This week

It’s another rainy day in London! My neighbors will be happy. They had a sprinkler going in their backyard this morning, because, you know, it’s been a whole two days since the last precipitation.

I’ve been m.i.a. this week. I would like to say it’s because my days have been full of Excitement! Adventure! But sadly, no, my days have been full of Organizing the apartment! Trying vainly to put together Ikea-esque-but-much-more-frustrating storage units! Researching volunteer opportunities! Attempting to pay council tax! Compound all that with my liver’s revolt against my increased alcohol consumption (when in Rome) and you have the perfect formula for writer fatigue.

We did have a wonderful Tuesday evening dinner with our new American friends. One of my bridesmaid’s cousins just moved here with her husband for his job – and they just got married last July too. And she’s from Vermont like Chris. Suffice to say, we had an absolute blast and I’m so happy/lucky to have a friend like that here already! Then Wednesday we had happy hour drinks with Chris’ office at a Bavarian bar. We consumed a HUGE amount of beer, and a liiiitttle bit of sausage. (The English do not mess around with their drinking by letting food interfere, let me tell you.) But most importantly I learned (after a lot of blank staring and looks of mutual incomprehension) that “Saturday week” means “next Saturday.” Luckily said-explainer was a lovely Irish girl who understands the difficulties of learning a new version of English because – apparently – the vocabulary in Ireland is as different from British English as American English is. And last night we had a delicious and very fancy dinner with Chris’ boss. But, just for the record, snails and pork belly taste divine separately, but they should never, ever share a plate. Period. (But boy was that pork belly amaaaazing. I’d go kill a pig this moment to have some more!)

So as you can see, my mornings have been ho-hum domestic and my evenings pretty darn fun. And now I’m about to go buck that morning-dullness trend by being very active, energetic, and TOURISTY while going to explore some South Kensington museums with a British friend who lives in London. Do not worry, I am going to embarrass the heck out of her by taking lots of pictures so I can share my adventures as a London tourist with you back at home.

I’m pretty sure I might embarrass her with my umbrella too. It’s very, very bright and flowery. I hope British people don’t take me as representative of Americans in general. Because I’m pretty sure I embarrass my American friends as well.

Cheers! Have a great weekend!

Clouds & a smidgen of sunshine

I picked a really good day to blog about London weather.

Because guess what?

I saw the sun today!!!!

YAY!!!

Yes, naïve New Yorker who complains constantly about the weather, you live in a fantasyland of bright sunshine.

The only parallel between New York and London weather is the fact that everyone complains about the weather. But, in London, they complain that it’s cold when it’s a balmy 45 degrees, AND they complain when it’s cloudy and rainy, but it’s ALWAYS cloudy and rainy.

Except today. Today I saw the sun – briefly, yes – but at least I won’t develop rickets. (Process that Vitamin D sunshine!)

Maybe, I should elaborate – seeing the sun means that I could see the sun THROUGH the cloud clover. I never had an uninterrupted view. But I’ll take a slightly veiled sun over a completely obliterated one any day, thank you very much.

And now – on to the forecast. BBC weather has four options for any given day: white cloud, grey cloud, rainy intervals, or sunny intervals.

Yes, that’s right – they pretty much all mean cloudy. And yes, London is a city with such little variation in the dreariness of their climate that cloud cover has distinct types. What, might you ask, is the difference between white and grey cloud? As far as I can tell, it’s a difference in imagination. Kind of like a mirage. Oh, what’s that, a white cloud? What a lovely change, it’s been so grey!

In closing – I would like to say that the day Chris and I brilliantly choose to wander around the city doing touristy things - like visiting the beautiful but imposing Buckingham palace - was a day in which the BBC weatherman cheerily announced there would be sunny intervals. And sure enough, outside our hotel window that morning before we headed out, the sun was indeed shining!

And so it was, that ignoring my mother’s advice to ALWAYS CARRY AN UMBRELLA IN LONDON AT ALL TIMES, I decidedly rejected said sage counsel and left without one. We arrived at Buckingham Palace in the pouring rain, did a portion of our planned walk through Hyde Park’s lovingly maintained and flowering (even in February) gardens in the rain, before giving up and retreating to the indoor amusement park that is Harrod’s Department store. (which definitely deserves a post all it's own.)

Anyway, just in case you missed my point, the weatherman said sunny intervals, and it poured. Loooovely.

But don’t let the weather scare you off from visiting us – it’s still almost tropically warm and humid compared to New York and New England! And it's supposed to be sunnier in the summer - and never too hot! London weather - like most things British I am finding - is moderate.

And speaking of visiting…. Raise a glass to our new, small 2-bed apartment in Belsize Park! More on our new home tomorrow.

Cheers!