Initial Impressions

Our apartment has great windows and they let in a lot of light. It makes me happy. And it has a lot of potential for greatness. It just needs some furniture. Currently we have a bed and a couch. And a TV that is on the floor which I’m terrified the Bean is going to knock herself into or throw something at and destroy. But we will have some furniture soon and our stuff from Canada is going to arrive sometime at the end of October. I’m hoping this place will feel more like a home after that.

After a week I am feeling a bit of culture shock. This is not my first time in London, but it feels different to live here instead of  just coming on a holiday. My first few days I couldn’t understand traffic at all, partly due to exhaustion and jet lag.I remember sitting in the back of the cab on the way home from Heathrow and being completely lost as to where the traffic lights were and how the cabbie knew he had to stop or go. Everyone drives so fast and the lanes are so narrow and it seems to me every driver is so unpredictable. It made me nervous to say the least.

I was terrified the first couple days to even cross the street by myself. Matthew had taken a few days off of work to help ease me into this whole new world, but I knew at some point he was going to head to work and I was going to be on my own with the Bean. It got better once I realised that even though pedestrians technically have the right of way here, I would be taking my life in my hands if I expected a car to stop. Once that became clear I got a bit better with the whole crossing the street thing. I just now make sure to look both ways several times and if a car is coming I wait for it to pass, instead of assuming that it will stop (as I did in Canada). My instinct still tells me cars are coming from a completely different direction than where they are coming from in reality, but I’m hoping after a bit more time passes I’ll get more comfortable with it. I do want to be able to ride my bike again, which I won’t do until I’m much more familiar with the traffic patterns.

We live by a duck pond. It’s lovely really. It’s this gigantic park that has trails (away from cars!) along rivers that lead to other gigantic parks. The playgrounds are fenced and gorgeous and Beans love them. The duck pond is actually filled with ducks too. And Canadian geese. Pigions and squirrels are also near by, and last weekend we even saw a heron lurking about. My only confusion has come from watching other parents and families feeding the ducks and geese and pigeons and squirrels little bits of bread. The messaging I’ve had my entire life is that you don’t feed the wildlife. Ever. Because then animals become dependent on the food and no longer fear humans. So I’ve been quite scandalised by watching other parents giving their toddlers bits of food to give to squirrels, who then eat it out of the children’s hands! I worry about diseases and attacks, but perhaps I’m just crazy. I do feel quite intimidated by the boldness of the squirrels though. A few have come right up to the Bean looking for food. She was unimpressed and immediately asked to be carried. She does think it’s funny when the geese follow her around though, as long as they don’t get to close.

Otherwise things here seem pretty familiar. Lots of young families and small kids running about. Busy supermarkets, lots of charity shops, schools and coffee shops. And I’ve found a nearby yarn store and yoga studio. I think I’m going to like it here.