We all left on the same day: Alice first and we two hours later. The flight to London was uneventful and for a transoceanic trip rather short. Business seats also help, I am sure people in the economy section (unless they are adept at yoga) felt the trip was long enough. The immigration control was a breeze, certainly no comparison with the highly charged atmosphere one passes through on the way into the US.

We were met at the airport by a little man with a Mercedes that the company arranged for and even though it was a Sunday and the traffic was very light, the journey from Gatwick to London took well over an hour, during which the driver did not stop talking. We learned a lot about the latest British passion: cheap travel abroad. We finally made it to Mayfair, where a short-let apartment was going to be our home until we found something more permanent. I chose this type of accommodation rather than a hotel, because I wanted to be certain we did not feel too pressured while we were looking for a place to stay. Living in a hotel gets old in a hurry and I thought that this way we will be able to relax a bit more.

The second decision we made was not to start looking immediately. Rather, we felt it was better to give ourselves a week, get over the jet lag and look around a little be on our own, to get a sense of what London is like and which parts of town we feel more enthusiastic about. Of course, in this age of internet, we already had a preliminary glimpse at what the housing market was like. I heard that London was expensive but my first impression, after browsing several sites, was that it was not all that bad. That is until I realized that the prices quoted were not per month, but per week! So we already knew it was not going to be easy, unless we were willing to literally pour money down the drain.

The temporary accommodation we had was located in a small street behind the Hide Park Hilton, right in front of the Mexican Embassy. One bedroom, small kitchen and a living room – not much, but for the time being perfectly adequate. We spent the first week getting a flavor of what different parts of London are like, and while it helped, it was far from enough as we realized once we started to look for real. The company provided us with a service of a relocation agency – we had 3 days to try to find something. Three days may seem like a short time, but since these people do this for a living, they were able to pack a lot into every day.

The decision that most expats make is dictated by their family status: if they have children they will typically try to locate close to an American (or Norwegian, etc.) school and more often than not they will try to get a house and that means (unless they are independently wealthy) the suburbs. People without children have a much broader spectrum of choices, specifically they can choose to live close to the center, something that is pretty much unaffordable to normal people (i.e. Brits). This was the first time in more than 20 years that we fell into this category and we made the decision to try to make the most of our stay by living close to where the action is. This was also the recommendation of the relocation agency and having given them a guideline (no more than 500 pounds per week, to which they stuck quite admirably) they directed us to the area around Hyde Park, that is Kensington, Chelsea, Notting Hill, Holland Park and Bayswater. Their suggestion was that we basically spend the first day getting an idea of what is available, the second day narrowing our search based on what we liked and did not like the first day, and the third day having a second look at what we liked best and making an offer.

The system worked fairly well, but the big problem was that we were operating in a totally different universe than the one we were used to. By now we can evaluate a house pretty quickly, we know what to look for and we know when we are getting a good deal. Here we were looking at apartments and only once we started did we realize that they came in an unlimited number of different flavors. First there were the “purpose built” , that is buildings initially intended as apartment complexes. The first example we saw was a huge red brick monster of a building about 70 years old with absolutely no charm. In retrospect this was not a good representative of the class and prematurely made us exclude this type of accommodation and focus on the other most common: the conversion. Conversions are apartments created in older (Edwardian and Victorian) houses, which were originally designed for a single family (and their servants). These four to six story buildings were converted into apartments, sometimes one apartment at the time. This had two consequences: the internal layout is seldom optimal and you can look at 10 apartments on the same street and they will all be completely different.

It was not an easy choice. Some of the places we looked at were clearly not acceptable, the rest were kind of O.K. but they all had some kind of a flaw. As time went on I realized that this was the way it was going to be, at 500 pounds per week we were shopping in a store with second rate goods (little bit like buying a jacket at the “Suit Mart”. You can get a designer label at affordable prices, but one sleeve is going to be longer than the other, or the back is going to wrinkle, or the button holes will be in the wrong place.) So either we were going to pay a lot more or we had to find something where the flaws did not bother us too much. At the end of the first, very exhausting day, we knew what we did not like and we had a handful of conditional maybes, but nothing that would have really grabbed us. We suggested to broaden the field of search somewhat by looking at Wimbledon – a place I knew several of my colleagues have decided on. Now Wimbledon is not in the center, it is a suburb. However, because of the idiosyncrasies of London transport is more (or faster) accessible than other parts of the city which are geographically closer to the center. This is because there is an express train, which covers the distance between Waterloo station (fairly centrally located) and Wimbledon in mere 15 minutes, while it is easy to spend more than 30 minutes on the tube getting to more central parts of London.

The second day started with a drive to Wimbledon. We saw two places which were completely out of the question (nice, but so far from the station they would require a car), one uninspiring apartment and one that kind of grabbed us. It was in a large modern apartment complex, but: it was just across from the train station, it was on the top floor in the corner (thus nobody overhead and no neighbors on the sides), it had a very nice view of the town and nice balconies all around. Even though we were not initially thinking of living in the suburbs we felt that it might be worthwhile to revise our original plan. The remainder of the day was more or less wasted in the traffic (getting around by a car is obviously not a practical idea) and seeing a handful of substandard and overpriced properties between Wimbledon and central London.

In planning the last day we requested a few more properties at Wimbledon, second look at the apartment we liked and revisit to a couple of places in Kensington, Notting Hill and anything new that might turn up in those areas. Overnight, I had another revelation. I realized that London was uncannily similar to Montreal (it is actually the other way around, but I knew Montreal first.). Of course, that should not come as a big surprise. People who built up most of Montreal were British, and around the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century had very close ties to the U.K. As a result, Kensington High Street is a spitting image of St. Catherins, Queens Gate looks like St. Laurent Blvd. right down to the ethnic shops and restaurants. And so it struck me that living in a little English village like Wimbledon, may actually be a more genuinely new experience that moving into this twin of Montreal. By lunch we decided to make an offer on the apartment in Wimbledon and by two in the afternoon we were told that it was already gone –someone else had placed an offer before us. It was a huge disappointment, we were already mentally living there and all the alternatives were only very distant runner ups.

At this point a word of explanation about the UK rental market. It is quite inefficient and has several strange characteristics that take all foreigners by surprise. It is inefficient because there is no equivalent of a multiple service listing. Consequently, unless one contacts all the brokers (and there are many) it is not possible to get a complete listing of properties on the market. Furthermore, some landlords will list the same property with several brokers and then one hand may not know what the other is doing: one broker will be showing a property while another one may already be working on the rental agreement with someone else (that is what happened to us in Wimbledon). Furthermore, after an offer is made and until it is finalized (a process which often involves lawyers on both sides making small changes to the agreement) either side can walk away: there is no option or good faith payment possibility which would lock the deal in place for a given interval. Some people will spend 2 to 3 weeks getting towards and agreement and then have to start all over again.

After long deliberation we decided on one of the distant second choices. It had excellent location (2 minutes from the subway, few minutes walk from some of the best museums in town and 5 minutes brisk walk to Hyde Park). Kumiko pointed out that both bedrooms faced the street, but I did not see that as a big problem, the street was small, did not appear to have much traffic on it and the windows were in fact overlooking the garden of St. Stevens church (where T.S. Eliot was a church warden for several decades). The negotiation process started, we wanted a somewhat lower rent and also asked for some furniture to be removed (we planned to use the second bedroom as Kumiko’s workroom). In addition, ExxonMobil legal department also has to review the contract so that it follows corporate guidelines. After about two weeks we were nearly done and then we heard from the landlord in Wimbledon. The offer he had previously was taking too long to negotiate and he offered the place to us. We decided to go for it but we were a little bit worried about loosing the current apartment (they would not wait much longer) while we were negotiating Wimbledon. The whole situation resolved itself when the Wimbledon landlord would not agree to some of the conditions that ExxonMobil considers essential, i.e. an extension clause beyond one year. So it was going to be Southwell Gardens, a two bedroom conversion in an Edwardian terrace house, just a few steps from the Gloucester tube station.

The first night came as a shock. We probably did not sleep more than 15 minutes at a time. What during the day appeared a quiet street turned into a very noisy shortcut for diesel powered London cabs, most of which appeared to step on the gas just underneath the large, single pane windows of our bedroom. Second night was just as bad, the third night we were so tired we slept. On the one hand we knew that people eventually get used to all kinds of noise and learn to filter it out, but we were not sure how long it was going to take. Finally, it got on my nerves to such a degree that I decided to re-arrange the apartment. We moved one of the sofas (very heavy, sofa bed, with only millimeters to spare) from the living room to the bedroom and moved the bed into the living room. The living room faces an interior yard and is completely quiet. This created problems of its own (we cannot really invite anybody over) but we sleep in peace.

The next high stress event was just around the corner. Will our possessions fit in? This is what made the move so difficult. For the first time we had to decide what we will be moving and what will go into storage. We knew we will be moving into a much smaller, furnished apartment, but did not know how small and how furnished. We had to make a number of guesses. Cold sweat was running down my back when the movers showed up. It was a large moving van and it was pulling a big trailer behind it. This was not going to fit! Luckily, the moving van left behind just the trailer (the van belonged to someone else). But this still was not going to fit! I relaxed only when they opened the door and we saw that the trailer was only about a quarter full. We had no problem. Of course we did not get everything we were expecting and got some items we did not really need. But all in all it worked well: Kumiko’s bicycle (which would have been tough to put somewhere) did not arrive and we used the pastry board to make a computer desk.

And then we started to travel. I had to go back to Houston for a few weeks and since the quilt exhibition was on, Kumiko came along. Then we decided to take advantage of all the travel deals and spent a week in Mallorca. Clearly off season, so no swimming, lot of places shut down, but pleasant spring like weather (managed to get rid of a bad cough I had), ripe oranges on the trees and not too many tourists to get in the way.

And then we went to Prague.
(Click on the picture to see it full size, use a back button to return to this spot.) I had some misgivings about using two passports – these days one does not want to appear unusual in any way. I actually seriously considered getting a Czech visa and going with my Canadian passport, but it was such a hassle that I decided to risk it and it work out fine. Next time I will be more relaxed.

It has been more than 3 years since I visited Prague and Kumiko has not been back since our trip in 1990, just 6 months after the collapse of the Comie regime. Spectacular change! As Kumiko said, Prague now feels like a normal city and I would add that in many respects appears more affluent than London (that is you will not find the less-than-elegant parts which characterize the ethnic neighborhoods that ring central London. There are even several new shopping centers (Andel, Flora) which would not look out of place in any affluent US suburb. Designer shops are through out the city center, hotels are up to snuff. But, you pay for what you get. Prices seemed similar or a smidgen less than in London and so you have to wonder how the locals manage. Even restaurants, which used to be almost embarrassingly cheap have gone up a bit. The first night we tried a small eatery at Mala Strana. I had a rabbit on onions and that was very good, but Kumiko had a sort of a combination traditional Czech plate and that was not memorable at all. Not expensive for $10, but not as cheap as it used to be. However, with a slightly modified strategy meals are still a bargain. We found that going to simple local pubs and ordering down to earth meals is not only tastier and more authentic but also much cheaper. Half a liter of beer is still less than a dollar and a good simple entrée can be had for about $3. ( Look carefully at last entry on the priceboard - the sort of a drink that might appeal to Bin Laden and company.)

Our only problem was the weather, it was getting a little nippy, and so we will have to try it again, maybe in May.

Back to London and our life here. There is obviously a lot of ground to cover and I will be doing that over the next few months. For the time being let me just point out that one of the advantages of living where we are now is that I can walk to work.

Now, it is true that it takes me one hour at a good clip, but I can avoid the public transport and get a good deal of exercise. Also, as it happens the trajectory is rather interesting. I head east along Cromwell Road and first pass the spectacular Museum of Natural History, closely followed by the huge complex which houses the Victoria and Albert Museum and then the Brompton Oratory.




Next comes the Harrods department store, which has become a true landmark. Every day on the way home I see people taking pictures in front of it and get at least one request for directions to Harrods. Department store leave me rather cold, but this one has a truly impressive food floor, and I sometimes stop there on the way home to pick up Austrian sausages – just like the ones you can buy in Prague. Harvey Nichols is another department store at Knightsbridge and then I am at Hyde Park corner.



I use two underpasses and come out in the northwest corner of the Green Park. I cut across diagonally, passing by the Buckingham Palace and then head east along the Mall. This is a nice relaxing part with no traffic.
The east end of the Mall leads to Trafalgar Square. I again use the system of subways to avoid traffic and come out at the beginning of the Strand.
I follow it eastwards past Charring Cross and Savoy Theater and then turn slightly to the left to go up Aldwich.
This gets me to the BBC complex which is just across the road from the St. Catherine’s House where I work. On the way back I sometimes use alternate routing trough Covent Garden, or through Chinatown to pick up cheap fruit or Piccadilly Circus to get Japanese food ingredients.

During December Alice and Monica came for a visit and so we did a fair bit of sightseeing (as much indoors as possible), but we will leave the details until next month.









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