Finally

Well, here I am!! Sorry it took so long to post - things move at their own schedule here and it's been hard to get online for any length of time.

I arrived on Friday morning, February 3. My new boss, Mark Bilsland, picked me up at the airport and brought me into Chiswick. After stopping off at the estate agent whom I let (rented) the place through to pick up the keys, we went to the flat. Seven pieces of luggage (two of them a full 70 lbs and the rest not much lighter) were hauled up the 9 flights of stairs (4 and a half floors) to the top floor. The first floor is one flight down.

The flat is small, very small. It has a great view, being on the fifth floor and all. Also feel much safer up here. However, the tube runs a few blocks away and can be quite noisy. It's just a matter of getting used to it - I don't notice it much any more. I lived right beside the railroad in college, and it only took a week to get used to that!

As I said, I'm only a couple of blocks away from the tube, which takes me within a block of the office downtown. Well, I do have to change trains, but that's just a matter of walking across the platform, so it's not a big deal. I can get downtown in 20-30 minutes easily.

So I went downtown to the office on the Friday afternoon to check it out and meet up with my other new boss, Kevin Watts. The office is currently a big empty room, but the furniture should be in tomorrow (Wednesday), as should the broadband (ADSL). Phones, however, don't go in until the 13th. Crazy, I know!! BT is so efficient! Kevin and I then went down to Tottingham (pronounced "Tot'n'm") Court Road, which is the big electronics area of London, and got me a laptop. It's a Sony Vaio TX1XP/B for all my techono-geek friends. Translated, it means that it's small and fast!! I'm loving it!!

So I spent the weekend getting settled in, picking up bits and pieces that I need, etc. Monday morning my friend, Jane Stevenson, took me to Ikea and I picked up a small desk and nightable, and some other bits and bobs (common Brit term). Nothing in the office yet, so there was no point in going in.

Today I did a bit of work - got some stuff printed for our VP Technical for a meeting he has tomorrow and made some calls to get some info on a corporate cell phone account. It seems everyone has to call me back and none of them did today. Where are all these people??!!

So, the day I was leaving, I decided to get all my papers together and wouldn't you know it - I couldn't find my passport! Still don't know where it is. I looked everywhere and it simply was gone! So, I ended up having to go and get another on on a rush basis. They managed it in an hour (funny how it takes two weeks normally!!). So I made it on the plane, but still have to sort out getting a new visa. What a panic!! Of course that meant that I left everything else in a mess there! So, I have to get my replacement, Connie, to send over some stuff for me that I left in the office and I left a ton of stuff for my property manager and friend, Pat, to do. Sorry guys!!

So, homesickness is starting to rear it's head. My phone was finally working today, so I phoned Mike (the guy I talked about in my last post) and we talked for a bit. And I talked to mom and dad a little later. So, now I want to be home and see all of them. And I miss my friends - I am definitely a stranger in a strange land. And it's tough to find a land stranger than me!! lmao!

So, I'm going to try to post a couple of photos I took out of my windows. I don't have the place in shape enough to do inside pics yet, but at least you can see what I see!

I will definitely try to write more now that I'm a bit more settled. Later, gator!