Category: London

After a gauntlet of paperwork and a series of appointments which were mainly designed to determine if I knew how to follow instructions, we officially moved to London!

We have up to 6 weeks of temporary housing in a furnished flat in King’s Cross.  Though it is generously sized and adequately furnished, the internet speed is slower than what I had in China (despite my near daily complaints to the property manager).

Shortly after we got the keys, someone knocked on the door and handed us 2 bags of random groceries, which included coffee & filters for a non-existent coffee maker, heat & serve meat lasagna, margarine, mayo, jam, mustard and a couple pieces of fruit.  It seemed so haphazard, we are pretty sure we unintentionally stole someone’s food. (Grocery delivery is very popular here.)

Banking seems unnecessarily complex.  You need a bank account in order to rent a flat, but you need a residential address in order to get a bank account. Once you find a bank willing to let you open an account as a foreigner, you have to wait for a series of documents to arrive in the mail. Over the course of 10 days I received various separate letters which included the ATM card, cheques, and several different PINs – one for telephone support, another for the ATM card, and another for mobile banking.  And in order to access my account info online, I have to insert my ATM card into this calculator-looking device to verify my identity:

As one of our friends said, it’s almost as if the banks have forgotten that it’s your money.

Renting an apartment was the next task. 1-2 bedroom flats often come furnished, which is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, we don’t own any furniture so that saves us from having to buy a bunch of stuff.  On the other hand, finding an apartment with furniture we didn’t detest felt like it narrowed the options significantly.

We saw a charming converted schoolhouse followed by a place which you accessed via the lobby of a TravelLodge, a converted warehouse loft which would have been perfect for hosting a Wild West theme party, and then there was this:

At viewing #29, we encountered a modern apartment in the hipster neighborhood of Shoreditch and rapidly made an offer.  (Nice difference to SF: you can negotiate the rent down.) Though its barely larger than the place we had in the Castro, it has wood floors, all modern fixtures/furnishings, and is less than a 10 minute walk to our favorite Indian restaurant. If all goes well, we will be in there by the end of November. If all doesn’t go well, I blame Barclays.

While it doesn’t feel like we “live” here yet, it’s been long enough to note some major lifestyle differences:

• It’s amazing to live and work in the same city. My commute went from 90 mins each way down to 25, and there are so many great restaurants, pubs, and even theatre venues a short walk from my office door. I can even run errands during lunch! (And by “errands”, I mean “go to All Saints and check out their sale”.)
• Door handles are confusing. Unless there’s a sign, it’s impossible to know whether to push, pull, or hit a button in order to operate them. I am surprised I haven’t yet broken glass or my nose.
• It’s properly cold here and it’s barely November. I may not survive the winter… please send sun.
• While walking down the sidewalk is like some kind of advanced level of Frogger, I love hearing all the difference accents and languages being spoken – its such a diverse city.
• You need to plan things way in advance, which you wouldn’t think would be a problem for me, but it is taking some adjusting.  Everything from restaurants to museums to cat cafes require several weeks planning (or more). It’s time to dust off my Cruise Director hat and start planning some fun!

You all already know how much I love London so I won’t rehash it here.

Our 9 day visit was a whirlwind of eating, drinking, and hanging out with some of our favorite people:
1 high school friend
1 college friend
4 SF friends who were here on holiday
1 recent London transplant
14 Apple colleagues (plus 2 fabulous wives, 1 boyfriend who I previously thought was fictitious, 2 girlfriends, and 1 wild-haired baby)
8 app developers

1 breakfast date
2 brunch dates
6 lunch dates
8 dinner dates
4 Indian restaurants
8 coffee shops
5 pubs
2 wine bars
2 ice creams
4 pieces of Paul A Young fine chocolate

3 galleries
1 Freemason’s Grand Lodge that contained at least 10 thrones
1 Monty Python foot
150 minutes in Camden Market yielding 3 pieces of Cyberdog clothing
2 clever items from Suck UK (though I wanted to buy the whole store)
1 manicure from my favorite nail art salon in London
15 conversations about Brexit

248,240 steps
114.5 miles walked

Cyberdog mega-store in Camden

Enjoying Soho with Tejas

Brunch with Hillary! (The girl behind us was loving her food)

Lisa in her new flat!

Bubbles in Lisa’s new flat

The Monty Python Foot!

Who knew Freemason’s were so into thrones?

Paul A. Young fine chocolates -even the packaging was adorable.

With Dave C, on the express elevator to Duck & Waffle

Dinner with Dave – UK Edition!

Now we are off to Barcelona!

We basically wound up with 24 hours in London before taking the train to Paris. My days of jet-setting in Business Class lay-flat seats are behind me, so we spent most of it in a jetlag-induced stupor…

I’ve always loved London, and here are a few reasons why:

• People put some effort into what they wear, especially for work. Men are typically in jackets and often in suits, women are in nice outfits with structed handbags, usually with a full face of makeup. (This became painfully obvious as we took the tube from the airport during morning rush hour, where everyone looked clean and well-groomed while I hadn’t brushed my hair or teeth in almost 24 hours.)
• London is such an international city and there are different languages or accents everywhere. And “where are you from?” is rarely a topic of conversation since people from all over the world live in London. Its just normal to have so much variety.
• Indian food is amazing.  I have no idea why its so much better in London, but it is.  I’m guessing its similar to why is near impossible to get a good bagel on the West Coast.
• The energy of the city is great.  It seems like there’s a buzz here that I didn’t get from SF. I don’t know if its because its such a large city, or if Londoners just have more energy, or maybe its because summer is just starting in London so everyone is frisky. Every pub seems like its overflowing with people by 5pm on Fridays – everyone is out with their friends, laughing and having fun.

That said, all of these thoughts came to me on a lovely Friday evening, when the temperature was around 70 and it was light until almost 10pm. I had to remind myself that the weather is miserable most of the year. Also, walking down a sidewalk is like an advanced game of Frogger (or Crossy Road, for the kids out there), which means I could never live near the West End or I’d go completely insane. So its not perfect… but I always enjoy being here.