London- Week 1

Life went from 0 to 60 in the matter of a week!

Two weeks ago we were sitting in Manchester wondering where we were going to end up, where James was going to get a job, if he was going to get a job in Europe or if we were going to be heading home to Toronto with the last four months havin been one verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long vacation.

Thankfully, James was offered a job and we were able to make the move to London. We couldn't be happier! James got through his first week of work last week and is loving it. The office, the projects he's working on and the people he's working with are all great.

While he's been at work it's been my job to find a place for us to live...a full time job in and of itself!!! Flat hunting in London is NOTHING like trying to find an apartment in Toronto or Kingston. Most apartments are rented through letting agents, who are similar to real estate agents in Canada. Apartments, or flats here, are small, expensive and usually not very well maintained.

The search to find our new home sweet home was feeling like a pretty fruitless and frustrating exercise but I finally lucked out and found us a a great place in a fantastic area!

As of April 18th, James and I will will be calling a lovely studio flat in Notting Hill home! It's in the lower level of a Victorian house and is a 20 minute walk to James' work and a 5 minute walk to Portabello Road and Portabello Market. Hotel Dixier will be open for business on April 19th and we can't wait for guests!

Since we don't move in until the middle of April so we're crashing with friends until the big move and planning on how to make the flat feel like home.  There are lots of antique and vintage furniture stores near our new place and we're excited to go hunting for one of a kind finds. And when I say we, I really mean me...James can already see me mentally furnishing our new place and he's a little frightened!

Now that the apartment issue is settled we have to focus on getting me my leave to remain so that I can start looking for work. In the meantime, I plan to play the part of a tourist and do some sight seeing during the day while James is at work.