First Impressions

Piccadilly Station - Notice the Olympic Rings in the back!

I am exhausted… I left Washington Dulles at 6:40 PM to arrive at London Heathrow at 7:05 AM, however between the time change/meals/plane sizes I was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep. On the plus side the flight was only about 60% full and the seat next to me was unoccupied, a much unexpected treat!  After arriving at Heathrow and clearing customs I took the underground to Kings Cross Station (about an hour ride), crossed the street to Piccadilly station, and purchased the next available train ticket for Derby.  It surprised me how disorganized the train station seemed to be; the train departure platform isn’t announced till about 7 minutes before the train departs and is shown on a frequently changing old school mechanical tracker board.  The train was delayed about 20 minutes, but luckily I had built in plenty of traveling time so I didn’t need to worry, however I will definitely remember the reliability in the future.

I dosed for about half of the 2 hour train ride, but soaked in the English country side while I was awake.  It is just like I had expected vast rolling fields of green with a spattering of thatched roofed cottages in the country and faded brick skinny row-homes with black mold/moss that only shows the age of houses in the cities.

After arriving at the Derby train station I had about an hour to kill so I grabbed a delicious mozzarella and ham on baguette at a baguette specialty cafe then killed the rest of my time reading my kindle before grabbing a taxi to the reality office where I arrived just on time only to find that my check-in meeting was pushed back an hour.  I am definitely finding that time is handled in a much more relaxed manner then it is back in the States, I haven’t decided whether I like the change or not. Regardless, my recent kindle purchase has already saved me many a time from having to twiddle my thumbs when my schedule is changed by external forces.

Arriving at my rental property I am a little disappointed at the living conditions. It is a very old 3 story with 6 individually rentable rooms, row house.  The whole house has a sort of musty smell with walls that appear to have been painted over multiple times without sanding down the previous coat which gives the house a very old feel.  My “mattress” is more like “A-cluster-of-springs-with-no-padding” and I have already found it very difficult to sleep on.  Good news is that after some air fresheners, a mattress pad… or two, and some elbow grease I should be able to greatly improve my current situation.

Last note, I am writing this blog now after being rudely awaken by the next door neighbors who were loudly playing their outdoor radio (its 11 PM). However, since I started writing they have moved to a single acoustic guitar and are taking turns singing occepella all sorts of genres from Katie Perry’s Firework to Sweet Child of Mine.  Their singing/laughter is loud, but their singing voices are amazing and their cheerfulness reassures me this will be a good experience. That being said earplugs are definitely being added to the long shopping list for tomorrow!