What We've Learned So Far (Part 3)

One year on from our arrival, some additional observations on settling in to our new country:

Having a marvellous time, thank you.

You don't need to live near the Tube to get into and around London easily.  The overground trains are as reliable and fast as the Tube, for the most part, and no where near as crowded.

We're committed tea drinkers now.  We're coffee drinkers too, but there are few things more lovely than a nice cup of tea.

There are only very few things that we plan to buy on trips to the States.  Taco sauce, kosher salt...there's a brand of lotion Bethie likes...the point is that we're pretty well accustomed to the food, etc shopping here.

We're making great new friends. 

We miss our friends back in the States.  We love having visitors. 

We aren't big television watchers, but there are some programmes we can recommend for your Netflix/illegal downloading (though not necessarily for your kids): Outnumbered, If Walls Could Talk, Friday Night Dinner, The Inbetweeners, Gavin and Stacey, Peep Show.  No need to tell you about Downton Abbey, I suppose.

Oh, add contact lens solution to the list of things we buy in the States.  It's £7 or so for a 240ml bottle here.  I got two much larger bottles at Target for $5 when we were in Mount Vernon.  Really not sure why there's such a difference.

People here are generally very friendly, the same way people are everywhere in the world if you are friendly too.

It's been really nice not having a car, but I have a feeling those days are numbered.

I'm a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur and the local Crystal Palace FC.  The first is due to some lobbying by a friend and a sense that I shouldn't be a Chelsea fan (the closest Premier League team to home); the second is our neighbourhood team.

When people would say that Charlotte will have an English accent, I thought, "wow, that will be adorable".  Now when we can detect it in certain words she says, I think, "wow, she's growing up so fast!"

Speaking of which, if we have another child, she/he will almost certainly not be eligible to be President of the United States.  Queen of England is still, I believe, on the table.

Bethie's received paychecks from the estate of a Lord and Lady, and from the holdings of the Queen.  I think that's really cool.

Travelling to and from the United States with Charlotte was nightmarish.  Being with our family and friends over Christmas was bliss.

Getting used to where the @ is on the keyboards here took a while.

We really like it here.  It's home.

Alba Pizza is still some of the best pizza we've ever had.