Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Everyday Life

We are settling in to life here in London. Everyday I discover something new or different in the way we live. Obviously, there are some big differences such as no car but those are the easy ones... The tough bits are the small things that sneak up on you out of no where. The things that you don't expect to be different but in the end they are for no apparent reason.

For example, Christmas tree lights... now, in the states we are all accustom to the standard string of lights that have a male plug at one end and a female plug at the other with say 100 lights in between the plugs. If you need more lights, you plug a new string into the female end and move on, right? While decorating our tree on Sunday, I opened a brand new box of Christmas tree lights that I had purchased at a store in the neighborhood only to find that the lights are set up in a giant loop. Imagine my frustration as I started to string the lights on the tree... how do you string a loop of lights on to the tree? Chris set out to see if he could find the kind of lights we were accustom to and after visiting 4 different places found them but they were extremely expensive! In the end, it took us 3 days to decorate the tree!

There are also things that I expected to be different... like the food. I really miss good old fashion American breakfast food. Scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast or biscuits... my mouth is watering just writing about it. Traditional English breakfast consists of Canadian bacon, over cooked fried eggs (even by my standards), Cumberland sausage and baked beans! I am craving a good old fashion southern breakfast like you wouldn't believe. I am more than willing to make it myself but I can't even by traditional breakfast sausage! I have googled Jimmy Dean and Tennessee Pride to no end... the only thing I found was a recipe for making my own Jimmy Dean sage sausage by buying freshly ground sausage and adding seasoning. It seems a little desperate to make my own sausage but it may very well get to that point!

On a positive note, there are some changes to my everyday life that I really love... Walking everywhere is very refreshing and I don't feel nearly as guilty splurging on a chocolate croissant or a latte when I know I have a 5 or 6 block walk to get home. I love speciality shops! It is time consuming to go to a butcher, a baker, a veggie stand but it is so much fun to see all the different stuff and the fresh taste of everything is amazing. The markets on the weekends are also great and a little less time consuming than going to specialty shops. However, I think the best part of living in London is the people watching! This city is filled with stylish, eccentric, and incredibly entertaining people. There is nothing better than a cozy seat in a pub or coffee shop, close to the window where I can watch the world go by!

So if you need me, I will be out sipping on a latte, nibbling on a chocolate croissant, watching the freaks and lugging my goodies home via foot!

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