Bob Villa, move over!

Aaaahhhh, the pleasures of moving. To say everything went smoothly and all is prepared for us to sit back and relax for the rest of the time we're here would be an utter lie...so here's what happened today.

We awoke later, as Sylvia and Ron expected us to enjoy a late breakfast after last night's running about. They made us an extra large breakfast, helping to prepare us for the rest of the day. (Oh, don't worry, they still spoke to us for about an hour with their stories...I'm really going to miss that). After listening to their final stories and signing their visitor book, the girls and I loaded the cars, as Sylvia and Ron were nice enough to drive us to our new home (so we wouldn't have to pay for a taxi). After quickly showing them the main floor, they bid us farewell - reminding us to call on them once we've all settled in. I've promised them some homemade meatballs...so that I will definitely be seeing them again :) Sylvia also gave us a jar of her amazing homemade raspberry jam and an inspirational book...in case we need a boost. It was very sweet, really.

Then, back to reality. Nike stayed behind to begin cleaning, while Krista and I went to do more shopping of things we needed. As Krista and I walked through the open door, smelling the loveliness of cleaning solutions, Nike shared with us a bit of information about the house we are living in and a bit about our neighbours. Apparently, our next door neighbour, George, has lived here for 55 years and knows all about the goings on in our row houses. He seems very nice, and I can't wait to hear the stories he will have to tell. Other people had dropped by as Nike tried to clean - disturbing her flow and disrupting her cleaning frenzy. Oh well, there would be plenty of time for that...right?

Ummm...think again. We had furniture "delivered" by Argos (apparently, paying over 15 pounds for delivery means that the person takes the items out of the truck and maybe carries them to the door, though most items were carried by us). After a quick lunch, we made our way back to the house because the landlord's parents had to come by and check out our complaints (a window that won't close, carpet that needs pinning down, a smoke detector that's on the fritz, and a bathroom door that would not close). They turned out to be really nice and understanding. They also told their son that they wouldn't have to worry about us, being three teachers. He said this because apparently our house has a "history". The woman in here before had a couple of kids that she locked up in one of the bedrooms. She also left a major mess, including a couple months worth of dirty diapers (yikes) which is why they had to renovate the whole house (bad for the landlord, good for us).

The rest of the evening consisted of going to Morrison's for dinner and for groceries (so much for the food we bought yesterday...we'll just eat it tomorrow...we were too tired to cook), then back to the house to put it away. I also washed every dish, pot, glass, mug, and piece of cutlery that we bought so that we can wake up tomorrow and put it away - except for the items we need to use. It is then that the furniture assembly began to take place. I helped the girls put together their bed frames earlier, but we had to begin tackling our larger pieces. I put together my laundry hamper - yes, it required assembly with screws and everything. It was during that time that I realized that I somehow broke one of my screwdriver bits (cheap piece of you-know-what). Being successful, I then tried putting together my 5+2 drawer dresser, only to find out part way through that one of my "5" drawers is missing! GRRR!!! I gave up and am now sitting in bed.

Tomorrow brings a new adventure - stepping foot into our new work place. Who knows what we will find out. What we did find out, though, is that the reason my roomies and I haven't heard any correspondence from the school is because there is no Math head teacher. In fact, half of the math department for ISE is living in this apartment. Yes, you heard right! The department of Math was fell apart by the end of the school year, so half of their department are 3 Canadian teachers who aren't familiar with the British Curriculum! (yay us)

Interesting Facts:
1) In order to use a TV in England, you need a license...and it costs 142.50 pounds (I think per year)
2) The reason why a lot of young girls are having babies, according to Sylvia, is because apparently the government supports young mothers (gives them affordable housing as well as a family allowance)
3) Dryers for clothing are a luxury, not a necessity
4) Even though the washing machine is one quarter of the size that we have in Canada (or about half the size of one you'd find in new condos these days), it still takes TWO HOURS for a load of laundry - which then needs to be hung dry!!!!!!! Doing laundry the next couple of days should be VERY interesting.

Cheers!