settled into the sjw

We're moved in.  After assembling about 900 pounds of flat pack, trying to convince esl movers that they can park in our alley (more on this later) and fixing the flat for two weeks, we are mostly into a livable home. 

the flat pack

The flat pack comes into the picture for several reasons:

1. we have absolutely zero storage in this place... no closets, no cabinets, no bookcases, nothing.
2. you don't have to go shopping to find it, just to ikea.com.
3. it's cheap and shows up in a couple weeks.

Simple!  So now we have the worlds most matchingest lakvic (or whatever) bedroom set.  It is nice to not be living out of a pile of clothes on the floor however.

the alley

We live in an alley.  The english call this a "mews", and in fact ours has a name: Cochrane Mews, but to any red blooded American, this is an alley.  Of course our mews has a mews association, and they have already told me how I'm putting my garbage out wrong.  I guess that a couple of centuries ago, people kept horses in mews, but now that's all gone, and the old storage spaces and stables and whatever associated with those times are filling up with quirky little flats.  Our is one of these.  Really, it's pretty cool for several reasons:

1. We're 2 blocks from the tube stop that goes straight to Canary Wharf, this is very convenient for me.
2. This mews house is a recent conversion from office space, so it's all NEW, and everything works, even the water and heat.
3. We're right in the middle of St John's Wood high street shops, so everything will be close at hand for Reba when the baby shows up.

A slightly less favorable aspect of our mews is when we try to get anything delivered here.  The mews itself is probably 8 feet wide, so trucks have a hard time getting in, and then there's the getting out which is even worse.  This is why I had to argue with the esl movers, but they worked it out in the end.

fixing the flat

Renting just isn't the same here as it is back home.  Basically, tenants have zero rights, and landlords have all sorts of power over you. Plus, landlords don't really have to keep their places up, except in the most basic way.  So for example, if you move into a brand new flat assuming that the brand new washer and brand new dryer and brand new stove all are hooked up and work, you may be wrong.  You may also find that the landlord not only expects your to pay your rent promptly, but doesn't really feel that the unfinished nature of the flat is his responsibility.  This gets into the whole English "nothing to do with me, mate" culture.  Imagine this: you have a brand new stove on which one of the burners doesn't work.  The landlord's PA feels she isn't responsible for fixing it, the builders are.  The builders feel that it's actually the architects fault, because he bought the stove in the first place.  The architect feels it's the manufacturer's fault... and etc. but YOU'RE still paying rent.  I can only imagine that builders, architect, manufacturer and PA are all getting paid.  I looked into the UK landlord-tenant law, which seems to basically indicate that if the hot water heater and electrical supply are working, then the landlord has met his responsibility.  It actually explicitly says that it's not the landlord's responsibility to make sure that any of the things in the flat that USE the water and electricity work!  Really, fixing all of these things is simple and easy, but expecting the locals to do it out of any sense of responsibility to their clients/renters is way over the line.  So, I spent a couple days getting everything fixed, and now we've got a fairly good working order flat.

the snow

I guess it's snowing a lot outside.  Too bad London tube riders don't get snow days!