When I looked at the blog, I realized it is almost two months since I posted. This might be a long one ☹

We closed on the house on October 30th. The next day, I went and got my NYS driver’s license. I wanted to register the car since I have already changed the insurance – you know what – NYS auto insurance for the same coverage is about $400 a year less than IL. Who would have thought! So was the home insurance that was about $800 less for the year. That is where the savings end.

Well, we could not register our cars since try as we might we could not find the titles. Then I realized they were with our belongings in storage in Melrose Park, IL. I know I was wrong to pack them up, but pack a whole house in a week and somethings go awry. I have been calling the moving company almost daily trying to get our delivery scheduled. I am a bit upset since I gave them the date the first week of November and they are still scheduling deliveries for November requests that have not been completed. I think I will be sleeping on the RV mattress on the floor until February. But like a bad penny (I guess I can’t use that expression any more since I have a cute Penny) I keep turning up and eventually they will be tired of talking to me and schedule us.

We have been very busy. We were in the house for about a week before we came to London. During that time, we cleaned out a lot of the stuff the previous owner left, we decide on a paint color and realized the windows are not air tight and have shifted in the frames. The painter has been in and painted all the rooms; no more strange wall colors and the closets have been patched where I can only assume enraged teenagers put a foot through the wall. I could not understand why the ceiling in one bedroom was so odd to look at. The painter discovered more than 100 iridescent stars on it. He was picking them off continuously. Ernie loved the painters and at one point leaned against a wall to get doggy pets and his hair was stuck all over it. He of course was covered in paint on his side and tail. I was not happy! After we left for London, the painters continued on for another week and when they were done all the hard wood floors were stripped and stained. The house is ready for furniture!

One of the other things we have been doing is finding places we like.  This is a favorite just about five minutes from the house, for a quick bite or just a coffee and snack.

Since we have been in London we have doing a lot. We started off with a birthday party just a few days after we arrived. Laura made a delicious cake with cannoli cream filling. She originally made it with a blood orange cake but I did not know that. Penny asked me if I liked orange cake and I said not really, I really like lemon. That started a chain reaction where Penny insisted her mother redo the cake with a lemon cake batter. I had no idea that was what was going on since I would have just said yes to the orange cake to save Laura trouble. The next day was sleep over grandma’s house. That was a lot of fun too.

The next week between grandma duties, which is so much fun, we went to the British Museum on a guided tour. I had been there before but it is so large it is easy to become overwhelmed. This was so much better. The guide took us to about 20 different exhibits and explained them and then when the tour was done you can go back to see what you liked. Since you receive a map when you start you can write on it where you want to go. I have learned that not everything you hear on tours is the truth, some is embellished for dramatic effect – we were shown what was supposed to be the first chess board ever created. You see for yourself what you think.

Later in the week I began to feel sick, by Friday I was sneezing and coughing so much my eyes were tearing. Saturday was the football game I was waiting to see for at least 2 months. I was encouraged not to go – I was having no part of that. I had the best time! I was talking to long time fans, eating some food and cheering in the stands. Apparently, the crowds cheer nasty phrases and even I asked many people what they were saying, no one would tell me. I could not make the words out either. By half time it was requested I leave and Jerry and I came back to the flat. Whatever it was I caught totally knocked me out. When we got home on Saturday I slept 22 hours straight until Sunday afternoon. I am just now feeling back to normal – two and a half weeks later.

The first time I visited Laura, she took me to the Portobello Market.  I really enjoyed looking at all the antiques and goods.   There are not so many antiques left and a good amount of the goods are cheap imports, but it is on Notting Hill and really pretty so we had a nice time.  The first time I went there I purchased some door pulls for my condo, this time I purchased some for the new house.  I also found a nice picture of a bird which is a copy of one painted in watercolors by Rev Morris in 1867.  The man who sold it to me was very excited.  We also passed a butch that I couldn’t take my eyes off.  I really want a steak from it!

While I was not feeling 100%, Andrew and Krissy came for their visit. We took a train to Bath and walked all around. We ate good food, shopped the Christmas Market, visited the Roman Baths, had Thanksgiving dinner with more Brits than Americans and visited Alex’s family. It was a very nice time. I was really into the Roman Baths and I think I could tell you more information that you wanted to know! I also visited the Bath Abbey. It was a Benedictine Monastery when it was first built in the 1700’s. When King Henry VIII came to power and closed all the Catholic religious buildings it fell to ruins. A new Church of England church was built over the site later and the entire church was built over the old cemetery. The entire church floor is tombstones. It was very beautiful and the walls were covered with donor’s names. It is used for Sunday services and special events. The day I was there a choir was practicing for a Christmas concert that was going to be held that evening. I spent a peaceful time in there. I was also able to pick up a small nativity set in the gift shop. On Friday night before Andrew and Krissy returned to NY we went to dinner with Laura and Alex.

When we returned from Bath we left in two days to go visit my knitting friend, Ali in the Lakes Region of the UK. It is very close to Scotland and an entirely different landscape and lifestyle. I loved it’s back to nature vibe and historic villages. I met Ali in a knitting class I took. There are 7 or 8 of us who still keep in touch spread over the earth. I met Helen when we sent to Seattle before going to Alaska. Anita lives in northern CA, Laura in Nevada, Ali and Millie in the UK, Michelle and Anne in New Zealand/Australia and me now in NY. And every time someone from the group meets someone else, the host brings you to a yarn shop! In Seattle I bought some beautiful hand dyed yarn from the area that is still in Melrose Park, IL with the rest of our belongings and Ali took me to 3 shops and all the yarn I bought is from UK sheep. In one shop I met the designer of a scarf I liked and he dyed his own yarn so, of course I bought some! Ali and her husband took us to a genuine British Pub for dinner. I have a beef and Guinness pie. We all had so much fun and I will definitely come for the Skipton Yarndale Festival next year! How lucky we were to be able to visit.

After we returned from Ali and Richard’s home, we stuck around Tooting.   School pick up, a sleep over with Penny and went to a family show of Robin Hood with jokes for the adults, exquisite male dancers for the moms and singing.  It was a lot of fun even if I did not get all the British jokes.

The rest of our time has been spent, watching a Christmas tree being put up, buying presents and working.   In two days, we go back to the US but before we go tonight is making cupcakes and babysitting while Laura and Alex celebrate his birthday and tomorrow is family birthday party.   We will then have to go back home and continue the negotiations to claim our belongings from the moving company.  I gave them a month’s notice when we would like delivery and as of now, nothing.  I am a bit tired of sleeping on the floor on a mattress.  We will also have to find a locksmith to change the locks, shop for some furniture items we gave away and get back to our group building.  And I continue to receive notices about snow falling in Hyde Park.  I think we might go back to a mountain of snow on the driveway!

Here’s a movie suggestion for you while it is close to Christmas and we were in this neighborhood. At Penny’s Holiday concert I attended it reminded me of this movie too. They did sing a song from Home Alone.