7June2008: Day 13: Tower of London

Today we got up and got everything ready and then walked down to the Train station about 1 mile away to head into London to see the dreaded Tower of London. When we got to the train station we spent 15minutes trying to figure out what train to get on and how to make the transfers. But, once we asked for help, we understood it well enough, though it is a bit confusing how to interpret the arrival and depature times. So we got onto the train and Makenna was good until I made the mistake of responding to her request for a cookie. Teri said "don't do it, you'll spoil her." But, Chris said: "what can one cookie hurt" and handed it over to the cutest smiling happy child you would ever see. She gobbled the cookie down in about 2 minutes and then the finger comes up: "Un mo", "Un mo", which is "one more" in Makenna-speak. Chris said: "no, no, honey, you've had enough". And BAM, NUCLEAR MELTDOWN!!!" We spent the next 15 to 20 minute hearing her explode into ear piercing screams and cries. She completely broke down so much so that Chris didn't even think she was awake. Chris had never seen her so distraught. Of course, at that point we could not give it to her because she would learn that that is how you get things, so we suffered, along with everyone one in our car and I'm sure the two cars in front and in back. A nice lady behind us said "Don't give into her, but she is going to be a great singer with those longs...this is good practice.", which made us feel a little better. Other people were yelling out "Oh, give it a rest!" Oh well. She finnaly calmed down, but wimpered all day practically. Every once in a while giving out a pathetic "ooky" when she saw the bag that we had them in. We figured out that if you break a cookie in half, then when she gives the "un mo", you give her the other half and she thinks she is getting two. So, I think we figured out the trick. Hopefully, that will work for a couple more weeks until she realizes she it getting the short stick.


So we got off the train at London Bridge, apparently some rich oil tycoon bought it back in 1969 and moved it to Arizona. The London Bridge he bought wasn't as impressive as the Tower Bridge, so people think he really wanted the tower bridge, but he denide it. Here is a picture we took:

We started walking around and stumbled into Southwark Cathedral, which is beatiful, but no where near as much art and such as Westminster or Rochester. It was still nice on the outside too:


Anyway, so, the tower of London. What an amazing place. Crowded! Wow, there were a lot of people. Apparently, it is even worse on Sundays. I tell you, the only people that are equipped for that type of crowding are the Indians. I'm sorry if any Indians are reading this, but I had more Indian people pushing me in the back than I care to have in a lifetime. They were literally pushing me to move forward into the people in front of me. And, whenwe didn't respond, they would literally squeeze around us bodily forcing their way through, and then 20 other small women and men would follow them. If you left any space in front of you between what you are looking at and yourself, there a 5ft tall Indian would squeese themselves in blocking your view of what you were just reading. (I tell you they were like Gnats! So, I'm sorry if this seems ethnically rude, far from it, they impress me. I haven't met an Indian that isn't the nicest person in the world when you get them out of crowds. We Americans are just not used to working with crowds I guess, so, kudos for the Indians for figuring out how to make it work! ) Also, they make good food. Indian food is very popular over here. Every place serves Indian food. You go out for Chinese, there indian food is. You go to a place called New Orleans...there Indian food is...again, Kudos to the Indians, they've even budged the line onto the menus of ahead of ribs. Wow!

So back to the Tower of London. It has the crown jewels, which were incredible. I don't think I've seen that many diamods and gems of that size in all my life. And the Gold! Incredible. They had this punch bowl and ladle that were 3 ft around and 3 ft tall of Gold! Not sure if it was solid gold, but it was huge! They had these 2000 lbs doors locking it all up, but you could stand within a foot of it behind glass. It is amazing they can do that. (I'm sure laser beams come out and vaporize anyone who tries to take anything.) They had the Second Start of Africe on one of the crowns and it was 3 inches in diameter easy. HUGE. (I can't imagine being the person who carve that, one slip and CRACK, oops...sorry Queen.)

The white castle is there as well, the oldest castle apparently, made by William the Conquerer or some person. (I'm so bad at history) Anyway look it up online if you want to know for sure. Inside was Armor and weapons going back to his time and the largest collection of old flint lock riffles, blunderbuss, and pistols anywhere we have seen.

We got a audio tour headset and it guided us around to the places where various people were held prisoner. Where King Henry VII killed of two of his wives out of the 5 or 6. They showed us traitors gate where a boat could come in quietly and drop off prisoners. This place has been around since 1060AD or there abouts. Amazingly ancient. They had ravens there as well that they have clipped the wings of so that they won't fly away. They eat chicken and other meats. They say that they started showing up there because there were so many executions and the birds are carion eaters...say no more. Anyway, apparently there is some supersition that if the raven ever left the White palace that the castle would fall and so would the monarchy. So, ravens have always been kept there.

(By the way, you might see that I have shaved part of my beard and went with a smaller beard. I did this when I first went to work, but not sure if I like it.)

We headed back in the evening and Makenna was ok on the way back but squirmed quite a bit to get out of the seat and walk around. We got back around 8:30 and grabbed some Chinese food (that we picked out on the menu in between the Indian food), along the walk back to the house. We were so exhausted when we got back, we went right to bed after eating. Our legs were very sore from all the walking.

6Jun2008: Day13: One more look at the house

So today I got out of work at 2:30 and drove up to Gillingham where the new house will be at. I took about 20 minutes, but there was some congestion at some spots. Overall, it would be better if I were closer, but the house is very nice. The back yard is very nice as well. Makenna will really like exploring it. It is all enclosed with a high fence, but there are a lot of trees and such around. Nice little park. The landlords have agreed to put in a dryer and another king size bed. The bed they have in there is only about 6 inches wider than what I would call a double from home, but apparently, that is what they call a king size here. Whatever. I think they are full of it. Since the single is the same size as back home, then I would be suprised to see a double that much smaller than what the king is. We'll get used to it I guess. They are going to buy a widescreen tv as well for us. We will have to buy sheets and a comforter, but we're not paying for the heat so, I'm not going to spend much on blankets, just keep the heat up at night. It doesn't get that cold here anyway.

No pillows though either, so we'll have to buy some of those. If anyone is coming over for a visit bring sheets and a pillow if you can.

Hopefully we can move in next weekend. Work has a van I think we can borrow. The items we shipped are apparently in customs, so hopefully we will have that next week.

We finally got access to some cash and we now have a checkbook for out accounts here. Crazy thing is, they have to mail us a pin. You would think we could just get one online, but no.

The coworker's wife who Teri went with yesterday called up again today and Teri went out for lunch with her. Unfortunately, when we move to this new place it will be more distant from them, so it may be harder for Teri to keep that relationship growing, but another coworker lives right across the street where we will be moving and she has a 4 and 6 year old, so hopefully we can get together with them sometime.

Tomorrow we are going to travel into London on the train to see the Tower of London. Hopefully, Makenna will be good and I'll get some good pictures and footage to put up.

5Jun2008: Day 12: What can you say about Thursday.

Actually, today was a busy day for Teri. She was picked up by the wife of a coworker and they went to this kids thing. There were about 50 kids entertained by two women who sang and played keyboard and danced for the kids. It was pretty crazy with that number of kids and Makenna was a bit tired and cranky by the end, but Teri enjoyed the other contact with adults.

The agent contacted us today and said that the first place we liked along the river was definately not going to be available until July 10th at the earliest, so we have decided to go with the other place. Chris is going to take one more look at the place tomorrow to check out if there were really towel and sheets and stuff or not and take a look at the garage. The house is quite large so we will hopefully feel at home there and the yard out back is very secure. So Makenna should like playing out back.

Anyway, tomorrow is a short day at work. I've been staying a little late this week as we have had some problems, but things should be better next week.

The naughty step technique is starting to work with Makenna. Teri doesn't like how Makenna likes chewing on her shoes (yuk!), so she told her not to a couple of times today and when she didn't listen Teri, put her on the step and only had to put her back once. Makenna cries and whines when she realizes she has to stay there for a minute, so we know we are finally getting through to her. Hopefully, she will start understanding better "no" when we say it. Right now she just smiles, which unfortunately is very cute and makes us smile which takes a lot of the force off of the "no". Anyway, she's getting to know it better now...we hope. She is too cute.

4June2008: Day 11: Decision

Well, we decided on the second place we liked because I found out that a person who sits next to me at work lives a couple of doors down and there is a nice Church of England just down the street with child care and lots of other services including a gym nearby for Teri. We are still holding out for the off chance that the place we wanted as Teri's first choice, but I don't think they will be able to pull in the date into June because their son is still in school until July 4th. Both of us are sick of this small place we are in, so spending another 3 weeks here would be really bad.

I still don't have a corporate credit card nor any money given to me over here as an advance and that has gotten the people on the US side fired up now because I'm asking for reimbursement, so I think there is going to be some complaining on their side for me. The US side gives the UK people a AMEX card the day they arrive and it is bad form that the UK side is making me wait. I don't understand the hold up, but they are going to get to the bottom of it for me hopefully.

Teri took Makenna to a park today and met a person that told her about some activities around here. She also called one of my co-worker's wives and she is going to come over and pick Teri and Makenna up tomorrow to take them to a play session somewhere.

Makenna was really good today, so Teri was happy. Apparently, Makenna has picked up some new things from the TV because Teri came home from the store today with some yogurt and dropped one on the ground. Makenna was there and she said a perfect Homer Simpson "Doh!", which made Teri laugh hysterically. I guess we have to be careful what we are watching and saying now. I said "Dang it" the other day while driving and she spend the next half hour trying to recreate it. She couldn't quite get it completely together, but she got attitude right.

We are holding 3-4 flash cards at a time up now that have pictures of animals and different houshold items and we are able to ask her which one is the "vaccuum" or some similar thing and she can point to them pretty well now. So, she is really impressing us. She seems to understand us more and more and we are asking her more complicated things like: "get the remote and give it to mommy" and she is doing it. Kids are pretty handy for lazy parents!

Anyway, it is late...good night.

3Jun2008: Day 10: Holy Expensive Batman!

Ok, today was an eye opener...£16.50 to wash clothes...and really not that many. So, the equivalent of $33.00 to wash clothes. Ouch. Chris thinks he can expense it since we are not in permanent housing, but wow! How do people live here without a cost of living adjustment like Chris has? We complain about the cost of things, but really Chris' company has been very generous with us, so we don't think we will actually lose money, but we certainly aren't going to walk away with extra in the bank.

Anyway, we looked at 5 properties today, one was just part furnished (didn't really have enough for us to live in it), another looked like the people just one day decided to leave a couple of months ago. Strange. There was even jars of change around the house and drawings from their children on the fridge. The agent said that no one was living there, but I don't know if that was really correct. Anyway, they didn't have a bathtub, and they had a pond in the back yard so that one was right out.

There are three that we would consider. The first one we saw is along the river Medway in an affluent neighborhood. It is really nice and close to the Cathedral and all the good stuff in Rochester. The only problem with it is that it isn't available until July, other than that it is perfect. We are trying to talk with them to get it earlier, but they have a child in school so, we don't think it is likely. Next there was a place slightly farther from work, but it was a nice home. The family has moved to Australia and are renting out their home as an investment. It was nice and close to a park. Teri liked this one second over the first one we saw. But, Chris likes the second one better because it comes with a grounds keeper service to do all the weeding and grass mowing. They are also very flexible and we can ask for things. They are going to provide a wide screen TV and a new bed already. But, it didn't have a dryer and we will probably want to ask for that, some linens, bedspreads, and cable connection for internet. The last place that we liked was very close to work and was very modern. It was missing some things we would like to have, but would serve fine we think and we can rent some items I'm sure, but it is way up a hill and Teri wasn't so sure about that if she is going to be pushing a baby stroller.

We think we are going to follow up on the first one and see if they will pull in their date at all, if so, we may just wait for it. But, the second one is very tempting if they come through with agreeing to a dryer, queen size bed, linen, and installing cable if they don't have it. Oh yeah, the first place has a king size bed, so that is a big plus. Apparently, we have some real pull with landlords because my work is paying the rent and it is more or less guaranteed and regular and landlord like that.

2Jun2008: Day 9: work day

Today was a work day for Chris. Teri and Makenna had an exasperating day. Makenna decided to just be fussy all day and wore her mother down quite a bit. Nigel at work gave Chris his wife's number for Teri to call to get her some adult conversation, but Teri hasn't called yet. Hopefully soon because Teri is missing that type of contact. Chris told her to contact her Church as there are many mother's there that greeted us last Sunday. Several of them had just moved into the area as well, so they are all somewhat in the same boat. Teri wants to wait until after tomorrow as that is our first day of home searching.

The Agent has setup 6 house visits tomorrow and we are excited to get going. Hopefully, we will find something we like and be able to move right away, but we shall see. Most of the places are up north in Chatham and Gillingham which are closer to London, but people had advised us to stay away from there because it is not as nice of an area, but these homes seem very nice. I think any town has its good and bad areas. Maidstone is probably one of the best in the area, that is where we are at right now.

More tomorrow.

1June2008: Day 8: Tonbridge Castle

Today we got up and went to Teri's church which is right down the street. There is a Church of England church right down the street as well which is called St. Michael's, but it has several services throughout the week as does the Cathedral in Rochester so since her church only has one service on Sunday we went there. At the Cathedral, there are evensong services after work at 5:30 during the week, which Chris definitely has to see. Chris was planning to go to the 8:00 am at St. Michael's, but he forgot to get up today. (Stupid)



We don't know if we are going to be permanent in this area and we are going house hunting with a service work lined up for me several days this week. We will likely be here at least two more weeks even so.



We went to Tonbridge castle today. It is smaller than the Rochester castle, but it has been repaired and is more touristy in its interior. Mannequins setup with chain mail and sitting on the toilet (seriously), stuff like that. The have several videos through out the tour and a recorded tour you rent for £6 each. It was very interesting and only took about an hour, which was perfect for a Sunday afternoon. They were having some sort of sword fighting activity in the courtyard and a jester juggling. Here are some pictures:





Here is some odd bit of trivia...we don't think the Brits use ice! We haven't found ice cube trays, nor is there ice at gas stations, even when we were at the Dickens festival yesterday, they didn't have cold drinks with ice, just bottles and cans in tubs with a big chunk of ice, if you were lucky. We don't understand it. Their soda machines at Costco didn't even have an ice dispenser. Chris went to the grocery store yesterday and couldn't find ice trays (actually the freezer doesn't have a place for trays anyway) But he did find plastic bags that are broken into compartments and you fill it with water at the top and the water flows down into little pockets. Then you tie it off at the top and throw it in the freezer. Chris is drinking a glass of juice with ice right now, the first ice he's had since we've been here. Anyway, it's strange. I had a friend at work from Yugoslavia who didn't put ice in his drinks ever and I always thought it was odd, but apparently, it is normal for over here.

Makenna was good all day even falling asleep during church after we soothed her by rubbing her head with a little piece of felt from a book she has. Teri said Jared did that at Church back home and it calms her, it put her right to sleep here. She was great at the castle and enjoyed yelling loudly in the one big chamber inside the castle and hearing herself echo.

It was really nice here again weatherwise. Two days in a row...we'll see how long it lasts.