to look at, and in those 3 weeks of summery weather per year, great to sit in! It's a 3-bedroom place with two receptions (living rooms) and really is quite roomy. We're definitely still getting used to the place, and there are some unusual features: a very large number of mirrors, covering most of the closet and bathroom surfaces; elaborate bathtubs with jets that take several hours to fill because of the lack of water pressure; a tremendous capacity for storing shoes; numerous timers that control various outdoor and indoor lighting systems that have never been explained to us. The biggest issue has been a paint smell (the place was repainted and recarpeted before we arrived) that gave us both headaches the first night and seemed to keep Parker from sleeping; hopefully this won't last. In all, we like it and are looking forward to getting settled in.

Whether it was the paint smell, or more generally the new smells and sounds of being in a new place, our very first night here on Saturday was a bust. We'd spend the afternoon at my friend Joe Proctor's (American I knew from Moscow days who's been in London for years) and since he kindly lent us an air mattress we decided to spend the night at our new place, to which we had the keys and nearby but was pretty empty. We had places for the kids to sleep (tent for Sadie, borrowed cot for Parker)... but were missing two key objects: Parker's fuzzy giraffe that he sleeps with, and Karen's ipad, a source of his beloved "ranky tank" music. To make a long story short, the little guy refused to sleep, despite our vigrous efforts, and by 3am we declared defeat and called a cab for Karen & Parker to return to our temporary place. Second night here was also rough as we've put the two kids in the same room to sleep for the first time. But third night, just past, seems to have worked a bit better.

A month into it... and we're still alive

So it's Monday night, and tomorrow we hand over the keys to this temporary place on Kensington High Street, and head over to our "reggie" (regular) new home, as Sadie calls it, up in a neighborhood called Belsize Park, near the Swiss Cottage underground station. We're excited about finally unpacking, albeit a little daunted by the prospect of keeping house without daily maid service and full furnishings. This new place will be decidedly unfurnished, especially for the next couple of weeks until our big load o' stuff arrives from across the sea. Actually, I am told that our container has just landed on the English shores, but is in customs for an indeterminate amount of time. Given the various difficulties we've had with aspects of getting set up here (3 weeks for a bank account -- which seems ridiculous given I work at the place) -- I am not optimistic that we will see our stuff soon. And as Karen just reminded me, we have some contraband oregano and thyme that we shipped over that could technically get us into trouble. So we shall see. In the meantime, we'll be camping.

Will write more about the new place, but for now here's a few words about our old place -- Fraser Residence on the Prince of Wales Terrace in W8 -- on our parting evening. It's been pretty great. Decent size three bedroom with very high ceilings. Downside is that it's not exactly child proofed (it's been a constant struggle to prevent Parker from cliff diving off various pieces of architecture) and some ungainly steps to enter the building that are not easy to navigate solo. But positive points are many: great location just next to Hyde Park (actually Kensington Gardens, which we can see from our balcony), proximity to a couple of awesome boulangeries that seem to have been airlifted from Paris in one piece and dropped into South Kensington; also, the world's most elaborate Whole Foods (and probably most expensive) is nearby; a nice, helpful doorman; and lots of other great stuff nearby. And the maid service. Daily. Did I mention the maid service?

Can't really say it's been an easy month but we have made it and had quite a lot of fun along the way. The first two weeks were the toughest. Frankly, if it weren't for Karen's mother Fran it's hard to say how we would have survived the jetlag, the fussy kids, the sick kid (Parker, with diarrhea and very bad diaper rash that landed us in the ER, or A&E as it's called here), the chilly cool weather, and generally the feeling of dislocation. Karen can chime in about how she felt but I think she was going through a bout of culture shock. (Not that it's all that different, but little differences in how things work, as well as separation from family and friends, can cumulatively wear you down.) It was easier on me... I had work, which I have really enjoyed returning to over here, and I also feel much more at home, having lived in London in 2002-5. But it was a rough period.

Then sometime during the third week, the sun came out. Literally and figuratively. It's hard to say how significant this meteorological development was, but somehow during that week of sunshine and warm weather, we all snapped out of it. Parker's tummy turned it around. We all started sleeping. Fran got to do a little sightseeing. And it dawned on all of us that actually London is a pretty neat place to be. Lots to do, easy enough to get around (esp. if your willing to bleed cash and take taxis), and quite a lot of kids activities.

We suffered another shock with the departure of Fran after week 3, but fortunately we found another saviour: we have really lucked out with our au pair Andrea, from Hungary, who is fantastic with the kids and has really helped us get oriented. She works 30 hours a week and both Sadie and Parker seem very comfortable with her. And Andrea seems capable of managing them both, which is more than Karen or I feel up to much of the time!

In any case... the major hurdle that remains is to get moved and settled into our real place. Which begins tomorrow. More on that to come.

A little background

So here's the quick background: following the repeated 'requests' of Andrew's employers, Andrew, Karen, Sadie (2 1/2) and Parker (1) moved from Maplewood, New Jersey to London, UK in mid August of 2010. We plan on staying for 2 years.

The initial decision to come over was made reluctantly. We had bought a house in Maplewood three years ago and were just starting to feel settled in. The kids are young, and not exactly at a stage in life where travel, or frankly any disruption from routine, is all that easy. Karen had reached the stage where she was ready to go back to work, which won't be possible over here. As for London, it is surely a world class city but also one with several well-publicized negatives: cool and wet weather, expensive, far away from family and friends. I've lived here before (2002-5) but had not exactly pined away for a chance to return. There was, in sum, a lot to be said for staying put.

And yet, there were positive things to be said for doing it. For me the career pull was unambiguous and the move means greater job security, proximity to colleagues, a bump up in pay. For Karen, the chance to experience a new city and culture. For the kids, a opportunity to acquire an English accent for free. Once over the jetlag and an initial case of stomach flu (Parker), they have not seemed to mind being here.  I guess you can say that if we didn't do this now, it would become a lot harder later on. So here we go.

The blogging begins

Having wondered out loud, repeatedly, over the past few years why anyone would want to keep a blog -- not to mention find the time to write one or, for that matter, read one written by other people -- lo and behold, here I am starting one, adding to the verbal flotsam and jetsam in cyberspace... and perhaps, even if neither Karen nor I produce great literature, we'll manage to answer the above questions along the way.

I used to feel that it's a little presumptive for ordinary people to soliloquize about their lives on the assumption that others in cyberspace will find it interesting. But then I started reading my sister's Ellisit blog a few years ago, I realized that (although she's hardly an ordinary person to me anyway) seemingly mundane topics like the challenges of raising kids, balancing life and work, getting through the day, can all become great, entertaining yarns if told right.

Not sure if we'll tell our own mundane tale right... but we do have in our favor a twist: a move to a new country, on a new continent, for a couple of years... with two small children. Heck, there must be some material in there, if not for a novel, then for an occasional persual on a Sunday evening.

So here's to keeping fingers crossed that this works and we'll keep this up.