After a long week, today Tim and I are off to Gloucestershire (damn, that is a tough one to spell for a Scandinavian). We will have a private moment at the cemetery, and catch up with that part of the family. I will probably head back to the civilization on Sunday, while Tim will stay till Monday. He has to go via Oxford on the way back (trip to a library for some research), but I don’t fancy that detour. Especially not since I’m so close to being finished. My final chapter has been handed in, and I now only have to write the summary. (And loads of proof readings, I fear, but it is too depressing to think of that right now.) Wait! What was that? A light? Could this be the end of the tunnel?
(And the picture of the day is actually the last picture I took with the camera before it broke down. [And no, I still haven’t received a new lens.] The zoom is thus not working properly. But this is the kind of thing I play around with instead of being a good PhD student.)
Travels
IT progress
Yeah! I think we might be back on track. Land line phone should be up and running on Friday (might call a few lucky souls then), and internet on Tuesday. So, fingers crossed, thumbs held, legs broken and all the other things. I might soon have a life again!
Oh, and last minute good news on the PhD - I, who am so proud of having found not one, but two fragments of medieval Swedish prayer books for my PhD (although admittedly one is a re-used 12th century English one) have now found a third one! Google, random searches on weird words (no, I didn't not search for 'medieval Swedish prayer book from Vadstena', that would be too obvious) and a lot of luck can sometimes do miracles. It doesn't add anything significant (more than a few lines of text) to my PhD, but it is still pretty impressive, and I have now raised the number of known manuscripts from 15 to 18! :-) *proud* (And anyone really interested: there will be an exhibition of Vadstena manuscripts in the Royal Library in Stockholm next autumn, yours truly are currently writing two articles for the exhibition catalogue.)
Flat
I thought it’s about time that all of you out there get updated on our new flat. First of all: it is absolutely huge (compared to the old one, that is. I know how some of you live…). Having that extra guest room (planned to be an office, now more or less just full of all the crap we couldn’t fit anywhere else — and believe me, there’s plenty of that!) just makes such a great difference.
Ok, will start with the negative sides (and I know it will seem like a lot, but trust me, it is ok). No shower. (I’ve fallen and bruised my legs so many times getting in and out of the bath before investing in a bath mat.) I’m not a great fan of bath tubs (although Tim is, and is very happy), and sitting down taking a shower… well, it’s just not the same. Mind you, we have good water pressure (not always like that in England, but one of the good things about being in the basement). No isolation on the windows (single glass) will undoubtedly make it very cold in the winter (but hey, we have already lived through that once). The plumbing has a life on its own (including funny/strange sounds, leaking pipe under the kitchen sink if doing laundry at the same time, and leaking washing machine if doing dishes at the same time), but at the end of the day that is not our problem.
The biggest issue for me is all the animals! And no, I’m not talking about the free cat we have (good ol’ Jim, he’s very friendly und cuddly), but all the bugs etc. The occasional spider we had in the old flat is absolutely nothing against what we have now. I stopped counting after finding about 30 of them (fairly evenly divided between bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room and hall, but hardly any in the guest room). Tim, the soppy thing, refuses to kill them (in England, it means bad luck, in Sweden it means bad weather the following day, and this being England, well, there’s bad weather anyway, so why care?!), but rather puts them in a glass and throws them out the kitchen window (and I swear they have absolutely no problem climbing straight back in). After a few days, however, he decided to do something drastic and hovered up a bunch. The problem is, you only have to wait an hour before a new spider (or the same one?) has taken its place. There’s an infinite number… On the good side: they are not wolf spiders. Wolf spiders are aggressive bastards, hunting for food, and thus running a lot. These are ‘normal house spiders’, which make a little web, and just sit there. So, if you find one you can be fairly certain that he’ll still be there the next day (and the day after, and the day after etc.). It makes chasing a lot easier! The first few spiders I found really scared me, the next lot made me laugh, and now, well, I’m just very tired of them, because they just keep coming back. Well, we also have plenty of moths (mainly bathroom and hall), and have additionally found normal bugs (bathroom again, according to Tim they are ‘night crawlers’, but being without internet I haven’t been able to google that), big fat flies (in the living room, but they seem to have been killed off now *knock on wood*) and an earth worm (!!! Where did he come from???) in the hall. We were offered new carpeting in the bathroom, but I just fear tearing up the one that’s there now, who knows what it will reveal…?! I also suspect there’s a big nesting/reproducing ground under the bath tub. Brrr. Big reward for anyone who has a solution to the problem!
Well, on the positive side: the flat has become ‘very us’. We have already pictures up on the walls, and it feels much more like home than the old one ever did. It is also a lot quieter — no tube trains running underneath at night, and no noisy neighbours above (and also a very quite street). We finally have a proper kitchen (although admittedly a small fridge). It is now fun to cook again. And we have a dining table! Hurray! It feels quite civilised to eat dinner at a proper table, and not in front of the TV. We also have a big hall, with room for shoes and coats. (Who thought that would be considered a luxury?)
For those of you who wondered: yes, we still have Boris. Tim couldn’t (didn’t want to?) find him a new home, so he had to move with us. However, he is no longer next to the bed, but in a cupboard (on top of a spare fridge! thank God for extra storage space). Of course, now, for the first time, we actually have the space to hang him on a wall, but I refuse. I don’t want to face his big grin every time I walk into a room.
I really like the area we live in. It’s a funny mix of people (sometimes called Little Portugal because of all the Portuguese, and there are plenty of tapas bars), and of areas. Really nice housing next to council estates. Our part is very nice and green. Yes, it is a bit further out than before, but not a great deal. Five stops on the Victoria line to Oxford Circus (11 mins), and another three to my beloved Library. We’re also on the Northern line (always good to be on two lines if something happens), and close to Vauxhall bus terminal. Walking distance to a big Sainsbury’s, and loads of little shops around. We have not yet have had the time to investigate the pubs in the area (believe it or not), but there are at least four just in our block (one is a definite no, two quite possibly yes)! The move has definitely been an upgrade.
Updates
I am writing this from ‘upstairs’. Our landlords are away for the day (well, he’s more or less always away, she had to go to Cambridge to sample the menu for a big dinner party — it’s a tough life for some people), but are having builders coming by (they are putting on a new roof). So, I agreed to ‘house sit’ for the day, to make sure they don’t wreck the place completely. A few brownie points for me, and the chance to use their connected computer.
Our saga continues… Or rather, it doesn’t, because nothing is happening. I am, of course, talking about our phone line/broadband. We contacted one of the big companies, which had a great deal on offer, two weeks ago. Yes, we would get everything installed in four days. Great. The fourth day came and went. Nothing! Contacted the company after a week. No, they couldn’t do us, because someone in that flat had already had a deal with them before. Eh?! So!? Well, company policy, they can’t renew on an address until a certain time has passed. Ok, it’s now after business hours, so wait a day and call different company. Straightforward no! Excuse me?! They don’t do our side of the street! (As if ours was the bad side or something.) Now, it’s Friday and after business hours, so can’t call until Tuesday, because Monday is a bank holiday. Aaah! So, today, Tim has to find a third (!) company, and hopefully they are happy to do business with us. So, in a few days, maybe, we will be connected again…
Anyway, we’ve had a nice bank holiday weekend. The original plan was to go back to Dursley this weekend, but it suited everyone better to do it the next instead. Good for us, because it’s really one of those times of the year you don’t want to travel (and definitely not buy the tickets on the day before). Instead, on the Saturday, we worked a bit (as always), and then went to see Peter and Elena in Beckton, far, far out on the DLR (‘Dockland’s Light Railways’, or something like that). Elena, being Italian, served the most amazing home made pasta. I was in heaven!
Sunday, we quickly went by Trafalgar Square, to see a little bit of the handing over of the Olympics*. Then on to Tim’s office to pick up some paperwork and to John Lewis on Oxford Circus to look for a dress for me (fancy dinner party coming up — see reference to landlady’s menu tasting above), but the one I had seen was sold out. I was a bit mopy, but cheered up after a very late lunch/early dinner in Strada (they make a goat cheese pizza which is to kill for). Strolled down to Piccadilly Circus and went in to Zavvi (music store, former ‘Virgin’), where we bought season four of Futurama. Yes, we are still without a proper TV, and have been watching all the episodes in season three (which we already owned) too many times. It’s was about time for something new. Went down to St James’ park to catch the end of the Olympics, and then back home for some chocolate, wine and Futurama. Perfect Sunday! Bank holiday Monday was spent in Notting Hill, where the annual Carnival was on its last day. Loads of people, but not as unpleasant as, for instance, the Chinese New Year’s festival we went to earlier in the year, when you were unable to move. Some entertaining people, with great costumes and music. Food and beer sold at every street corner. Very nice, and I am now ready to take percussion lessons in a samba band!
* ‘Team GB’ (which I consider a pretty silly name) has made this year’s Olympic games the best one for the country in over 100 years (and I guess it is pretty impressive, if one considers that GB at that time was a super power with loads of colonies. Also, it’s a good starting point for all sports, since the success was mostly thanks do great funding the last year, so I suspect there will be a lot of lobbying for the next four years). So everyone (more or less) is now pretty excited about having the next summer Olympics. And, I confess, so am I. Tim and I now take bookings for whoever wants to come and stay with us (we are pretty sure we will still be living somewhere in London) for the summer of 2012. First come, first serve (although we might possibly get mean, and say: best paying, first serve).
Weekend report
A few words from the pricey British Library… Phone, internet and extra TV-channels have now been ordered, but not yet delivered. I’m still very isolated!
We have now had our first over-night guest — our old colleague and friend from Oslo, Anne Irene, who stayed a night on her way from Nottingham to Heathrow. Great to see her again, and to get some updated from Norway. Managed both dinner at funky ‘Hot stuff’ around the corner (trendy Indian place) and lunch at ‘the Fentiman Arms’ (very nice gastro-pub).
This weekend we spent ‘up north’ in Yorkshire. (Haven’t managed to work out how to link to my old entries, and will not even try with my few valuable minutes in the Library, but some of you might remember the old post on Jerveaulx Abbey.) Anyway, Tim had to give a lecture, which gave us the chance to go and see some countryside, including ruins of a 12th century Cistercian abbey (privately owned! this is so English!). Very nice, although I felt rather out of place (being half the age of everyone else — the audience was mainly from the Art Fund or the Ripon Cathedral patrons). Prize for anyone who can guess what souvenir we brought back with us!
A person in Tim’s close family passed away two weeks ago, so we’ll be going to Gloucestershire next weekend. Tim has been very upset and in complete shock these days, but hopefully things will seem a bit easier after the memorial. It’s been a rough month.
Online for a while!
A quick note from someone who feels rather isolated at the moment… We have now moved, and have no landline phone, no internet, no mobile reception (basement flat), and only an old TV with one channel which cannot read the signal from the Wii. Not the most hi tech place, and definitely not a home made for communication with the rest of the world. At the moment, I have paid almost £6 for 24 hours of internet at the British Library (after being unable to check my mail for 10 days it became unbearable). Well, 24 hours is a bit of a lie: there will of course be no access between 20.00 tonight and 9.30 tomorrow. But Tim has promised that we will have both phone and internet in four days. Hurray! (And when that happens I will send out one of those boring ‘we-have-moved-here-are-all-our contact-details’ email — don’t really fancy posting here in case the blog ever becomes public.)
The new flat is a saga to itself. Full story will follow. In the meantime, here are some of our summer photos…
Tim and me on the boat (oh, first picture of me that I post... I'm so shy!)
Nothing beats a Swedish summer night...