Good news! Airline prices, for some reason, dropped just slightly on Tuesday, and we hastily took advantage and booked our flight back to California. We’ve managed to take advantage of KLM’s mileage plan, and may eventually work our way up to First Class Seating! (But probably not.) We’ll be home on June fifth, in time for the niece’s high school graduation, and the nephew’s first birthday party. When we arrive, we’ll get the requisite dental and haircutting appointments out of the way, and then we’ll begin The Shopping.
Ah, The Shopping. Lists have been made. Addendums are being added. Little scrawlings have been made in the margins. For lo, such Shopping must be done Properly. We probably won’t get a chance to get back to the United States for another six to eight months.
This is not to say that there’s so much we need. The UK is chock full of retail goodness, and is eager to supply the discriminating shopper. Or the indiscriminate one, to be honest. It’s just that shopping at home is so much easier. Even after eight months here, we can’t go unerringly to a shelf in a market and know exactly where an item is going to be. (Grassroots on Woodlands Rd. moves stuff just for fun, we’re fairly certain.) At home, it will just be a matter of a day or two of intensive wandering, and we’ll come away with all of our little favorite items and bulk things that we’ll pack up and squirrel away against another long, wet, icy and endless winter. We’re packing lightly and bringing home an almost-empty suitcase for The Shopping.
Of course, this is not to say that we won’t be export mules, either. We simply can’t go home without bringing back some veggie haggis!
The demolition continues apace, and we are more determined than ever go leave this flat, as we fear for our ability to concentrate. Stay tuned as our intrepid apartment hunting continues — and keep your fingers crossed that something turns up for us soon!
Just for fun, here is a birds-eye view of our building. About 1/3 of the way up the building you’ll see that the windows start to have blue in between them – that first one is our living room. Across the parking lot is the former bowling alley.
– D & T
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Can’t wait to see you!
what a cool map!