Hey..good news, after a week being disconnected from the world..we seem to have internet!! The bad news is that all of my e-mail contacts are floating around on Frank's computer and he is off at work. So the week in summary and then the most important thing..the school calendar..we only have Bridget's in, but I am thinking that the boys will be similar.

So we arrived last week in a delirious stupor. The first 24 hours is filled with transport to the new house, finding sleeping bags, blowing up air mattresses and putting everyone in bed at noon. We surface around 4 and make our way via a double decker bus(the boys want to make sure I tell you that part) into town. We hit Bridget's favorite store..the Waitrose. Whereupon we embark on a fantastic journey of the senses and piece together a crazy meal of Indian food, pasta bake something , fruit bread and cheese. We come home to 'camp" in our kitchen where we have NO pots or pans, no utensils but our 5 camping forks,spoons, knives. After some excitement trying to figure out what the stove is telling us..we put it all together. Thankfully the weather was and continues to be just beautiful...this is also good because we have no table so we eat all of our meals outside on the patio furniture! The back yard is quite nice...about twice the size of ours in Seattle with a lovely little shed in the back...more on that later.

Jet lag: let me just say that I have come to learn that there are 2 kinds of people. Those who experience jet lag, and those who apparently walk around in a chronic state of sleep deprivation, so that when placed in a situation where is it in their best interest to just go to bed...they do and are thankful for it. In my family we have both kinds of people. Friday evening..we all went to bed around 9pm....I slept soundly until around 10 the next morning, Bridget slept until about 11 and Nick racked up a grand total of 15 1/2 hours of sleep waking up past noon!!!!!!. Frank and Matthew , I am told, wandered the house in the wee hours of the morning keeping themselves company, I only know this b/c when I surfaced the next day, Frank was gone and Matthew was asleep upside down at my feet. We later found that Frank had taken refuge in Matthew's unused bed.

Beds: can I just say I believe I am now deaf from the ungodly noise that 5 people tossing and turning for a week on air mattresses can make!

The next few days are filled alternating between foraging for food that we can camp cook, trying to do some sight-seeing and trying to sort out all of the schools stuff including which school is Bridget going to and therefore which uniform etc. By day 2 we decide after spending quite some time on the lovely city buses that there are just some things that can't fit on a bus...we attempt a car.

Car: Can I just say, I laugh at triathalons, I mock 1/2 marathons, throw me a double black diamond ski hill because I have now spent the last week DRIVING A STICK ON THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF GREATER LONDON!!!! After nearly crashing and ricocheting off a sidewalk in the first 1/2 mile of driving and some pretty tense moments all around that first day...I am proud to say that by Friday, when Frank had left for Paris(more on that later) the kids and I had our last few errands to run and we hopped in the car and with Bridget as my co-pilot sign reader we took the highway, found our school supply shop AND a parking space in front and in busy traffic I demonstrated my goddess-like parking skills and took it. It was a profound moment !
One of my biggest worries was whether I would remember to stay to the left. Well, you quickly learn that it really doesn't matter, because as best as I can tell no street is really big enough to have 2 sides to it and it is one giant game of "chicken". Oddly, no one gets mad, they just move off the the side, or you do and everyone waves and life goes on. There also seems to be no rules of the road! the number of U-turn parking jobs I have seen on busy city streets is mind-boggling. Really anything goes! The pedestrians are equally dangerous..several of whom tried to shorten their lives by leaping out in front of me without any warning...at least in Seattle they do that at crosswalks..here it is anywhere. Now the bikes(do you see how the roads quickly fill up!) clearly this is where all the suicidal people come to ride their bikes...not a helmet for miles around...old people too with their shopping...has no one told them the rates of head injuries???? Oh yes, then there are the motorcycles and mopeds and delivery bikes...they ride on the yellow double line..any direction they want!! I am sure car insurance agents in England must be wealthy people!!

Highlights of the week including finding the IKEA..they are all the same, the same mind numbing maze and confusion, but in the end we ordered beds, a table and desk set up for the office and we arrange delivery. Also found was COSTCO...Bridget and Frank went on an explore one night after work and found it....they were so excited, they filled the car...the more exciting part was finding places to put all of this Costco size stuff in our proper(read small) British kitchen cabinets! We did the London Eye for old times sake, found some awesome museums we hadn't found before from the "50 London Walks with Kids" book a friend gave us. The science museum had a Wallace and Gromit exhibit(we spent almost 3 hours just in there! The went on to explore the "Secret Life of Home" which included a full collection of toilets through the ages including a life-size working model to demonstrate the inner workings on flushing...Frank is so upset he was off at meetings :( We have found several local parks all of which include some type of skate boarding park, walks along the Thames, the local pool where kids under 16 swim free. All the museums are also free and kids ride free on the buses and tube.

Our furniture arrived on Thursday and the next few days were spent trying to get the house in some order..most importantly getting to sleep in a BED! By Sunday we were in good shape and had our last sight seeing adventure before summer ends and school begins.

Today everyone was up and ready to go. Bridget has to walk 1 block to school(Coombe Girls School). We all walk her down and leave she and Frank to get her registered and the boys and I continue 5 more blocks to their school. It is surreal here on school mornings. Every school wears some version of the same uniform. Skirt/pants/white shirt/tie/sweater(called a jumper) grey socks and BLACK SHOES, only black no sneakers(trainers). So as we leave our house we must cross one street that is the main road to another school who has royal blue sweaters..we cross that line of people to be sucked up by the sea of green...Bridget's school...as the boys and I swim up stream past the sea of green, we are drawn into to navy/yellow sweater group for to block..we then get to our cross street and the seas part and the maroon tide takes over into Corpus Christie School(the boys school). Pablo would have a hey day trying to direct traffic...it is all on foot...even the few brave bikers have to get off and walk as the sidewalks are so packed with kids/parents. A rare car tried to make it through, but could not pass the sea of sweaters. By 9 am, the streets were deserted and all had made it safely to their destinations! I picked up the boys at 3:15 and Bridget had made it out early(was supposed to be 3:30) and met us at home. Whew..all had smiling faces with tales to tell, the best of which is no homework until next week for the boys as least. Bridget has testing on Wednesday to see what "group" she will be placed in for math etc. Matthew has his house name--but I forget it now, Bridget is Venus and Nick forgot his. I have been typing for so long, I am getting evil looks so I best go. I will have more details as the week progresses and am debating a blog vs facebook...I'd hate to have to have everyone sign up on facebook to look at pix(which will follow) The school schedule for everyone's travel plans: Autumn 1/2 term school's out; Oct 24-Nov 2 Christmas Holiday: Dec 18-Jan 4 Spring 1/2 term break Feb 12-Feb 22 Easter Holidays: March 31-April 19 Bank HOliday May 3 1/2 term break May 28-June 7 School ends July 21st Thinking of all of you, missing all of you...thanks for taking time to listen to me Love maggie