The first 28 hours

Well, I've now been here in the UK for 28 hours, so it's time for a bit of reflection.

The street maps don't do the city justice ... the road structure is a mess :) As much as some people complain about the one-way streets in Toronto, at least there's a pretty decent grid structure. Here the roads go everywhere, there are a GAZILLION intersections every few metres, and the road signs are pretty well hidden.

The other thing I was not prepared for was Oxford Street. I'd been told "London is SUPER busy", but I didn't realize how right they were. Yesterday I figured "ah, it's Wednesday @ 2pm ... how bad can it be?" ... but walking along Oxford Street was like walking along Yonge Street by the Eaton Centre on a sunny weekend afternoon. It was PACKED with people. I'm curious to see what it's like on a sunny weekend afternoon.

What else to report? Well, my first visit to MPC was ... so-so. The HR person (Emma) I dealt with was extremely friendly, but not entirely helpful in that she didn't have access to the paperwork I needed to move forward with my bank account or NI (National Insurance) applications. So I'll either try again tomorrow (I'd like to try and setup my bank account before the weekend) or just wait until Monday. The office looks pretty standard, although I only caught a fleeting glimpse. The HR people were two to an office (which gave them lots of space), while some of the artists were side-by-side-by-side at desks (much like at a cafeteria), crammed in like sardines. We'll see what my area is like.

I didn't really take in any tourist attractions yesterday. I think I may be wasting my free days a bit, but I'm trying to conserve my £ (the keyboards here have both £ and $ on them) since I know I'll need a hefty deposit when I find housing (apparently asking for 10-weeks in advance is not uncommon). Plus it's raining today. Interestingly, almost nobody is using an umbrella (ok, granted it's not raining that heavily ... but if this was Toronto, there would be umbrellas everywhere). I'm hoping that, if the rain subsides a bit, I'll be able to walk through Hyde Park, which is just south of the hotel.

The hotel itself is ok ... nothing special. The room is pretty tiny. The length of the bed is literally the width of the room (i.e., there's not an inch of free space between the head or foot of the bed and the wall). And I was smashing my elbows into the walls of the shower as I tried to soap myself. But it's home, for the time being. I felt a lot better after I unpacked my suitcases and took a long hot shower.

What else? I found a nearby internet cafe, and bought a 20hr pass (to be used within 1wk) for £10. So this is where I'll be camping out when it's raining outside.

People on the street are at least as distant as the people in Toronto. Yesterday I needed to ask directions a few times and tried targetting friendly-looking people. 2 out of 3 proved to be tourists. But, for that, sales people here in London seem to be a lot nicer than in Toronto, and definitely give the "we try harder" appearance, unlike the common "we will do the bare minimum" I'm used to. I was chatting with one person in a mobile phone store for probably 45 minutes, of which only a little over half was actually about phones.

I think everything will be just fine. There's still a lot I need to do before I'll truly feel settled, but at least I think I know what order it generally needs to be done in. I still need a lot of questions answered for me (what type of subway pass / mobile phone / internet service should I get?), but it's all not too stressful. Getting housing for a few months shouldn't be a big deal. Since I'll initially be looking for a "flat-share", I won't be dealing with any landlords but rather just people who own houses that they actually live in (which has the benefit of some small guarantee it can't be THAT horrible, and they don't care about credit checks, so long as I have an envelope full of £ for them). So now I just need to identify a survivable place not too far from the office. I'm looking on http://www.gumtree.com/london/london-short-term-flatshare_15_1.html which seems to have a ton of listings. Surely one of them will suffice for the time between now and when Feifei joins me in June.

Ok, that's it for now. I'll save any other "oh yeah" recollections to help bulk up the next email I end up sending out. :)

Oh yeah ... and I got to try a London-based beer already: "London's Finest" was served on the plane.