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Massive Mega-post – The End of America, British Beginnings

Hopefully not actually the end of America, but these days, who can tell? (I hope that’s a joke. At the very least, I don’t think it was I who was holding the country together.)

I’m back, ladies and gents! This post covers my last week in America and my first week in England. The American part was consumed (eaten alive) by England Business (below). Here’s England itself, through Sunday, March 20th:

Sunday March 13

We made it.

And it hasn’t really sunk in yet. After years of preparation, and six months of it taking over my life, we are all in England. As far as the trip goes… ‘harrowing’ seems a bit too dramatic, so let’s just say it wasn’t easy. If anything could go wrong in a way that made it difficult but not impossible to complete that stage of the journey, it did. Most of it was down to flying into a “bomb cyclone” that was moving through New York on Saturday. The plane that picked us up in Raleigh was coming from JFK, and had to navigate its way out of the hairy weather. It’s arrival kept pushing later and later… and I kept having to remind myself harder and harder that I was capable of dealing with whatever fate threw our way (sleep deprivation never being conducive to optimism, in my case. Although it was nice to get to the airport and just… sit).

Kudos to the airline crew, they did manage quite a fast turnaround. But then we waited on the tarmac. And had a roller coaster flight to JFK. And then waited on the tarmac. A long, long, time. Our layover went from 2 hours, to 1.5, to under an hour by the time we finally got off. We needed to change terminals (along with half of the world), and A was about to pee his pants. E looked more and more nervous by the minute, especially when we realized that the bus drop-off for our second terminal was approximately 10 million miles from our gate. There was running involved. And sweating. Under masks. And I ended up carrying my parka, carry-on, personal item and A’s backpack. At a run.

But we made it in what turned out to be plenty of time. They weren’t planning to leave anyone at the gate. Boarding went well… and then we waited, and waited… and f-ing waited. The pilot came on and sympathized with us – he wasn’t happy either. And then we finally were up for getting de-iced… and the de-icing truck had technical difficulties. 

Somehow, with all that, we were only an hour or so late arriving at Heathrow. We found a gate with some bathrooms that no one seemed to know about, and the relief of having a break from the crowds was as palpable as that of finding a bathroom. (The flight was, like most long flights, long. And this one came with some exciting roller coaster dips in what might otherwise have been the sleepy-time zone.) We then walked a mile to the passport check, and I explained to the very nice officer what I was doing in this country. (I quote, “you’re going to do WHAT?”… “You know it’s cold in the Channel, right?”) 

And customs, which E managed to get me worked up about, even though I was TOTALLY NOT WORKED UP ABOUT IT, nor was there reason to be, was the most anticlimactic thing ever – there wasn’t even anyone there, and we simply walked through to the British outside world.

Then started our exciting (not) London transport adventure. We somehow paid 50 pounds to get from the airport to Paddington station, even though the kids were free (don’t know for sure, but think the non-express would have been considerably cheaper – note to self). Then we transferred to the underground to get to Waterloo. It was a stunning amount of waiting and lugging very heavy luggage around. (Wait, is that why it’s called luggage?!?!) When we got above ground again it was raining, but thankfully slacked off quickly (more quickly than kids could get themselves together anyway). We then walked in several wrong directions, but eventually (blissfully) made it to the hotel at noon (our flight was originally scheduled to get in at 7:55, and DID get in before 9) where our room was ready for us (thank all the gods).

The kids loved it.

Kudos to A for being our fast pass through the passport check line … I mean queue. If you were with a child under 12, you got to skip straight to the front. It may have saved all our lives 🙂

Monday March 14

After I wrote yesterday, we walked down past the London Eye and across the bridge to get over toward Soho where we had amazing Chinese food at Joy King Lau, right outside of Chinatown. From there we walked to Picadilly Circus, then back across Westminster Bridge to our (awesome) hotel.

Then, everyone slept for a really, really long time.

Today we did a ton of exploring – E’s watch says he walked 9.6 miles today – I told him he needs to go out now and walk 4 tenths of a mile more 🙂

The kids are loving it. Partly being in London and partly just doing things again. (Probably also that we keep feeding them tremendous amounts of sugar. But if they are willing to walk 10 miles a day, I’m fine with OK-ing extra baked goods 🙂 )

After two years of eating indoors extremely rarely (remember early summer 2021, before Delta came?), we have now eaten in TWO restaurants in two days (though the Chinese one had huge plastic barriers up between tables and probably amazing ventilation based on their general covid attitude. and the Indian one was deserted. The tube with masks on definitely felt more contagious than the restaurants without 🙂 (I’ll remind my future self that although cases in the USA were bottoming out as we got here, British cases were rising dramatically, due to Omicron B.)

We can see Big Ben and Parliament from our hotel (and the London Eye right out our window). We walked across the Westminster Bridge and saw Westminster Abbey. (It’s Commonwealth Day today, and they had flags out front for every country they colonized, which kinda cracks me up.) From there we walked to Buckingham Palace and saw the Bobbies do their thing. 

We learned that the Queen was going to travel from the palace to Westminster Abbey – J was mad I wouldn’t sit there for 40 minutes waiting to see the motorcade. We came through Hyde Park, had 6 pound hotdogs (money, not weight) that turned out to be worth it, and then walked down to 221B Baker Street.

That was pretty tiring, so we took the tube to the Tower of London and then back to our hotel. Just in time to grab our tickets and walk over to the London Eye. Then it was off to the Indian restaurant (unfortunately not as good as the outstanding Chinese place), and then back into the Underground to go to Picadilly Circus for dessert (but really to ride the tube – that seems to be the kids’ favorite thing to do in all of London).

Our hotel (and its location) were perfect – I was told not to stay near train stations in London, but this was obviously an exception to the rule. It wasn’t cheap, but sometimes it’s worth paying to avoid some hassle. We don’t do it often, so I don’t feel bad when we do.

Tuesday March 15

A long day, but one that began with a really good breakfast at the hotel (for, like, £30 each. On the bright side, I wan’t hungry for lunch, so really only £15 pounds 🙂 )

We packed up and walked over to the Waterloo train station in more than good time, and then stood around waiting to be able to board. The train ride was great, and switching trains went pretty well, once we managed to cram all of ourselves and our luggage into the English-sized lift. When we got to Pokesdown station, we did have to carry it all up the stairs, but only once. And everyone managed it! (I have the heaviest suitcase by weight, so I found it hard to sympathize with anyone else.)

The area around the train station looked like the area around most train stations – kind of depressing. But after a 10-minute-ish walk to the lettings agency, things started to get much cuter. We picked up our keys and called a cab to get us to our flat (great decision – it would have been a very long walk with all the luggage.)

Then, finally, at long last, we made it to our flat. 

Then, stupid Virgin Media struck again (well, and E). I am considering an entire post dedicated to the hellscape that is dealing with Virgin Media, but for now suffice it to say that it took over two hours to set up my account originally and almost an hour of having my call dropped again and again to be shut of them. But the upside was faster wifi for cheaper, and not having to wait around for the Virgin Media installer, who, if past experience serves, probably would never have shown up.

By the time I got off the phone with virgin media three years later, it was time to make our list and get some shopping done . Pillows were high on my list, as well as something to eat from and with. All missions were accomplished, plus toilet paper and garbage bags. It’s been a long time since I’ve moved, and an even longer time since I’ve moved and not had a car to go to the grocery store. But I’ll have plenty of time, and it’s a pleasant walk up there, so we achieved the basics and got the boys (including E) home to wifi.

Now I’m waiting for E to wake up so that we can go get some dinner. Knowing that I’ve got somewhere to sleep, something to eat, and a way to wipe my ass (and that I don’t have to lug a gigantic suitcase anywhere for a very long time) has me quite content.

Oh yeah, and I touched the English Channel

It’s a lovely beach, and right down (an admittedly steep hill) from our flat. Yay beach life!

It still hasn’t sunk in yet, but wow, I did it. (Pending a call I’ve been told to expect to ensure that I’m not laundering money in paying for the apartment 🙂 )

Wednesday March 16

E and I walked up and grabbed fish ’n chips for dinner last night – the kids were justifiably tired. The food was just OK. And cash only, which is markedly less convenient at the moment. There’s another place to try, when next we hanker for fish and chips.

Today was more getting settled in. Figured out how to use the oven (to toast my bread, because we don’t have a toaster – don’t worry, it’s quite small and I think it uses less energy than my toaster does. Was ready to do laundry, but realized I needed to do the shopping first, in order to get hangers to hang the wet clothes, since we don’t have a dryer in the apartment and the communal dryer costs like 4 pounds and there seems to be only one. Got the kids started on homeschool; tried to figure out if J needs to be enrolled in order to access Canvas and Google Classrooms (which were super helpful); other than that it went well. Then the kids and I did the shopping and I came home and passed out for a bit. The kids were jonesing for Subway, so we walked up and got that for dinner.

Then it was the adventure of the first British swim practice. E and I were supposed to walk up and catch a bus that would get us there 10 minutes ahead. E followed the bus along in the app as it made its way toward us… and suddenly disappeared off the map. It turns out that, due to roadwork, that bus isn’t stopping at that stop right now. But there was no information about it. So we ran/walked 2 miles and arrived a few minutes late. We only missed out on 3×100’s though. We tried to Uber back, but the Uber did not respond. So we took a bus. (If E’s ability to follow them doesn’t make him crazy, it does me. It said it was coming, and then it wasn’t coming, but then it came. We came home and got asked (extremely politely – as politely as only the English can do) if there had been elephants jumping around in the apartment for the last 2 hours. Honestly, I’m surprised it took two days. We had a more concrete talk with A about what it means to live in a flat. Jumpy beach time will be necessary.

It rained most of the day – umbrellas were the first thing on our shopping list.

Thursday March 17 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day

The realities of moving are starting to get to me. I got a late start (never a good thing for morning-person Laura), and could never seem to catch up to the day. We did eat really yummy food in the restaurant on the beach, and I had a great time watching A dance with the waves. But the internet was down and therefore not all of school got done, AND the day ended with an hour+ long review of the move-in documents. I so remember why I own my own house. Going to bed feeling demoralized again (after last night’s your-children-are-as-loud-as-elephants episode). 

(We also couldn’t get in to the restaurant of our choice, which felt demoralizing, but in retrospect that was just because I was so very hungry, having lost control of the day. We finally got food at the Harvester restaurant, and it was delicious.)

Friday March 18

And the sun came up. I got up early; the weather is amazing; I went to the store early to get A’s birthday stuff (and finally achieve pot and pan); and people were nice (everyone so far has been fairly standoffish – apparently British morning people are less reserved). I had a lovely walk over to the lettings agent to drop off our paperwork and ask questions about the water and sewage bills. I found a great cheese shop and had a really yummy version of the apparent national dish – meat wrapped in pastry. I came home and (mostly) conquered my inbox. And if the kids are playing with A’s birthday balloons instead of doing their work, we’ve got nothing else planned today and if they have to use time later to do it, it’s a lesson learned for them.

I also finally have time to stretch, which will hopefully help my knee. I regrettably injured it right before I started walking all over England – it’s not too unhappy, but it’s not happy either.

I haven’t managed to post yet, but I’ve scheduled it for Sunday. I’m a bit intimidated, because it seems like I’ve written  a lot. Plenty to edit, and lots of pics to post. And posting pics with WordPress is kind of a pain. Or I don’t know the shortcuts.

Tonight – pierogies (thanks Malinka!) and bacon and broccoli, plus birthday cake and ice cream.

Saturday March 19

The tragic tale of pierogies:

So, A’s birthday dinner last night did not come off without a hitch 😉 I should expect nothing less at this point.

When E and I got off the bus after practice on Wednesday night, he noticed that there was a grocery store still open after 9:00 (a rarity in this part of the world). So we went in to check it out, and it turned out to be a Polish grocery called Malinka. It was fun to look around at all of the similar-yet-different Polish products. And then, on a package, I saw one of our favorite foods – pierogies. And the package said “pierogowa,” so I thought, “perfect” and we bought them, plus some crisps that were both flavored and shaped like chicken legs. (the crisps turned out fine).

Fast forward to last night, and I happily started rashers and broccoli cooking, and then cut open the bag.

Flour to MAKE pierogies stored at room temperature actually makes so much more sense.

So I offered E the option of tending to the food I already had cooking or running up to Malinka’s to get actual pierogies. He took off for the store. And there, not being able to read Polish (and having left his iPhone at home because he had just stared an update), E chose based on how simple the description was. Turns out, that word means cottage cheese, and they were kinda gross. Alex had to hold his nose through in order to get to birthday cake. (They really weren’t that bad. I’m only a bit of a monster. We also don’t have that much food right now!) Turns out the other two options had normal potato and cheese fillings, had E only known.

I always knew my enthusiasm for pasta-wrapped potatoes would get me some day.

Saturday

So it was nice that today was the first relaxed day in… well, months, really. I ran over to the pool to talk about coaching (well, I tried to take the bus – I ended up running cause I am bus-stupid after 20 years of not taking them) and had a great meeting with coach Matt – really cool guy trying to do things I am a big fan of. Managed to take the bus back, and picked up some more TP as I passed by the store.

It’s hard to feel that you’re in control of your life when you’re down to your last roll of TP.

Then I had time to check through my email and do 5 minutes of Duolingo while getting the kids up and moving. Then we had a great walk to the Oceanarium (if exceedingly windy) and a fun time for A’s birthday. He picked out some gifts in the gift shop. Appropriate. Then the kids used them to hit each other all the way home. Predictable.

And then we had Cornish pasties on the pier! Now I am officially like Harry Potter. We walked up through Bournemouth to catch the bus and it was beautiful (and gorgeous weather – with the exception of Wednesday, it has been amazing). The bus ride was awesome – the driver had worked on tour boats and told us all sorts of fun things about the area (we were the only ones on the bus). We picked up some more shopping on the way back down to the apartment and now I’m finally sitting here with my feet up. Ahhhh.

A word on English food. A friend is listening to an audiobook that demeans London’s food selections, and she took exception to the author’s US-centric views. I’ll be clear here, American food is very low down on my list. I am not the least bit US-centric in my food choices. So take it with the best intentions when I say that the English have achieved a special degree of blandness and lack of flavor in their national cuisine. The Cornish pasty, while filling and satisfying, consisted of a gelatinous mixture of potatoes, carrots, steak and something that might charitably be called gravy. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it! But how did the country that colonized the world manage to ignore every spice they came across?

As always, Douglas Adams says it best:

“There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do.

“Make ’em dry,” is the instruction buried somewhere in the collective national consciousness, “make ’em rubbery. If you have to keep the buggers fresh, do it by washing ’em once a week.’

“It is by eating sandwiches in pubs on Saturday lunchtimes that the British seek to atone for whatever their national sins have been. They’re not altogether clear what those sins are, and don’t want to know either. Sins are not the sort of things one wants to know about. But whatever their sins are they are amply atoned for by the sandwiches they make themselves eat.”

Douglas Adams

Sunday March 20

Reflections – The crazy thing? It’s actually very easy to move countries these days. So much technology to help you out, from all of your travel info being accessible at any time from anywhere, to apps that translate the Polish on your not-Pierogies 🙂 . But if this is easy, I cannot imagine doing it when it was hard. I’m so tired!

It took me this long to get to my second English swim practice, and I felt like I’d been hit by several ugly bricks. But I hope to start gaining momentum now.

The itch in my brain

And now, because I’m a completist, here’s the final week in America:

England Business (Mar 7-11)

Sunday 3/6 – got a ton of house stuff done – yay!

3/7 – Lots and lots 🙂 Sent my last monthly email to my Masters swimmers, payment info to lawn care, downloaded Delta app, tried to download Virgin, but can’t do it until in England, swimmer stuff, banks stuff, confirmed early check-in request, filed my notice of intent to operate a homeschool. Slivka Academy is coming online, world!

3/8 – Finished my email lickity-split for the first time in forever. Cleaned bathroom and finished secret surprise during staff meeting. Dropped stuff off at Dorcas and Dump. Executed secret surprise at practice – thank you gifts to my coaches, thank you cupcakes to my fellow swimmers. Everyone seemed content 🙂

3/9 – A good chunk of time on homeschooling (and purchased T4L – regrettably not a good fit for J’s work – T4L hasn’t heard of Common Core). Also answered some swimming questions, checked J’s HS reg, etc. I’m on to my “Final Checklist” now – exciting!

Packing Achieved!! I am under my weight limit on my suitcase, with almost everything packed!!! Getting packed was a bigger weight off (as it were) than I thought it would be – I feel so free 🙂 I also successfully navigated some school bureaucracy – a good day.

There is room (and weight allowance) for everything I wanted to bring. I definitely packed light, but I should have everything I need to get started with life. Additional things can be picked up as we go. My fins will even fit. (How I will carry them as I run/bike is still a question that’s up for grabs 🙂 )

[Note 3/23 – running with fins, paddles, etc. in my swim bag is doable, as long as I remember to wait and fill up my water bottle when I get there. I am actually thrilled with our packing – it has worked out really well. The only thing I regret at this point is that we did not take advantage of the extra room in A’s suitcase to throw in a couple of bike helmets. Que sera.]

3/10 – Cleaned the boys bathroom (yuck!), made potatoes, did a bunch of stuff (but did get through my email really quickly, hurrah! Afternoon is packing the boys and making sure Time4Learning works for them.

3/11 – Got, you know, all of the rest of the stuff done and even had a chance for a necessary rest and an even more necessary swim. It’s evening now, and I’m trying to get everyone showered so I can wash as much stuff as possible tonight. It’s going about as well as you might think.

March 13, 2022 – NO MORE ENGLAND BUSINESS!!

There actually was quite a bit of England Business during our first week here, but it was, for the most part, the endless tedium of moving in the world over – setting up water, internet, getting keys, figuring out stores, buying stuff for the apartment, etc. Whether you call it an “apartment,” a “flat,” or a “unit” (thanks Australians. I’ll stay in your unit), you’ve got to have food, supplies and get where you are going.

The Last American Week at the Pool

Summary

Pool Yardage ~ 18,300

OW Yardage ~ 0

Total Yardage ~ 18,300

I’m writing this the next, next week, so I can use the benefit of hindsight to say – now that I’m feeling good again, I can tell that I was just so very exhausted for the last week in the States and the first week in the UK that my swimming was kinda crap. And that was fine.

The Gory Details

Monday 3/7 – Theme: Movin’ Slow (~5700)

Got there late, went to the bathroom twice, and generally swam like a 10-year-old. Good thing the plan was “whatever I want”

• 900 w-up (missed the 600 and one of the IMs)
• 200 ez
• 5×300 w/fins and paddles on 5:00 (hooray!)
• 200 ez
• 5×200 IM on 3:05 (knee still questionable, don’t do fly this year, so it was 50 fr/50 bk for me. Plus I missed a 100 or so in the bathroom. This is, like, the being really exhausted and stressed version of a taper.) 🙂
• 200 ez
• 10×100 on 1:20 (got a really bad foot cramp in the middle, even though I wasn’t going fast – missed several)
• 200 ez
• 5×100 IM on 1:30 (put on fins)
• 400 CD

Tuesday 3/8 – Theme: Goodbyes (~5300)

Not being sure whether I’ll have time for swimming the rest of the week, I brought cupcakes for the kids and thank you gifts for the coaches. I will miss this team so much!!

• 1300 w-up (missed the first 300 bringing the presents in)
• 10×100 kick with fins and boards (wheee!) on 1:30
• Speechifying 
• 10×75 swim with fins on 1:00 (wheeee!) Once I got going I held :47s
• 200 ez
• 8×200 fast on 3:00 (well, “fast” – I held 2:40s)
• 400 cd

Thanks to Besch for the fin sets in my honor 🙂

Wednesday 3/9 – Theme: Fun and Fast for the First Time in Forever (~4300)

After a great day of England Business, I even got a nap in, since I didn’t care when I showed up to practice. I joined them in progress:

• 100 w-up
• 16×50 3 smooth on :50, 1 fast on 1:15
• 12×50 2 smooth, 1 fast
• 8×50 1 smooth, 1 fast
• 100 ez
• 4×50 fast

I felt great (although had just a tinge of that nerve pain along my arm). 36’s and 37’s felt really smooth and ez. I held 34’s on the fast, then 33’s and went a 31 on the last one. As usual, this wasn’t something I was trying to do – I just have to get warmed up for stuff.

• 200 ez
• 10×100 – 4 on 1:20, 3 on 1:25, 2 on 1:30, 1 on 1:35

Not having gone particularly hard on the 50s (not being capable of going particularly hard on 50s), this was ez 

• 300 on 4:15
• 3×100 on 1:25
• 300 CD

Off to coach my (hopefully) last practice!

Thursday 3/10 – No practice today. My sub bailed on coaching for me and I didn’t have time

Friday 3/11 – Theme: A lovely last day at the pool (~3000)

• 4×50 on 1:00
• 100 ez
• 5×200 broken 75-50-75 on 3:30
• 100 ez

• 5x:
• 3×75 on 1:15
• 1×25 on :40
• 200 ez

• a few laps with gold

I’ll miss you CSC!!!!

—————————————————————

The First British Week at the Pool

Summary

Pool Meterage ~ 5,300

OW Yardage ~ I touched it

Total Yardage ~ 5,300.5

The knee is not great – I still can’t really do breaststroke, and my pushoffs are crap. Never should have done the 144 squat jumps. Ah, regrets. Hopefully a day of rest from walking and running a million miles will get it into better shape.

Moving to short course meters means I have no real feel for my times. (But I guessed right, they were bad.) But hey, I got in the water twice – as I tell my swimmers, any swimming is a gazillion percent more than no swimming.

The Gory Details

Wednesday March 16:  (~2300 M)

• 1×100 IM (arrived late. buses.)
• 2×100 choice (free/back)
• 10×50 – descend 1-5; build kick on 6-10 (on :55) (Yes, Virginia, it is a SCM pool)

• 3x:
• 100 DPS (15’s and 16’s – not bad considering how tight I felt after 5 days of travel)
• 2×50 fast (just under :40, I think – pace clock far away and analog)
• 4×25 fast finish on :35
• 100 ez

• 300 ez w/fins and paddles

(This was an hour long (well, less if you count our tardiness. But more if you count the running 🙂

Sunday March 20: (~3000 M) – 1 h 

• 4×200 – ez, IM (kick/swim), FC pull, IM (kick/swim) [FC = front crawl]
• 6×25 fly on :40
• 4×100 50 bk/50 br on 2:00 (my knee is still dodgy – finally resting it today. I took it easy on the BR kick and the pushoffs)
• 6×25 fly on :40
• 2×200 on :30 rest – 25 fly/75 bk/75 br/25 fr
• 6×25 fly on :40
• 2×200 free IM on :30 rest
• 4×100 IM on :45
• 100 CD